Truth about Medicare reform must not be kept from public

A report from the inspector general's office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on last year's overhaul of the Medicare program is not worth the paper it's written on -- and it certainly is not worthy of consideration by Congress.
Indeed, HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson should retract the report and pledge that his department will fully cooperate with the General Services Administration, Congress' investigative arm, which is seeking to answer this important question: Did the Bush administration's withholding of information on the potential cost of overhauling Medicare violate federal laws, especially those pertaining to congressional appropriations?
While some Republicans on Capitol Hill may want to sweep this issue under the political rug, we believe a full investigation is warranted -- if for no other reason than to determine when President Bush learned that the Medicare prescription-drug program he strongly lobbied Congress to pass last year carried a $551 billion price. That figure was $116 billion more than the estimate lawmakers had been given by the Congressional Budget Office.
Testimony
In April, Richard Foster, former top financial analyst for the Medicare program, testified before the House Ways and Means Committee that he told the president's chief health-policy adviser and others in the administration in June that the drug program might cost $511 billion in the first 10 years.
After the passage of the president's Medicare initiative, the administration revealed that the $395 billion price was on the low side.
Foster also contended that he believed in June he would be fired by Thomas Scully, who was the Medicare administrator at the time, if he responded to requests from members of Congress on how much specific provisions of the bill would cost and how the legislation would affect traditional Medicare program.
Scully has said that the firing threat was not serious.
So how does the inspector general of the health and human services department address this issue? By contending that the dispute between Foster and Scully was a personnel matter. According to Bill Pierce, HHS spokesman, the report "shows that then-CMS Administrator Tom Scully acted within his legal authority" in controlling the flow of information from Foster's office.
Controlling the flow of information? That's another way of saying the administration had the authority to cover up the truth about the cost of overhauling the Medicare program.
Vital legislation
But as Rep. Charles Rangel, D-New York, noted, "The Congress did not have the best information available to make a judgment on vital legislation. The law is clear that we were entitled to this information. We asked for it. We were not given it."
It is noteworthy that during last year's debate on the bill, the Bush administration said it would not support a prescription drug benefit that cost taxpayers more than $400 billion over 10 years.
The HHS inspector general's report is nothing more than a continuation of the administration's attempt to keep the truth hidden from the American people. It must not succeed.