Secretary Thompson Discusses Medicare, Patient Privacy on Fox News
On Fox News' "Hannity & Colmes" last night, HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson commented on Medicare's trust fund surplus and medical privacy regulations. Co-host Alan Colmes asked Thompson to respond to Boston Globe Columnist Thomas Oliphant, who criticized President Bush's budget, saying that the "basic Bush tax cut proposal cannot fly, as a matter of arithmetic -- forget the merits a minute -- unless the unqualified, hands-off approach to Social Security trust fund surpluses is abandoned in the care of Medicare." Denying Oliphant's charge, Thompson said, "The money is there for both the tax cut and a ... contingency fund and for money for Medicare. It's $526 billion for [the] Medicare trust fund. And tonight the House Budget Committee passed a resolution setting aside that $526 billion for three things: for Medicare, for prescription drugs or for paying down the debt, which is still part of keeping it for Medicare. So the money is there, and there still will be $1.6 billion for the tax cut." In addition, Thompson said that a tax cut is "the right thing to do for America and for the economy, and Bush is absolutely correct on it."
'Can't Comment' on Privacy
Completing a two-part discussion, program co-host Sean Hannity asked Thompson about the status of new federal patient privacy regulations, an executive order from former President Clinton, that would provide the government and insurance companies with access to medical records. Thompson said, "Well, there's no question that the privacy regulations are going to cost a lot of money ... they are expensive and they are complicated. But we want to make sure that we protect patients' rights." Hannity read a letter to Thompson from House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R), where Armey noted that the new rules "require doctors, hospitals and other health care providers to share patients' personal medical records with the federal government, sometimes without notice or advanced warning." After hearing the letter, Thompson responded, "[R]ight now we're in the comment period, so I can't get into the intricate details of the privacy rules. But I can tell you we're reviewing them. We're going through the comment period." When asked if he could guarantee HHS would change the rules, Thompson said, "I can't guarantee that, but I can tell you that I do have the authority to rewrite it, to suspend it, to postpone it or to let it go into effect the way it is. And right now, I can't comment on what I'm going to do because what we have in the federal law ... is a comment period so people like yourself and anybody else that's watching ... your program can write in and tell me what should be done ("Hannity & Colmes," Fox News, 3/22).
