TOP US ACCOUNTANT PREDICTS MEDICARE PLAN D DISASTER

The new Medicare Plan D prescriptiondrug program is so "financially irresponsible"that it could plunge the entire Medicareprogram into bankruptcy, warned USComptroller General David Walker.

During a televised interview on the CBS"60 Minutes" news program, Walker saidthat, when the first wave of baby boomersstart receiving Medicare benefits in 3years, the result will be a "tsunami ofspending that could swamp our ship ofstate if we don't get serious" about controllinghealth care and entitlement programcosts.

Walker, the nation's top accountant andhead of the Government AccountabilityOffice, characterized the new prescriptiondrug benefit as the final straw for analready fiscally shaky Medicare program.