Medicare analyst threatened by White House

The Washington Times ^ | March 13, 2004

[MikeJ75]

A U.S. Medicare cost analyst says the White House threatened his job if he revealed the real cost of prescription drug benefits President Bush wanted.

Richard Foster, a Department of Health and Human Services official who has been Medicare's chief actuary for nine years, said the top Medicare administrator, and perhaps White House officials, were withholding information on what changes to the program would cost, the Washington Post reported Saturday.

[mass55th]

Another Clinton appointee?

[boomop1]

We are headed for hitlary care like the frog in the luke warm pan of water, soon to be a boiled noodle.

[Mike4Freedom]

Another Clinton appointee?

What a typical BushBOT answer. They are talking about today's White House and this administrations Medicare drug benefit. Congress gets lied to almost as much as we are lied to.

Does anyone still believe that GWB is a conservative?

[Landru]

"He said Thomas Scully, then administrator of the HHS agency that oversees Medicare, repeatedly told him last spring and summer he would be fired if he complied with requests from Republican and Democratic lawmakers to provide cost estimates."

Are these bureaucrats members of AFSME {sp?} or some other union, or what?

In any event, I wouldn't fire this guy.

What I *would* do is borrow an idea from the motion picture "Walking Tall" as to where he'd find his office located come Monday morning, though & if ya seen the movie, you know where that'd be.

In the end given his *new* office surroundings & *new* assignments tracking the funding for new lock washers?

...it'd behove him if he just quit his job.

[Soundman4x4]

What the HELL??!!

So we have a Republican congress that can't do it's job (STOP SOCIALISM) because Bush is threatening to fire anybody who tells them how much he's OVERSPENDING ON WELFARE PROGRAMS? (like medicare)??

Staying home election day looks better all the time

[mass55th]

Read the article Mikey: "Richard Foster, a Department of Health and Human Services official who has been Medicare's chief actuary for nine year..."

NINE YEARS tells me Mr. Foster got his job during the Clinton Administration.

[steve50]

What a typical BushBOT answer. They are talking about today's White House

It's getting worse all the time. Nothing is blamed on Bush, the neos have been kissing his backside since he lied about CFR.

[Drammach]

Richard S. Foster
Chief Actuary, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Mr. Foster is recognized for his dynamic leadership and exceptional technical expertise in what has been described as "the toughest actuarial job in the country."

Mr. Foster has contributed to measurable results in programs essential to the nation's social and economic well being.

For instance, in 1995, he identified adverse financial trends that would have exhausted the Medicare Hospital Insurance trust fund by 2001.

He alerted the appropriate leaders in the Administration and Congress and played a key role in developing legislation to slow Medicare cost growth.

This effort culminated in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 with 5-year Medicare savings of $150 billion.

He continues to develop innovative and effective means of addressing long-range reforms and modernization of Medicare.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

What a typical BushBOT answer.

And what a typical Bush-hater response to something like this. You automatically take sides and assume that someone who worked for Clinton is telling the truth? And that's better than giving this White House staff the benefit of the doubt how, exactly?

[tbpiper]

What a typical BushBOT answer.

What a typical Liberaltarian response.

[mass55th]

No link? Where did this information come from?

[tbpiper]

Staying home election day looks better all the time

You're Mobyist sugestion is duely noted and roundfiled.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Everything is Bush's fault. When an accusation is made, the burden is on him to exonerate himself. Surely you must realize that by now.

Anyone who doesn't believe that is a "Bushbot", marching in "lockstep".

[LandOfLincolnGOP]

For a while, a brief while, I thought I could count on the President to not be just another politician. No such luck. Even the good guys are still politicians at heart, and I've yet to see a good one. But I can't sit out the election even though Illinois is probably a lost cause.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

What did President Bush do?

[Lion in Winter]

Let's put it this way...bub ... I do not believe a word or a whimper out of the mouth attached to a being who was appointed by clinton.... ALL his appointees were HACKS... slick-sleazy, democRAT hacks.

WHY DO YOU BELIEVE THEM???

: ^ (

[Clara Lou]

Do you always base your opinions on unverified charges like the one in this article?

[IncPen]

Can we conclude fromt he timelines that this guy was the genius behind the "Clinton Surpluses"?

[dogbyte12]

Actually, this is a follow up article, and the story is not good. This guy estimated in June 2003 that the cost of the bill would be $551 billion. He emailed several colleagues contemporaneously that he was being pressured to shut up, and toe the $398 billion line being given out by the admin.

A group of 13 conservative republican house members told the White House that they would vote no on any bill over $400 billion. The White House assured them that the bill would be under the cap, and the bill passed by 5 votes, including those 13 hardline deficit hawks.

A few weeks after the bill passed, the White House announced that they "recalculated" the costs, and it was now going to be $538 billion, almost right in line with Foster's estimate.

This absolutely sucks. The bill would have been killed, by the White House BS'ed it's own members. Democrats weren't the ones balking on cost here, it was budget conscience republicans.