By Burke J. Balch, J.D.
Director, Dep't of Medical Ethics
All but one - - the Chairman - - of the 17-members of the National Bipartisan
Commission on the Future of Medicare have now been named. This body,created
by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, is to make recommendations to Congress
by March 1, 1999, concerning the long-term restructuring of Medicare. Senate
Majority Leader Trent Lott's (R-Ms.) four appointments are Senators Phil
Gramm (R-Tx.) and William Frist, M.D. (R-Tn.), Medicare beneficiary and
Lott staff member Illene Gordon, and health care attorney Deborah Steelman.
Those named by Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) are Representatives Bill Thomas
(R-Ca.), Michael Bilirakis (R-Fl.), and Greg Ganske, M.D. (R-Ia.), as well
as Samuel Howard, president and chief executive officer of the managed care
company Phoenix Health Care Corp. of Tennessee.
Contrary to widespread rumors, Gingrich did not appoint American Association
of Retired Persons Executive Director Horace Deets, a leading opponent of
NRLC's successful efforts this summer to make it legal for Medicare beneficiaries,
if they wish, to add their own money to government payments in order to
obtain unrationed, unmanaged, private fee-for-service insurance. Deets told
reporters he was eliminated from consideration because he refused to take
a pledge "not to raise taxes" for Medicare requested by Gingrich.
President William Clinton named Laura D'Andrea Tyson, formerly of his Council
of Economic Advisors, Bruce Vladeck, previously head of the Health Care
Financing Administration, Stuart Altman, a health policy analyst from Brandeis
University, and Anthony Watson, once director of health insurance programs
for New York State. House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) appointed
Representatives John Dingell (D-Mi.), and James McDermott, M.D. (D-Wa.)
Earlier, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) had named Senators Robert
Kerrey (D-Ne.) and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV).
President Clinton, Senate Majority Leader Lott, and Speaker Gingrich were
unable to agree by the deadline on whom to name as chairman, an appointment
they must make jointly.
The National Right to Life Committee has long been concerned with the need
to prevent Medicare rationing in order to avoid the involuntary euthanasia
that would be inherent in denial of lifesaving medical treatment against
the will of the patient. Given the impending retirement of the baby boom
generation, this will inevitably result unless either taxes are substantially
raised or those eligible for Medicare are allowed to add their own money,
on top of the government payment, in order to get unrationed insurance.
For this reason, NRLC will be following the deliberations of the National
Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare.