Whatever merits one may ascribe to the recently enacted Medicarelaw, it has aggravated, not controlled, rapidly rising Medicarecosts. Its major feature is a massive entitlement expansion, but italso embodies some bad health care policy: There is no need for thefederal government to displace existing drug coverage, pre-empt newprivate-sector options, or accelerate the loss of employer-baseddrug coverage.
President Bush, in developing his own legislative reform proposalfor Medicare, can build on the best of the Breaux-Frist proposals,which promise a good start to this year's debate on Medicarereform.