Roybal Sees OK of Medicare Aid Expansion

A major expansion of Medicare benefits to offer unlimited days of hospital care and some reimbursement for prescription drugs has the strong backing of Democratic leadership “down the line” and will be approved by the House later this month, Rep. Edward R. Roybal (D-Los Angeles) said Friday.

Although the Reagan Administration is sharply critical of the potential cost of the program, “it makes so much sense I think the President would hesitate before he would veto it,” Roybal, chairman of the House Aging Committee, said in a telephone interview.

Ceiling on Doctor Fees

Under the program, the patient would pay $520 for the first day of hospital care and then receive full coverage for all subsequent days. Current law requires patients to pay $130 a day after the first 60 days of a hospital stay. The Medicare expansion would put a limit of $1,000 on beneficiaries’ outlays for physicians’ charges. Currently, Medicare pays 80% of charges, with no ceiling on patients’ out-of-pocket expenses.

Prescription drugs would be included in Medicare for the first time. The beneficiary would pay the first $500 in drug costs each year, and then 20% of any remaining bills.

Roybal and Rep. Claude Pepper (D-Fla.) had also proposed a full home health care benefit, costing $6 billion, with Medicare paying for homemakers and other helpers for invalids in their homes. But, in return for a promise by the Democratic leadership to hold a vote on that proposal later in the year, the two lawmakers agreed not to attach it to the Medicare legislative package.