Bush Administration's Health and Welfare Priorities Hearing
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BUSH ADMINISTRATION’S HEALTH AND WELFARE PRIORITIES HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION MARCH 14, 2001 Serial No. 107–11 Printed for the use of the Committee on Ways and Means ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 74–212 WASHINGTON : 2001 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 01:32 Sep 08, 2001 Jkt 074212 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 E:\HR\OC\C212.XXX pfrm02 PsN: C212 COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS BILL THOMAS, California, Chairman PHILIP M. CRANE, Illinois CHARLES B. RANGEL, New York E. CLAY SHAW, JR., Florida FORTNEY PETE STARK, California NANCY L. JOHNSON, Connecticut ROBERT T. MATSUI, California AMO HOUGHTON, New York WILLIAM J. COYNE, Pennsylvania WALLY HERGER, California SANDER M. LEVIN, Michigan JIM MCCRERY, Louisiana BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland DAVE CAMP, Michigan JIM MCDERMOTT, Washington JIM RAMSTAD, Minnesota GERALD D. KLECZKA, Wisconsin JIM NUSSLE, Iowa JOHN LEWIS, Georgia SAM JOHNSON, Texas RICHARD E. NEAL, Massachusetts JENNIFER DUNN, Washington MICHAEL R. MCNULTY, New York MAC COLLINS, Georgia WILLIAM J. JEFFERSON, Louisiana ROB PORTMAN, Ohio JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee PHIL ENGLISH, Pennsylvania XAVIER BECERRA, California WES WATKINS, Oklahoma KAREN L. THURMAN, Florida J.D. HAYWORTH, Arizona LLOYD DOGGETT, Texas JERRY WELLER, Illinois EARL POMEROY, North Dakota KENNY C. HULSHOF, Missouri SCOTT MCINNIS, Colorado RON LEWIS, Kentucky MARK FOLEY, Florida KEVIN BRADY, Texas PAUL RYAN, Wisconsin ALLISON GILES, Chief of Staff JANICE MAYS, Minority Chief Counsel Pursuant to clause 2(e)(4) of Rule XI of the Rules of the House, public hearing records of the Committee on Ways and Means are also published in electronic form. The printed hearing record remains the official version. Because electronic submissions are used to prepare both printed and electronic versions of the hearing record, the process of converting between various electronic formats may introduce unintentional errors or omissions. Such occur- rences are inherent in the current publication process and should diminish as the process is further refined. ii VerDate 11-MAY-2000 01:32 Sep 08, 2001 Jkt 074212 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 E:\HR\OC\C212.XXX pfrm02 PsN: C212 C O N T E N T S Page Advisory of March 7, 2001, announcing the hearing ............................................ 2 WITNESS U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Hon. Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary ............................................................................................................... 9 SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD Advanced Medical Technology Association, statement ......................................... 47 Alliance to Improve Medicare, statement .............................................................. 49 iii VerDate 11-MAY-2000 01:32 Sep 08, 2001 Jkt 074212 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 E:\HR\OC\C212.XXX pfrm02 PsN: C212 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 01:32 Sep 08, 2001 Jkt 074212 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 E:\HR\OC\C212.XXX pfrm02 PsN: C212 BUSH ADMINISTRATION’S HEALTH AND WELFARE PRIORITIES WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2001 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:02 a.m., in room 1100 Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Bill Thomas [Chair- man of the Committee] presiding. [The advisory announcing the hearing follows:] (1) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 01:32 Sep 08, 2001 Jkt 074212 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 E:\HR\OC\C212.XXX pfrm02 PsN: C212 2 ADVISORY FROM THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS CONTACT: (202) 225–1721 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 7, 2001 FC–3 Thomas Announces Hearing Featuring HHS Secretary Thompson on the Bush Administration’s Health and Welfare Priorities Congressman Bill Thomas (R–CA), Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Committee will hold a hearing on the Bush Ad- ministration’s health and welfare priorities. The hearing will take place on Wednesday, March 14, 2001, in the main Committee hearing room, 1100 Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 10:00 a.m. In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will be from Secretary Thompson only. However, any individual or organiza- tion not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for con- sideration by the Committee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing. BACKGROUND: The Bush Administration has put forward a bold agenda on modernizing Medi- care, enacting a patient bill of rights, and continuing welfare reform. This hearing begins the dialogue between the Administration and Congress about its agenda and priorities in these areas. In announcing the hearing, Chairman Thomas stated: ‘‘As Governor of Wisconsin, Secretary Thompson’s record on health and welfare policy implementation is an in- novative model for other states. I look forward to working with him as he brings his ideas and enthusiasm to bear on the range of important challenges facing us this year, beginning with the need to strengthen and improve the Medicare pro- gram.’’ FOCUS OF THE HEARING: Secretary Thompson will present the Administration’s health and human services priorities to the Committee. DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS: Any person or organization wishing to submit a written statement for the printed record of the hearing should submit six (6) single-spaced copies of their statement, along with an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect or MS Word format, with their name, address, and hearing date noted on a label, by the close of business, Wednesday, March 28, 2001, to Allison Giles, Chief of Staff, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, 1102 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. If those filing written statements wish to have their state- ments distributed to the press and interested public at the hearing, they may de- liver 200 additional copies for this purpose to the Committee office, room 1102 Long- worth House Office Building, by close of business the day before the hearing. VerDate 11-MAY-2000 01:32 Sep 08, 2001 Jkt 074212 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 E:\HR\OC\C212.XXX pfrm02 PsN: C212 3 FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS: Each statement presented for printing to the Committee by a witness, any written statement or exhibit submitted for the printed record or any written comments in response to a request for written comments must conform to the guidelines listed below. Any statement or exhibit not in compliance with these guidelines will not be printed, but will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee. 1. All statements and any accompanying exhibits for printing must be submitted on an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect or MS Word format, typed in single space and may not exceed a total of 10 pages including attachments. Witnesses are advised that the Com- mittee will rely on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record. 2. Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material will not be accepted for printing. Instead, exhibit material should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased. All exhibit material not meeting these specifications will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee. 3. A witness appearing at a public hearing, or submitting a statement for the record of a pub- lic hearing, or submitting written comments in response to a published request for comments by the Committee, must include on his statement or submission a list of all clients, persons, or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears. 4. A supplemental sheet must accompany each statement listing the name, company, address, telephone and fax numbers where the witness or the designated representative may be reached. This supplemental sheet will not be included in the printed record. The above restrictions and limitations apply only to material being submitted for printing. Statements and exhibits or supplementary material submitted solely for distribution to the Members, the press, and the public during the course of a public hearing may be submitted in other forms. Note: All Committee advisories and news releases are available on the World Wide Web at ‘‘http://www.house.gov/wayslmeans/’’. The Committee seeks to make its facilities accessible to persons with disabilities. If you are in need of special accommodations, please call 202–225–1721 or 202–226– 3411 TTD/TTY in advance of the event (four business days notice is requested). Questions with regard to special accommodation needs in general (including avail- ability of Committee materials in alternative formats) may be directed to the Com- mittee as noted above. f Chairman THOMAS. It is now my pleasure to welcome to the Ways and Means Committee the Health and Human Services Sec- retary, former Governor Tommy Thompson. Secretary Thompson has had a long and distinguished career in both health and wel- fare, as he presided over a record-setting 14 years as Governor of Wisconsin. This hearing marks the beginning of a dialog between the Bush administration and Congress, and the administration’s priorities and Congress’ desires in both the health and the welfare areas. I was pleased to see the Bush administration issue a set of prin- ciples, focusing on Patients’ Bill of Rights. These principles send Congress the right message, that we have to have a real patient protection legislation that covers all Americans and ensures that individuals get the care that they need. It is our anticipation, based upon an announcement by the President last week, that this Com- mittee will also receive principles on Medicare modernization, in- cluding prescription drugs. We look forward to that guidance and working in a bipartisan manner in this Committee to take those principles, translate them into legislation, and move them hope- fully to the President’s desk this year.