Secretary Thompson Talks About His Plans for HCFA, Medicare Reform
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson has "some notions" for Medicare reform, a
prescription drug benefit and health coverage for the uninsured that he "wants to talk up," the Scripps Howard News Service/Memphis Commercial Appeal reports. Thompson's "plainspoken style" has already landed him "in the doghouse a couple of times." "I'm still learning that you have to check with everybody around here before you speak," he told a group of health reporters earlier this week. Still, Thompson has "look[ed] under the hood" of HCFA, concluding that the agency requires "better equipment" and -- "even more urgently" -- a new computer system. President Bush has proposed $35 million for computer improvements in his budget, which Thompson said "would just [be] a down payment." In addition, Thompson said he hopes to "scrap" Medicare's system of using dozens of private insurers to pay claims filed by doctors and hospitals, "cutting the number down" to about five or 10 through a "competitive process." He said he would also "like to turn" to competitive bidding for a number of Medicare services, a proposal that the health care industry has "quashed for decades." To help the uninsured, Thompson said he hopes to "streamline" the process for states applying for Medicaid waivers and to expand CHIP to "start covering parents." In addition, he said that while Congress may "want to do more" than Bush's "Immediate Helping Hand" plan does to provide prescription drug coverage for seniors, he said he has "heard from a growing list" of governors that they would support Bush's proposal "if lawmakers can't agree on anything more sweeping" (Bowman, Scripps Howard News Service/Memphis Commercial Appeal, 3/27).
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