Bush signs historic Medicare changes

WASHINGTON -- President Bush Monday signed into law the most far-reaching changes in Medicare in nearly four decades, an overhaul that includes for the first time a prescription-drug benefit for seniors.\nBush said the measure, estimated to cost $400 billion over the next 10 years, would give older Americans "better choices and more control over their health care, so they can receive the modern medical care they deserve."\nHe signed the bill amid great fanfare in front of an audience of seniors and congressional leaders in the Daughters of the American Revolution's Constitution Hall.\n"Our government is finally bringing prescription drug coverage to the seniors of America," Bush declared.\nThe new law will carry out the most extensive changes since Medicare's creation in 1965. It adds a prescription drug benefit beginning in 2006. At the same time, it encourages insurance companies to offer private plans to millions of older Americans who now receive health care benefits under terms fixed by the federal government. Leading Democrats have charged this would lead to the destruction of the Medicare program as it was designed at its inception during the Johnson administration.\nBeginning next May, seniors can buy a Medicare-approved discount card for $30 or less to help offset the growing costs of prescriptions.\nBush had promised such a measure as part of his 2000 presidential campaign, seeking to capitalize on an issue usually associated with Democrats. However, the GOP-written legislation has come under fire from all nine Democratic presidential candidates, a host of Democratic lawmakers and some fiscal conservatives opposed to its price tag.\nBush spoke in front of a large blue banner with a prescription sign and the words: "Keeping Our Promise to Seniors."\n"I'm pleased that all of you are here to witness the greatest advance in health care coverage for America's seniors since the founding of Medicare," the president said.\nHe said then-President Lyndon Johnson, when he signed the Medicare Act of 1965, established "a solemn promise to America's seniors. We have pledged to help our citizens find affordable medical care in the later years of life."\n"And today, by reforming and modernizing this vital program, we are honoring the commitments of Medicare to all our seniors," Bush said.\nBush sought to emphasize bipartisan support for the bill, mentioning the backing for the overhaul by Sens Max Baucus, D-Mont., and John Breaux, D-La. He also praised William Novelli, the chief executive of AARP, a senior's group, for backing the bill.\nAnd on Capitol Hill, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said "the long-term capability of the Medicare program, the future of America's health care system and the seeds of fiscal security for a century are all right here."\n"Democratic leaders have lashed out at us, at the president and AARP," the Texas Republican said. "But Democrats have no one to blame but themselves for their abject failure on health care.We wanted a bill, they just wanted an issue, and now the American people know who took their concerns seriously."\nThe overhaul includes a wide array of other pilot programs that are meant to tweak the Medicare system and will add to the cost of the changes that Bush signed into law Monday.\nOne of the costliest among them sets aside $500 million for a two-year, six-state effort for at least 50,000 patients to cover a limited category of self-administered prescription drugs. "No less than 40 percent of the funding shall be for oral cancer," Congress directed in a report accompanying the bill.\nOther programs are designed to help health care providers and their patients, including a two-year program to cover chiropractic services without prior approval by a medical doctor.\nOthers are aimed at attacking waste, such as a three-year provision to allow Medicare to contract with private firms for "identifying underpayments and overpayments and recouping overpayments."\nThe new law encourages insurance companies to offer private plans to millions of older Americans who now receive health care benefits under terms fixed by the government.\nEven before he was to sign the legislation in a campaign-style event, Democrats stepped up their criticism.\nHouse Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and other opponents scheduled a rally with seniors to underscore their claim the measure threatens Medicare's future.\nEven some of Bush's fellow conservatives have questioned the price tag of the reforms, which come at a time when next year's budget deficit is projected to be some $500 billion. "The U.S. budget is out of control," Goldman Sachs economists said last month.