Medicare bill coverup? Democrats want inquiry

By Robert Pear
The New York Times

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WASHINGTON — Democrats yesterday called for an investigation of charges that the Bush administration had threatened to fire a top Medicare official if he gave data to Congress showing the high costs of hotly contested Medicare legislation.

The Democrats expressed concern about what they described as "possible intimidation" of the official, Richard Foster, chief actuary of the Medicare program.

In a letter to the inspector general at the Department of Health and Human Services, five House members said: "Throughout the debate on the Medicare bill, the legislation's cost was a central issue for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. The withholding of cost information may have impeded lawmakers' ability to engage in fair debate on the bill."

The request was made by Reps. Pete Stark of California, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, all Democrats, and Bernard Sanders of Vermont, an independent.

The final Medicare bill squeaked through the House by five votes on Nov. 22. The Senate and House passed competing versions June 27, after being assured that the 10-year cost would not exceed $400 billion, the amount proposed by President Bush.

Foster two weeks earlier had estimated that a bill similar to the Senate measure would cost $551.5 billion.

Stark said that Thomas Scully, then the top Medicare official, "told my staff that Rick Foster would be 'fired so fast his head would spin' if he released this information to us."

Foster still has his job.

In November, before final votes on the bill, administration officials repeatedly said, without qualification, that the legislation would cost no more than $400 billion over 10 years. Administration officials used estimates by the Congressional Budget Office, without citing much higher cost estimates by the Medicare actuary.

Bush signed the measure Dec. 8. The White House announced Jan. 29 that the new Medicare law would cost $534 billion.

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