Medicare Restructuring Dead For Another Year

April 21, 2003
President Bush's plan to restructure Medicare not only alarmed many seniors and outraged many health care providers, it also scared many members of Congress. With next year's elections fast approaching, most Capitol Hill observers agree the likelihood that Bush's plan will be enacted is just about zero.

Instead, members of both parties are jostling to position themselves as champions of a Medicare prescription drug benefit. House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) recently announced his "prescription drug action team" to help move a drug benefit bill through the House by Memorial Day.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Billy Tauzin (R-La.) and House Ways and Means Committee Chair Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) will serve as co-chairs of the 49-member team. Reps. Michael Bilirakis (R-Fla.), Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.), Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) will serve as vice chairs.

Bush's Medicare plans are simply seen as too politically dangerous by most lawmakers. Reception was cool from legislators of both parties and opposition in the Senate is seen as nearly insurmountable.

Nevertheless, congressional GOP leaders and administration officials maintain that passage of a Medicare prescription drug benefit without broader reforms would bankrupt the program.

"Steps must be taken when crafting the prescription benefit and other changes to ensure the sustainability of Medicare over the long haul," Thomas said. But Democrats maintain that Medicare is in better fiscal shape today than it has been for years and reliance on private health plans to reduce costs in the program is unlikely to work.