Clinton "Lied" About GOP Medicare Plans

US House Speaker Newt Gingrich has said that President Clinton lied to elderly Americans about the character of Republican Medicare reforms in order to boost his own reelection campaign, adding that Pres Clinton's tactics in 1995 during a debate over Medicare will be part of a GOP campaign offensive this year.

A campaign of "disinformation" frightened 37 million seniors by saying the GOP plan would produce deep spending cuts, he said. The plan included a growth limit that Mr Gingrich said would have still allowed spending up to $7,300 a year for each senior in seven years, from $4,800 at present. That would have slowed Medicare spending by about $170 billion in the period, down from the original plan for $270 billion lower spending.

Medicare began to lose money in 1995 and the Medicare Part A hospital trust fund can now be expected to go bankrupt in 2001, a year earlier than projected by the plan's trustees up to now, he said.