Medicare analyst's threat claims probed.
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| Wed, 03-17-2004 - 10:03am |
Medicare analyst's threat claims to be probed.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/8204234.htm
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A probe will focus on the claims by a cost analyst that he was ordered not to tell Congress that the Medicare prescription drug benefit was more expensive than described or be fired.
The inspector general's office will investigate whether the nation's top Medicare cost analyst was ordered not to tell Congress that the Medicare prescription drug benefit was more expensive than described or be fired.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson on Tuesday asked that his department's investigative unit probe the allegations made last week by Richard S. Foster, chief actuary for the Centers for the Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The Washington bureau of Knight Ridder, The Herald's parent company, first reported on Friday that then-Medicare Administrator Thomas Scully ordered Foster to withhold cost estimates and technical information from members of Congress. Foster found that the drug benefit could cost at least $100 billion more than the $395 billion that Congress was told when it approved the bill in November.
The higher estimate would have jeopardized passage of the White House-backed legislation because 13 conservative GOP house members had vowed to vote against the measure if it cost more than $400 billion.
Scully has denied threatening to fire Foster. He said he withheld Foster's estimates from lawmakers on only one occasion -- when he felt Democrats were trying to use them for an unfair political advantage.
Foster said a series of estimates compiled by his actuarial staff since June consistently showed that the program would cost between $100 billion and $200 billion more over its first 10 years.
Five Democratic House members requested an investigation by the inspector general last week after hearing Foster's allegations. HHS spokesman Bill Pierce said Tuesday that he expected the investigation to resolve the dispute quickly, but he couldn't give a timetable for its completion.
Thompson wants Foster to testify under oath about the cost estimates and Scully's alleged threats, Pierce said.
In an interview with Knight Ridder, Foster said Doug Badger, President Bush's chief health policy advisor, likely knew of Scully's alleged threats and the effort to withhold the information.
White House spokesman Trent Duffy said some of the higher cost estimates were shared with members of the Bush administration, but that they regarded the Congressional Budget Office's estimate of $395 billion to be the only one that mattered. Duffy said Badger didn't order Foster to withhold information from Congress.
More on the new Medicare bill................
>"Another is the White House's estimate that the Medicare benefit will cost taxpayers not $395 billion over 10 years—Congress' estimate—but $534 billion, nearly a third more. Administration officials explain the discrepancy in part by saying they assume that many more people will sign up for the benefit than Congress predicts."<
Quote from..........
Forces Gather to Push for Change in New Medicare Drug Benefit.
Proponents Defend New Law, Saying ‘Give It a Chance’.
http://www.aarp.org/bulletin/prescription/Articles/a2004-03-10-forces.html
How much Rx's will cost, from above AARP link.............
In and Out of the Doughnut Hole
If you have no other drug coverage and do not qualify for low-income subsidies, your cost share will be:
Annual Rx Costs*
You Pay
Above $5,100
5%
Next $2,850
100%
Next $2,000
25%
First $250
100%
* Figures based on standard benefit in 2006. Does not include a $35-a-month premium.
Explanation of Donut hole....
>"For them, the central issue is the gap in coverage known as the "doughnut hole." Under the standard benefit for 2006, the government will pay 75 percent of drug expenses between $250 and $2,250 a year. But after that enrollees must foot the whole bill for the next $2,850 until "catastrophic" coverage kicks in, when the government will pick up as much as 95 percent of costs.
People who qualify for low-income subsidies and those whose drug expenses rise no higher than $2,250 a year will not be affected by the doughnut hole. But there will still be a great many who, in Reischauer's words, "will feel its bite up close and personal." "<


Scully has denied threatening to fire Foster. He said he withheld Foster's estimates from lawmakers on only one occasion -- when he felt Democrats were trying to use them for an unfair political advantage.
Huh???