Following David’s link, below, on PBS’s reportage of the London bombings, I found this:

With the U.S. government projecting a $426 billion deficit this year, critics are blaming some of the red ink on the Medicare prescription drug benefit, which President Bush signed into law in December 2003. In 2004, when NOW first reported on the story, the original cost of the bill had ballooned from $400 billion to $534 billion. Where does it stand today? NOW looks at what the Medicare law is costing America.

But wait! That flies in the face of this from Bloomberg:

July 8 (Bloomberg) — Rising tax payments and a growing economy may push the U.S. federal deficit down to $325 billion or lower, a 24 percent decline from the previous estimate, the Congressional Budget Office said.

The agency, in a monthly snapshot for fiscal 2005 that ends on Sept. 30, said tax payments and spending were running ahead of the year-ago pace. As a result this year’s deficit “will be significantly less than $350 billion, perhaps below $325 billion.”

It seems as though someone at PBS’ NOW is fudging the numbers.

Update: To be fair, no matter what the federal deficit is, there is little doubt that a large portion of it is due to drug coverage.