GOVERNMENT & MEDICINE

Hot on the Hill: congressional health agenda

Will the second time be the charm for health care legislation that was stymied by partisan fighting last year?

By Joel B. Finkelstein, AMNews staff. Feb. 3, 2003.

The 108th Congress is expected to shock new life into a health care agenda that had gone into full arrest by the end of last year.

Republicans and Democrats seem to agree on the issues that need to be tackled this year. That should come as no surprise, since lawmakers debated virtually all of the topics in the 107th Congress but failed to pass legislation to address them.

But President Bush and Republican congressional leaders are promising progress this year. With control of both the House and Senate, Republicans may have more success bringing proposed health care legislation to the floor for a vote. Democrats held a narrow Senate majority last year, and partisan bickering in that chamber led to the demise of many bills favored by Bush and passed by the GOP-controlled House.

Before seeing any action on their priorities, however, the health care community likely must wait for Congress to pass the 11 fiscal-year 2003 appropriations bills, which at press time had not been voted on. Bush's proposed tax cut plan also could put health care initiatives in jeopardy in what promises to be a tight budget year.

Here is a summary of the issues on lawmakers' to-do list this year.

At the top of the list is a Medicare outpatient prescription drug benefit. Negotiations broke down last year over the cost and structure of such a benefit. Proposals ranged from $190 billion to $300 billion and offered varying levels of coverage or discounts depending on beneficiary income.

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