Representative William Thomas News Today

Premium support proposals to reform the Medicare program would provide beneficiaries with a financial contribution to purchase Medicare coverage. While versions differ in detail, they contain several core elements and have been refined over more than 15 years

Whatever merits one may ascribe to the recently enacted Medicarelaw, it has aggravated, not controlled, rapidly rising Medicarecosts. Its major feature is a massive entitlement expansion, but italso embodies some bad health care policy: There is no need for thefederal government to displace existing drug coverage, pre-empt newprivate-sector options, or accelerate the loss of employer-baseddrug coverage.

The future of health care in America looks grim—but it does not have to be. Representative Paul Ryan (R–WI) has proposed “A Roadmap for America’s Future”—the only comprehensive plan in Washington that deals with the looming fiscal and economic crisis, driven by ever-increasing government spending on health care. Ryan’s Roadmap would reduce the deficit, allow Medicare to become truly sustainable, establish equity and efficiency in the federal tax treatment of health insurance, and i...

Congress and the Clinton Administration have the unprecedentedopportunity to enact into law a reform of Medicare that willaddress the program's long-term benefit and deep-seatedshortcomings.

Despite being billed as "Comprehensive Trade Negotiating AuthorityLegislation," H.R. 3019 is not a trade promotion authority bill. Inreality, it is designed to appeal to special interests and wouldactually inhibit the ability of the president to negotiate tradeagreements.

BG1294ES: Reorganizing the Medicare System to Ensure a BetterProgram for Seniors