The National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a proposal to reshape Medicare-and the agency that runs it, the Health Care Financing Administration.
Key members of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare this past weekend continued discussing options for a prescription drug benefit and other reforms, and were slated to meet again yesterday. Sen. John Breaux, D-La., the commission's chairman, is trying to lure presidential appointees Laura Tyson and Stuart Altman onto his Medicare reform plan, which would give beneficiaries the option of purchasing subsidized private health insurance.
Those members, along with House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., and Sens. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., and Bill Frist, R-Tenn., planned to meet again privately late Monday in an effort to reach agreement before Wednesday's scheduled full commission meeting. Breaux said Friday he likely will have the commission vote his plan up or down at that Wednesday meeting, unless he thinks more time might yield an agreement. Breaux appears to have 10 of the 11 votes from the 17-member commission that are needed to make a formal recommendation to Congress. In the absence of an agreement, Breaux has said he will introduce the plan as his own legislation.
Breaux has been making a vigorous case for his ideas directly to President Clinton, hoping the president's support can influence at least one Clinton appointee to the panel to back the Breaux proposal, according to informed sources. Breaux and Clinton have had several phone calls about the issue during the past couple of weeks, sources said. And Breaux discussed the issue with Clinton last week during a motorcade ride from the Capitol to the White House, and then during a brief meeting afterward. During the one-on-one conversation, Clinton reminded Breaux that his appointees were independent, according to one Senate aide.
But many believe Clinton has the ear of his appointees. Breaux is "trying to get [Laura] Tyson on board without losing" Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, said one knowledgeable source. Several sources described Breaux's effort as an attempt to end-run administration officials, most of whom are described as adamantly opposed to the Breaux plan.
One senior administration official said, "I believe the president will stick with" his opposition to key parts of the Breaux plan.