Medicare outrage ALL the candidates need to see and speak on.

[madfloridian]

Kerry, Gephardt, Lieberman, Kucinich: Call Mr. Scully on this horrible stance he has taken.....or did take in June. I did not hear a word then.

It has been archived. I will post part here. Google no longer carries archived articles in cache very often. That really worries me. This article is very powerful and very scary, and they all need to confront Thomas Scully on this outrage. I will post as much as I can of the article, and hope that someone knows where to find the whole thing. I have it cached on my harddrive, as I mailed it to myself. I wonder if that means I can post it all?

White House Won't Release Medicare Memo
Wed Jun 25, 6:47 PM ET Add Politics - U. S. Congress to My Yahoo!

By LAURA MECKLER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration's top Medicare accountant has calculated how millions of senior citizens would be affected by bringing private managed care into the program, but the administration won't release the information.

An earlier analysis suggested that a Republican plan to inject market forces into Medicare could increase premiums for those who stay in traditional programs by as much as 25 percent. If that's still the case, it could help Democrats who argue that the GOP plan is risky for those who want to stay in traditional Medicare, where they can pick any doctor, rather than move to a managed care plan.

The administration's Medicare chief threatened to fire his top actuary, Rick Foster, if Foster released his calculations to Capitol Hill Democrats who requested the analysis, officials said.

Medicare chief Tom Scully said in an interview Wednesday that Democrats had no right to request the information from Foster in the first place.

"They don't have the right on the Hill to call up my actuary and demand things," said Scully, chief of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. "These people work for the executive branch, period."......"

I would love to hear our candidates speak up on this issue. Why do we have no right to see how many will be affected? Doesn't this country belong to us as well?

A little more since the article is so long gone:
SNIP....""We're at the end of the Medicare debate," Scully said. "People are looking for bombs to throw."

Officials on Capitol Hill and at the Department of Health and Human Services said Scully threatened to fire Foster if he released his memo. Scully said that was an exaggeration, saying his comments were just "heated rhetoric in middle of the night."

Democrats responded by pointing to legislative language approved in 1997 that specifically requires the top Medicare actuary to answer questions from Congress.

"While the chief actuary is an official within the administration, this individual and his or her office often must work with the committees of jurisdiction in the development of legislation," said the legislative report......"

The article was also at Salon, but I can not paste the whole thing without violating copyright.

[acmavm]

1. I think it went pretty much the same way as most of these things go when

the Bush administration is asked to answer questions. They stall and stall, and finally some new obscenity that they pull takes everyone's mind off it.

So far, this tactic has worked. It even looks like it's working in regard to Joseph Wilson's wife. If Asscroft stalls a while longer, it'll just be yesterday's news. Like demanding answers from Cheney about who sat in on his energy panel. These people are untouchable as long as the repukes are in control of the house and senate.

If the people want answers to these questions, they will have to start making a ruckus. A big ruckus. And they had better do it quick, before the next election.

[rog]

2. Here's a link

White House won't release Medicare memo (looks like the same article)
http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030626/71717.html
By LAURA MECKLER
Associated Press Writer

Scully said he would release the analysis "if I feel like it."

Here's an article from Pete Stark's website.

http://www.house.gov/stark/news/108th/cmsactuary.htm

"All we're asking for is an analysis of how the Republicans' plan to privatize Medicare will affect Part B premiums and the level of subsidies that will be provided to private plans in comparison to traditional Medicare. The CMS Actuary did a similar memo for us in February of 2000 that showed that the Part B premiums would increase by 47%," continued Rep. Stark.

Concluded Rep. Stark, "If that calculation still holds, the Republican plan would increase Part B premiums to approximately $106.20 and add at least another $35 in a drug premium. Seniors would be paying at least $142 a month. Is that a weapon of mass destruction for America's seniors that this Administration is trying to hide?"

.rog.

[madfloridian]

6. Thanks for the links!

Funny the NC one did not show up on my google search. I had 3 pages and none had the full article.

:kick:

Kicking in hopes some candidates will speak out for us on these topics. It is hard to find info on the status of the plans they are putting forth.

[dweller]

3. try here

http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030626/71717.html


came up at the top of a google search on the title.

dp

[teryang]

4. Interesting, Congress has no right to actuarial info?

This is another unconstitutional principle announced by the fascist junta.

Who appropriates the money? Who has the constitutional duty to inform the public about how money will be spent?

[dweller]

5. more rhetoric from the 'who cares what you think' bunch

in answer to your question,

Scully said he would release the analysis "if I feel like it."


so there.

dp