February 4, 2000

Policymakers Point to 2000 Health Care Agenda

Comments made by lawmakers and others at the annual American Hospital Association meeting Jan. 31 suggest legislative action on the health care front may be more substantial than previously reported. While election year politics usually thwart the ability of Congress to produce meaningful legislation, Reps. Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), and Sen. Jim Jeffords (R-Vt.) each pitched their own health agenda which, at the very least, signal growing support for quick action on a Medicare prescription drug benefit.

In signaling his support for a prescription drug benefit, House Ways & Means Health Subcommittee Chair Thomas said that if there are increased savings as a result of slower Medicare growth, the dollars saved should be reinvested in Medicare. These savings could then be used to fund a prescription drug benefit and other improvements to Medicare contained in a premium support model endorsed by Rep. Thomas and the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare. Sen. John Breaux (D-La.), who was Rep. Thomas' co-chairman on the commission, recently introduced S. 1895, which seeks to replace the traditional Medicare program with a premium support model. Rep. Thomas is expected to introduce similar legislation in the House shortly.

Rep. Thomas also indicated that while he is open to further changes to the 1997 Balanced Budget Act (BBA), he must see sufficient evidence to justify additional Medicare relief before such legislation is enacted. Cautioning that the value of any changes would be less than last year's $17 billion, Rep. Thomas said that any new revisions would be "a funnel, not a cylinder" and that the word refinement "means that there should be fewer as we move forward."

Rep. Rangel appeared before the group with a loud call to enact legislation that provides health insurance to the 44 million who currently live without coverage. Calling for a bipartisan effort to address the growing number of uninsured individuals across the country Rep. Rangel said "health care has no party label" and therefore should not fall victim to election year politics. He noted that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the Welfare Reform Act were both passed in election years and that, at a very minimum, Congress should provide some form of Medicare prescription drug benefit and insurance coverage for parents with children who are enrolled in the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

Picking up on the prescription drug theme, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman Jeffords said that he would do everything in his power to pass a prescription drug benefit this year for low-income seniors. Sen. Jeffords noted that he previously backed a 10-year $100 billion fund for that purpose and said that he is hopeful the new Congressional Budget Office surplus estimates will improve the prospects for enactment of a new Medicare drug benefit.

White House Chief of Staff John Podesta reiterated the administration's support for a Medicare prescription drug benefit and said that he hopes "this is not a prescription for deadlock."

Lawmakers in both chambers have scheduled hearings to examine the feasibility and scope of a targeted Medicare drug benefit.

Information: Paul Bonta or Lynne L. Davis, AAMC Office of Governmental Relations, 202-828-0526.