MEDICARE BARTER: Clinton Offers Tax Cuts for Senior Drugs

      President Clinton yesterday said he would take the lead in working with Congress to pass Medicare reform, even giving Republicans a tax cut if they allow "the right kind" of reform. He said, "If we can get agreement on the fundamentals of this ... then I think there is enough funding left over, given this new budget, that we can probably make it a kind of omnibus agreement covering other things." He said he will ask congressional leaders of both parties to join him at the White House the first day back after the Independence Day recess. "What I want to come out of it, more than anything else, is a common commitment to the goal -- in other words, if the leaders will all say, 'We want to do this and we think we can.' That will send a signal to the rank-and-file in both caucuses that this is something we're really going to try to do," said Clinton (Page/Hall, USA Today, 7/2). Meanwhile, Senate Finance Committee Chair William Roth (R-DE) sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) yesterday, asking that all on-budget surplus funds next year be devoted to a tax cut, and all on-budget surpluses for the next nine years go toward Medicare reform, including a prescription drug benefit. Roth said, "It is important that these funds not be dedicated to other spending purposes until Medicare reform has gone forward." House Budget Committee Chair John Kasich (R-OH), speaking at a press conference with Senate Budget Committee Chair Pete Domenici (R-NM), also stressed the importance of "real entitlement reform, including the Medicare prescription drug benefit" (Norton, CongressDaily/A.M., 7/2).

Two Men, Two Parties, Two Chambers
      Appearing last night on CNN's "Crossfire," Sen. John Breaux (D- LA), co-chair of the defunct National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare, expressed cautious support for the president's plan. He said, "A prescription drug today is as important as a hospital bed back in 1965 was. ... What the president has proposed, while not perfect, as we say in Washington -- it moves the ball down the field. It's a movement in the right direction. ... I think it doesn't meet the criteria that I would like to see in terms of how we handle prescription drugs, and the competition in it is not enough competition. I call it a second cousin to real competition. But you know, in some states they marry second cousins, so it's an opportunity to bring this together" (CNN, "Crossfire," 7/1).
      Rep. Tom Coburn (R-OK) yesterday held a press conference to criticize the president's plan as unsound and too costly. He said it would result in increased premiums, even for seniors who spend less then $100 per year on drugs; would jeopardize the drug coverage most seniors already have through private sources; would force taxpayers to bear the burden of financing the benefit; and relies on budget projections that are too optimistic. Coburn said, "As a practicing physician, I understand how difficult it is for seniors to pay the high cost of prescription drugs. Unfortunately the president's plan will make it more difficult for our seniors to purchase those drugs. His plan is good politics, but bad medicine" (release, 7/1).