Medicare Conferees Begin Negotiations

July 16, 2003
House and Senate conferees are trying to work out compromise legislation to provide prescription drug benefits to seniors under the Medicare program. So far, the road's been rocky.

At its first meeting Tuesday, the committee elected Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) its chair as both sides drew lines in the sand.

Rep. Tom DeLay, (R-Texas), said the conference committee must preserve elements of the House bill that would permit private insurance companies to compete with traditional Medicare. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., noted that his father helped write the original Medicare law in 1965 and said the House bill "helps insurance companies more than it helps seniors."

Thomas, who chairs the Ways and Means Committee, said the panel had no choice but to find a way to control costs if Medicare is to avert bankruptcy in the future.

President Bush made a prescription drug benefit for seniors one of his top legislative priorities this year and has urged the committee to act quickly. But amid growing signs of deep division, the White House cancelled a Tuesday pep talk for the members of the conference committee.