Elections boost GOP health care agenda

This year's unfinished business -- Medicare prescription drugs, medical tort reform and health insurance access -- will spill over into next Congress.

By Joel B. Finkelstein, AMNews staff. Nov. 25, 2002.

Washington -- Now that Republicans control both the House and Senate, President Bush's health care plans are expected to take center stage, according to political analysts. That will shift the tenor of the debate on a variety of physician issues, from liability insurance reform and health insurance access to Medicare prescription drugs and patient protections.

But with the GOP maintaining only a narrow majority in the Senate, the Republican health agenda will not necessarily be a slam dunk. Republicans could still face stiff opposition from Senate Democrats.

A top item on Republicans' list of health care initiatives will be passing a Medicare prescription drug benefit.

GOP control of both chambers of Congress gives a boost to the Republican vision of a drug program -- one that relies on private insurers to offer the benefit. But Democrats will still push for their proposal, which includes a federally managed benefit.

The price tag will continue to cause controversy. Democrats favor spending far more on a drug benefit.

President Bush will have to remain flexible on appropriations levels to avoid getting bogged down in opposition as congressional Democrats try to increase funding levels. The sluggish economy and Republicans' attempts to pass new tax cuts could make funding a drug benefit program that much more difficult, political analysts said.

But despite tight economic times, "we are going to have a prescription drug benefit pushed through," predicted Norman J. Ornstein, PhD, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. [...]