White House Withheld Cost Information TSCL Seeks Answers to Several Questions on Legislation

Send this article to a friend.

Printer friendly version.

White House Withheld Cost Information TSCL Seeks Answers to Several Questions on Legislation

The Bush Administration is under fire for withholding data that shows higher costs for last year’s hotly contested Medicare prescription drug legislation. Such cost estimates were a bone of contention when Congress considered the legislation last year. The final Medicare bill squeaked through the House on November 22nd by just five votes, on assurances that the cost of the legislation would not exceed $400 billion. The roll call vote was held open an unprecedented three hours while House leadership tried to persuade reluctant GOP opponents of the bill to change their vote. The House Ethics Committee is investigating accusations of bribery related to the vote of Representative Nick Smith (R-MI), who refused to change his vote against the bill.

President Bush signed the measure on December 8th, but on January 29th created an uproar when he announced that the new law would cost one third more — $534 billion instead of $400 billion. According to Medicare’s chief actuary, Richard Foster, Bush Administration staff threatened to fire him if he gave Congress data showing the higher costs. Mr. Foster said that top Administration officials were aware of the higher cost estimates and forbid him from sharing them with Congress since June of 2003.

The General Accounting Office (GAO) and the Congressional Research Service (CRS) were asked to investigate whether federal laws had been violated. The nonpartisan CRS said that Bush Administration staff appear to have violated federal law and that, “Political gamesmanship must yield to the clear public interest of providing elected representatives in Congress with accurate and truthful information upon which to effectively fashion the laws for the nation.”

On March 23rd the Medicare Trustees dropped a bombshell when they released their annual report. TSCL was aghast to learn that the Medicare Part A Hospital Trust Fund lost seven years of solvency since the report just one year ago, in part due to the new drug legislation. The League was also very troubled to learn that because of substantial increases in spending under the new Medicare drug legislation, the Medicare Part B premium for 2005 must be increased by 17%. The new legislation significantly increases payments to doctors, HMOs, hospitals, and other providers this year even though the main drug benefit does not start until 2006. TSCL is concerned that a non-political staff member of the government, Medicare actuary Richard Foster, may have been inappropriately threatened to prevent him from releasing crucial cost information. We will continue to follow the repercussions of the law and the surrounding debate and issues that led to its passage.

Sources: “Democrats Demand Inquiry Into Charge By Medicare Officer,” Robert Pear, The New York Times, March 14, 2004. “Inquiry Set on Bribery Claim in Medicare Vote, ” Sheryl Gay Stolberg, The New York Times, March 18, 2004. “Senate Democrats Claim Medicare Chief Broke Law,” Sheryl Gay Stolberg, The New York Times, March 19, 2004. “Memo regarding: Prohibiting a Federal Officer From Providing Accurate Cost Information to Congress,” Jack Maskell, Legislative Attorney, The Congressional Research Service, April 26, 2004.

May 2004