Senators Seek Bipartisan US Medicare Commission

US Senate Finance Committee chairman Senator William Roth and SenatorDaniel Patrick Moynihan, the Committee's ranking Democrat, have introduced a bill calling for the creation of a bipartisan commission to draft recommendations for the short-term and long-term solvency of Medicare.

Terms of the bill to establish the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare say the Commission would submit a report to the President and Congress within 12 months of enactment. The legislation has been offered as a solution to the Medicare problem and will now be referred to the Finance Committee, a spokeswoman from the Finance Committee office told the Marketletter, adding that: "we'll have to see what happens now."

Based on the membership structure of the 1990 Pepper Commission, the 15 members would be appointed thus: three by the President, six by the House of Representatives (not more than four from the same political party); six by the Senate (not more than four from the same political party); and the chairman to be designated by joint agreement of the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader of the Senate. The Commission would end 30 days after the report is submitted, and authorized funding would be appropriated from both Medicare Trust Funds.