Report
widens dispute over Medicare data |
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Former Medicare administrator
Thomas Scully broke no law when he directed his chief cost analyst to withhold
information from Congress, the Health and Human Services Department's inspector
general says. |
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Members of Congress had sought
information from the Bush administration about the cost of the Medicare
prescription drug bill. |
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The finding by the Health and
Human Services Department's independent Office of Inspector General, released
Tuesday, relies heavily on a fresh opinion by the Bush administration's legal
advisers, which concluded that the analyst was not legally independent enough
to override the order of his boss. |
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Critics of that view -- who
included Republicans in the House when the Clinton administration was in power
-- contend that Congress can legislate wisely only when executive-branch
experts share their information and expert opinions, especially about the costs
of government programs. |
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The new report, signed by
Acting Principal Deputy Inspector General Dara Corrigan, found that five times
between June and October 2003, Scully blocked efforts by his chief actuary,
Richard Foster, to comply with congressional Democrats' requests for
information on costs of the Medicare drug bill. |
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Foster's analysis showed that
the then-pending bill would cost $500 billion to $600 billion over the first 10
years. That was far more than the $395 billion estimated by the Congressional
Budget Office and touted by the White House. |
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Foster's figures threatened the
passage of the White House-backed bill because 13 House Republicans had vowed
to vote against it if it cost more than $400 billion. The bill initially passed
the House by one vote in June 2003. A House-Senate compromise passed by five
votes last November. |
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In January, the Bush
administration acknowledged that the bill probably would cost $534 billion over
10 years, not $395 billion. |
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The finding that Scully's
actions violated no laws contradicts a report in April from the Congressional
Research Service. That analysis concluded that Scully's efforts to muzzle and
threats to fire Foster probably violated a 1912 statute that says a federal
employee's right to communicate with and provide information to Congress
"may not be interfered with or impeded." |
Lawyers for the General
Accounting Office, Congress's watchdog agency, will be the final arbitrators of
the conflicting opinions.
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