Clinton to Push Prescription Plan

A top White House official offered a preview Sunday of President Clinton’s upcoming State of the Union address, underscoring the president’s commitment to three key issues: health care, gun control and balancing the budget for the long term.

White House Chief of Staff John Podesta indicated that the president’s Jan. 27 speech and his 2001 budget will touch on those issues, all of which have been signatures of Clinton’s White House tenure. In his final year in office, they are among the areas in which Clinton seems most intent on leaving a legacy.

Most politically charged is the White House’s intense effort to get Congress to add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare, the government-subsidized health insurance program that covers 39 million elderly and disabled people.

Podesta and leaders of the nation’s pharmaceutical industry plan to meet this week in an effort to forge a consensus on the issue. Although the drug companies and Clinton have been at war for the past year over the administration’s proposals to cover prescription drugs, both sides now have found reasons to work toward a deal on the politically potent issue before the November election.

For Clinton, winning passage of a prescription drug benefit for the nation’s elderly would be a landmark health-care achievement. For the pharmaceutical industry, it would guarantee that a part of the surplus would be funneled into the industry rather than being spent on other programs or returned to taxpayers in tax cuts.

Currently, people enrolled in Medicare have no coverage for prescription drugs. If they want such coverage, they must buy policies on the private market, but such policies are expensive. At least one-third of Medicare enrollees have no coverage for drugs and a number of others can afford only limited plans.

“We hope to push forward with a comprehensive solution to the Medicare problem to deal with the baby boom generation,” Podesta said. “Front and center in that will be a prescription drug benefit, which we think the American people want and the American people need.”

On gun control, the White House has a multi-pronged strategy, including the threat of joining a lawsuit by local housing authorities against gun manufacturers. Podesta, who appeared Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” referred to Clinton’s already announced proposal to have the federal government fund the development of “smart gun” technology, which uses fingerprints, radio waves or other identifying characteristics to ensure that a weapon can be fired only by its owner. The hope is that such guns would protect both children and intruders from firing a gun that is lying around a house.

Podesta also said the Clinton administration would put more money into law enforcement for the purpose of putting dealers out of business if they routinely sell guns to criminals.

“One percent of the dealers account for 50% of the guns that are used in the commission of crimes,” Podesta said.

When it comes to budget politics, Clinton appears resolved to continue his effort to change the Democrats’ image from that of the party of big spenders to the party of fiscal prudence. He will propose a budget that, if followed and if financial conditions do not take a sudden downturn, would make it possible for the government to eliminate its $6-trillion debt by 2015, Podesta said.

Most unexpected has been the recent move by the administration and the drug companies toward a compromise on the difficult issue of providing prescription drug coverage for the nation’s elderly.

White House officials have said they will consider having entities other than a large government agency administer the drug benefit. The prescription drug industry has said that companies would go along with a drug benefit even if there were no broader Medicare reform. Industry leaders also now say they will consider supporting prescription drug benefits for all Americans, not just those who are near or below the poverty line.

“The preferred way to do this is through comprehensive reform of Medicare,” said Alan Holmer, president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which represents the nation’s largest drug companies. “But if it is impossible to achieve that in year 2000, we are willing to look at legislation to expand drug coverage for seniors [on its own], as long as it [is] consistent with comprehensive modernization of Medicare.”

Holmer, who met last week with White House officials including Gene Sperling, the director of the president’s National Economic Council, will meet this week with Podesta to discuss the industry’s concerns. “The fact we’re having a dialogue is an important step. But we are so committed to having drug coverage for seniors, we’re going to work with everyone,” Holmer added, noting that the industry started running television ads on Sunday championing a bipartisan prescription drug plan for seniors.

The rapprochement between the White House and the prescription drug industry is a prime example of a situation in which both sides have much to gain. However, on Capitol Hill the assessment is far different.

There, Democrats have won attention and accolades from constituents for championing the prescription drug issue.

If the White House reaches a deal to cover prescription drugs for the elderly, the issue probably will fade away.