Up is Down; Part CMMVX

First, the money quotes:

[A] report, issued Tuesday by the trustees who monitor the fiscal health of Medicare and Social Security, concluded that the fund that pays hospital bills in the health insurance program will run out of money by 2019, seven years sooner than they predicted a year ago.

The report says that the new law is a significant factor, because it will steer more money to private health plans and increase payments for health care in rural areas.

That, from the trustees' report to Congress. Seems pretty clear-cut, no? But in the Republican down-is-up world, that report is actually nothing to worry about. Think I'm kidding?

One of the GOP authors of the Medicare law swiftly defended it Tuesday. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., said the trustees' report "validates the reasons Republicans had in reforming Medicare and enacting a prescription drug benefit last year. The overall future health of Medicare depends on these reforms and our future action."

Whaaaa...?

Go read the rest of the story at The Oregonian.