//: Frist Expects Congress to Try to Expand Health Coverage; Too Expensive at Present

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Maybe if they spent more money HERE at home instead of spending it all over seas, we could EASILY have health care coverage for EVERYONE

 

 

Frist Expects Congress to Try to Expand Health CoverageBy ROBERT PEARNY TIMESPublished: February 7, 2004WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 ­ The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, said on Friday that "it is impossible" to have all Americans covered by health insurance, but he predicted that Congress would take incremental steps to expand coverage this year. Dr. Frist, a Tennessee Republican, said his state was "going bankrupt" as a result of trying to achieve universal insurance coverage."It is impossible to get everybody covered," Dr. Frist said at a meeting with journalists. "It's impossible to get to 100 percent." Coverage for the uninsured is emerging as a significant issue in the elections this year. The major Democratic candidates for president say the nation faces a crisis of soaring health costs and declining coverage. They have offered solutions more sweeping and more expensive than those proposed by President Bush.From 2000 to 2002, the most recent year for which official figures are available, the number of uninsured shot up more than 9 percent, to 43.6 million, the Census Bureau says. Dr. Frist, a principal architect of the new law to provide prescription drug benefits to the elderly, accused Democrats of waging "huge campaigns to discredit" the law. He expressed concern that their criticism might sway voters."Democrats right now are out banging this thing and using very partisan criticism, trying to tear it down, because they see that it is a huge leap forward," Dr. Frist said.Mr. Bush takes credit for adding drug benefits to Medicare, a goal that long eluded Democrats. But Democrats are determined to turn the issue to their advantage by highlighting what they see as defects in the law."This is an opportunity for Democrats, but they must seize it and work to define the terms of the debate," says a memorandum for Congressional Democrats by Al Quinlan, president of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, a political consulting concern. "It is critical to engage aggressively and not allow Bush and the Republicans to shape the dialogue."To win the debate, the memorandum said, Democrats should "define the current law as unacceptable, not as something that can be fixed." Though "voters start with a slight inclination to support the law," it continued, they swing decisively against it when they are told that Medicare beneficiaries will face high out-of-pocket costs, high drug prices and gaps in coverage.The drug benefit will become available in 2006. The Bush administration said on Friday that premiums would average $36 a month, rising to $37 in 2007 and $41 in 2008.Those figures are similar to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office, even though the administration says the benefit and the law in general will cost the Treasury much more than Congress assumed when it passed the measure in November."The new Medicare drug benefit will be affordable for seniors and disabled Americans," the health and human services secretary, Tommy G. Thompson, said.People who delay signing up for the drug benefit will be subject to financial penalties if they want it later. Their premiums would increase by 1 percent for each month of delayed enrollment.Dr. Frist said he opposed efforts to reopen the Medicare law this year because he believed it should have a chance to work."I have not seen a proposed change that I am supportive of yet," he said.In addition, Dr. Frist took issue with several proposals in Mr. Bush's budget. He said he would fight to preserve federal support to train health professionals. Mr. Bush proposed to cut "health professions training activities" by 96 percent, to $11 million, eliminating several programs for rural areas and for members of minorities.Dr. Frist said he would also try to obtain $50 million for research that systematically compares the clinical effectiveness of different drugs prescribed for the same illness. The Medicare law authorized up to $50 million, but Mr. Bush did not include any of the money in his budget this week.The majority leader said he would again try to limit awards in medical malpractice cases but would take a new tack, relief to specific types of health care providers like obstetricians and trauma centers.The House has passed a bill that would limit payments for noneconomic damages like pain and suffering to $250,000. But Dr. Frist said, "I am not fixed on the cap, on any single number."http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/07/politics/07HEAL.html?th