Bush pushes pact on Medicare

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President Bush yesterday told Congress to pass a compromise Medicare agreement quickly and send it to the White House for his signature, as lawmakers released the first details of the plan, the result of months of negotiations.

"I know I will be actively pushing the bill because it conforms to the principles I laid out, of prescription drugs for our seniors, choice for seniors, accountability for the Medicare plan," Mr. Bush told reporters at the White House after returning from a weekend at Camp David.

"On Medicare, it looks like there's agreement in principle to provide our seniors with a modern Medicare plan, and that's very positive news. I urge the members of the House and the Senate to take a look at it, vote it and get it to my desk as soon as possible," Mr. Bush said.

However, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, said, "Republicans are committed to undermining Medicare" and predicted that the agreement would not pass the Senate. Some conservatives also expressed disappointment at the agreement.

Mr. Kennedy denied that he is under pressure by Democrats to block passage in order to rob Mr. Bush of a pre-election victory for giving the program its largest expansion since it was created in 1965.

"I think what the Democrats have to do is set the bar high ... that's why we're in public life and why we're in the Senate," Mr. Kennedy said yesterday on the CBS talk show "Face the Nation."

Capitol Hill negotiators released a six-page summary of the 10-year Medicare prescription-drug bill, which is required by this year's budget law to cost no more than $400 billion. The key provision would give millions of seniors prescription-drug coverage for the first time for a premium of about $35 a month.

For those seniors who choose to stay with traditional Medicare, the drug benefit would be provided by private insurers. Or seniors could choose a new option under the Medicare law that would let private insurers provide comprehensive health insurance, including prescription drugs.

The bill would provide a "fallback" government-guaranteed drug benefit for seniors if two or more private plans did not enter an area -- an idea of Senate Democrats.