House Delays Medicare Competitive Bidding Program

On Tuesday, the House approved a measure that would delay the launch of Medicare's competitive bidding on medical equipment for 18 months. According to an editorial, "This backtracking inevitably makes one wonder if major reform will ever be possible in a medical marketplace dominated by imperfect government bureaucracies and private lobbyists bent on resisting governmental reforms."

• "High Medicare Costs, Courtesy of Congress" (Leonhardt, New York Times, 6/25).
  
• "Medicare Savings vs. the Lobbyists" (New York Times, 6/25).