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Medicare Bill Beginning to Look Doubtful
Sept. 3,
2003 - A Medicare prescription drug bill, which once seemed a
certainty, is now looking increasingly doubtful as the Bush budget
spirals out of control.
The U.S.
Senate returned from their summer recess yesterday and the House is
back today, but they find the staff members left behind to negotiate a
compromise on the Medicare bills passed by the House and Senate have
made little progress.
Reuters
Health reports that a conflict between “two key members of the
negotiating committee is now threatening further discussions.”
Writer
Julie Rovner reported that the process of reaching agreements on the
very large--and very different--measures ground to a virtual halt last
week, when Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa,
pulled his staff from the meetings to protest the agenda being set by
the chairman of the negotiating committee, House Ways and Means
Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif.
A
spokeswoman for Grassley told Rovner the senator was unhappy that
Thomas aides had not scheduled talks on the $25 billion, 10-year
package of payment increases for rural hospitals and other rural
health care providers. The payment increases in the House and Senate
bills were similar in size, but not identical in details. Instead,
Thomas staffers had scheduled talks on smaller provider issues.
A
spokeswoman for Thomas noted that Grassley had approved a negotiating
schedule that included discussions of the larger rural Medicare
package when members returned in September. But the Grassley
spokeswoman said her boss considered the larger package itself
non-controversial, since versions were included in both bills.
Yesterday,
the Associated Press reported on a study released by the Center for
American Progress that said a Medicare drug benefit is most needed in
rural areas, where recipients are twice as likely as those in the city
to lack any such coverage. The non-partisan think-tank is run by
President Clinton's former chief of staff, John Podesta.
The
withdrawal of Grassley's staff reportedly slowed work scheduled for
last week, and is threatening to delay a meeting of members
anticipated for later this week. Negotiators still say they hope to
finish work on the Medicare bill by early October.
Staffers
did reach tentative agreement during August on several relatively
small and non-controversial issues, including a prescription drug
"discount card" that will provide Medicare beneficiaries some
temporary help with their medication expenses before a new Medicare
prescription drug benefit begins in 2006.
But
several outstanding issues remain, even for those were tentative
agreement was reached, including whether low-income beneficiaries, who
will be given $600 toward the cost of their drugs on the discount
card, will also be required to pay for a portion of each prescription
they fill.
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