LAWMAKERS PUSH BUSH TO REPEAL MEDICARE PART D
Key Republican lawmakers say the threat of the majority losing control of one or both houses in the upcoming mid-term elections, along with Bush's falling poll numbers, could convince the administration to delay or repeal implementation of the Medicare prescription drug benefit.
During a recent media briefing in Washington, D.C., Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) argued that a potential backlash from seniors and other constituents over the Medicare Part D program could continue to hurt the president's poll numbers and cause Republicans to lose seats in the upcoming mid-term election. This development could help convince the White House, along with leadership in both houses, to delay or drop the plan, the lawmakers said.
Senate and House leadership, including Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), recently rejected the idea. The thought of delaying the Medicare drug benefit has also been discarded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). "We're going to implement this on time," CMS spokesman Peter Ashkenaz told FDAnews late last month.
But McCain and Flake said political factors could change the administration's stance on the Rx benefit. While the lawmakers have argued that funding needs for Hurricane Katrina recovery should drive the move, politics might have to do. "If we can't do this for policy reasons, we should do this for political reasons, as Republicans," Flake said.
Flake said seniors would blame Republicans for the plan's flaws as well as its high costs, hurting the party's prospects in the 2006 mid-term elections. All of the House and a third of the Senate will be up for re-election in November 2006, Flake said. The cost of the Part D program combined with a gap in coverage that could leave 4 million seniors without healthcare will leave the Republican party "in danger of losing one or more houses of Congress," Flake predicted.
Starting Jan. 1, 2006, the Medicare Rx benefit is expected to account for roughly 40 percent of all prescriptions dispensed in the U.S. Cost estimates for the benefit, which passed Congress in 2003, were originally estimated at $400 billion over 10 years. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office in March estimated the plan's price tag would rise to $850 billion over 10 years. But some lawmakers have predicted the costs will top $1 trillion.