The prescription drug benefit under consideration by Congress is an “overdose of big government, Republican-style” that will cost an average 40-year-old head of household $16,127 in additional taxes, according to a new study cited by the Libertarian Party.

“The cost of this prescription drug benefit is already making us sick,” said Joe Seehusen, executive director of the Libertarian Party. “The massively expensive Medicare program spawned by President Lyndon Baines Johnson is spinning totally out of control under President Lyndon Baines Bush.”

The $400 billion, 5-year-plan to provide prescription drug benefits for senior citizens — authored by President Bush and approved overwhelmingly by the Republican-controlled Congress — is the biggest expansion of entitlement programs since Medicare was created by Johnson in 1965.

The legislation is being debated by a House-Senate conference committee and is expected to be finalized when Congress returns from its August recess.

But the plan is nothing more than a massive Republican tax increase in disguise, Libertarians point out.

“According to a new study by the Heritage Foundation, the Bush plan will cost a 40-year-old head of household an average of $16,127 in taxes between now and the time he retires,” Seehusen noted. “And a baby born this year will be forced to pay $1,125 per year in extra taxes at age 27.

“George Bush has just purchased the votes of millions of senior citizens — and he’s going to send the bill to you, your children, and grandchildren.”

The most frightening aspect of the legislation, Seehusen said, is that the cost will be even more astronomical than the $400 billion that Congress claims.

“In 1965 Congress predicted that Medicare would cost $12 billion a year by 1990,” he said. “Instead the price tag spiraled to $98 billion a year — or eight times as much. At that rate, Bush’s bill could easily cost an astounding $3.2 trillion in just five years.

“As humorist P.J. O’Rourke has said, ‘If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see how much it costs when it’s free.’ George Bush’s ‘free’ prescription drug coverage is going to cost every individual taxpayer thousands of dollars while pitting elderly Americans against their own children and grandchildren.”

If there’s any good news, Seehusen added, it’s that Americans may be starting to rebel against the program as the true costs become clear.

“Some lawmakers already fear the public reaction as they head back into their districts, and many are predicting that Congressional support for the bill could start crumbling as a result,” he said.

“Libertarians are encouraging every American to demand that Congress reject this exorbitantly expensive legislation. The prescription drug bill may be a great way for politicians to buy votes, but it’s a poison pill for taxpayers.”