Medicare Panel Behind Schedule but Nearly Done With Suggestions

A commission assigned to find ways to save Medicare said Friday it will miss Monday’s deadline to make its report, but it will work to reach a consensus before its charter expires March 31.

Sen. John B. Breaux, the Louisiana Democrat who chairs the 17-member commission, said the panel will meet the week of March 7 to try to get the 11 votes needed to make recommendations to President Clinton and Congress on ways to strengthen the program.

Without reforms, the system that currently provides health care to 33 million seniors and 5 million people with disabilities is expected to be sapped by aging baby boomers.

“We are pleased to report that, after a year of intensive work and wide-ranging analysis, the commission is in the final stages of its deliberations, and we are optimistic that we will be able to submit our recommendations shortly after March 1,” Breaux said in a letter to Clinton and congressional leaders.

In a meeting Wednesday, the commission became bogged down over how to provide prescription drug coverage for seniors, and Breaux said the panel would work past Monday if it appeared it could reach a consensus.

The commission was established by a 1997 law to find ways to keep the 33-year-old program solvent. Under the law, the panel was to make its recommendations by March 1 and expire by March 31.

Breaux and the administrative chair, Rep. William M. Thomas (R-Bakersfield), have offered a plan to create a two-part system, preserving some traditional features while trying to use free-market competition to generate more savings.