Congress' fierce Medicare debate spilled across the Capitol on Friday as Democrats staged a protest hearing in the rain and Senate Republicans proposed gradually raising the eligibility age from 65 to 67.
Under the Senate GOP plan, seniors would be required to pay the first $150 in doctor bills next year - up from the current $100 deductible - with annual increases of $10 through 2002. That would bring the deductible to $210 that year."We know that if the Republicans would only drop their trickle-down tax breaks, they simply wouldn't need to ravage Medicare," said House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, presiding over the soggy outdoor session.
But Speaker Newt Gingrich said the Democrats had nothing constructive to offer. "Instead of meeting in a room and doing the hard work of trying to save our parents and our grandparents and make sure their Medicare is okay, all they've got are press conferences and a great deal of nasty attacks," he said on NBC's "Today" program.
Undeterred by the criticism, Republicans pressed ahead with other elements of their plan to balance the budget over seven years.
The House Commerce Committee passed legislation that would force $182 billion in savings from Medicaid and end the federal guarantee of health care for the poor and disabled. Only one Democrat voted in favor of the GOP plan to convert the program to a "block grant" to be run by the states.
"We are on the verge of transforming the fastest-growing entitlement program in America," said Rep. Thomas J. Bliley, Jr., chairman of the panel.
But Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., protested that without the federal guarantees in place, the number of Americans without health insurance could skyrocket to 80 million.
Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee detailed their blueprint for saving $270 billion from Medicare over seven years. It is similar to the proposal backed by Gingrich in the House but differs in certain key aspects.
The Senate Finance Committee plan would raise Medicare Part B premiums - for doctor and other non-hospital care - for all seniors faster than current law, and would require wealthier beneficiaries to pay up to three times as much. That's in keeping with the House proposal.
The House would leave the current $100 deductible untouched while the Senate would raise it to $150.
The Senate plan had a surprise: boosting the eligibility age in steps from 65 to 67 between 2003 and 2027, as full Social Security eligibility rises. As a result, everyone born since 1938 would have to wait longer for Medicare; those born since 1960 would have to wait until age 67.