President Bush urged Congress yesterday to work together to produce a final Medicare bill, though he gave no specific direction on how to resolve issues holding up its passage.
Mr. Bush emerged “optimistic” from a bipartisan meeting with House and Senate conference members on prescription-drug coverage for Medicare recipients.
“Today we … had a good and frank discussion about the need to work together to get a Medicare bill that modernizes the system, that fulfills the promises to America’s seniors,” Mr. Bush said.
Some conference members have held a series of closed-door meetings to hash out differences, but none of the major issues has been resolved. It remains unclear whether the final bill will look more like the Republican-crafted House bill or the more bipartisan Senate bill.
Among the issues is whether to require Medicare to compete directly with private health plans starting in 2010, as proposed in House legislation.
House and Senate Republican leaders this week gave the conference a deadline of Oct. 17 to produce a bill, hoping this would facilitate progress on tough issues.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, conference members said Mr. Bush urged bipartisan cooperation but did not go into details.
“He left the specifics to the Congress,” said Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican and Senate Finance Committee chairman. “He was talking more in terms of … the political reality of getting something done and people cooperating.”
Mr. Bush did say the drug benefit must be available to all Medicare beneficiaries and that private health plans should be involved in delivering it, Mr. Grassley said. The 2010 competition provisions were not discussed.
Some House conservatives say the president’s push for bipartisan cooperation means the final bill will move away from the House bill and toward a Democrat proposal.
“If the White House is dead set on getting a bill, America’s going to get a Democrat bill,” said Rep. Mike Pence, an Indiana Republican who is not a member of the Medicare conference. “A large number of House conservatives will not go along with creating the largest new entitlement since 1965.”
Many House conservatives are concerned about cost and insist on major Medicare reforms, including the 2010 provisions. They also want means testing of the drug benefit, meaning wealthier seniors would receive less government aid.
But a conservative-leaning bill likely would not get through the Senate, and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, has said he will filibuster any final bill that includes means testing.
Some House conservatives may push this issue next week by offering a floor motion instructing the conference to include means testing.
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