Bill would radically remake Medicare
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President Bush pushes Congress to pass a Medicare overhaul that would add prescription drug coverage.
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The fate of the Medicare prescription drug bill rests with 100 senators after the measure narrowly passed the House, which endured a dusk-to-dawn debate capped by the longest roll call vote in the chamber's history.
President Bush, eager to sign the bill and promote it on the campaign trail, praised the action in a statement and in his radio address broadcast hours after the early Saturday vote. "We're on the verge of success" of modernizing and strengthening Medicare, he said.
The measure would give 40 million older and disabled Americans a prescription drug benefit and a new option for private health care coverage.
The Senate began an expected three days of debate soon after Bush spoke. But there signs that the partisan struggle in the House would not be repeated in the Senate.
"I think you'll see an entirely different atmosphere in the Senate," said Sen. John Breaux, D-La., one of the architects of the compromise.
The bill drew the support of 204 Republicans and 16 Democrats, many of whom waited until the bill appeared on the verge of passage in the final moments of the roll call before swinging behind it. Voting no were 189 Democrats, 25 Republicans and 1 independent.
As written, the legislation would virtually remake Medicare.
For the first time, older Americans earning more than $80,000 a year would be required to pay a higher premium for their Part B non-hospital coverage under Medicare.
For the first time, the legislation would also require those older Americans with annual incomes over $80,000 to pay higher premiums under Medicare Part B, which covers services outside the hospital.
Additionally, it would establish new tax-preferred health accounts, open to individuals with high-deductible insurance policies.
The tax provision and the requirement for higher premiums were part of an effort to appeal to conservatives who favor transforming Medicare and restraining its cost, yet find creation of the new prescription drug benefit distasteful.
Many Democrats argued that some of the conservative-backed elements of the bill were too dear a price to pay for the drug benefit -- particularly a provision creating a limited experiment in direct competition between private plans and traditional Medicare beginning in 2010.
Conservatives said just the opposite.
Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Florida, fielded an afternoon phone call from Bush, who was flying home from England aboard Air Force One. "I basically said it was a matter of principle, that I came to Washington not to ratify and to expand Great Society programs," said the first-term lawmaker. "He wasn't happy to hear that."
Copyright 2003 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
