Bipartisan Commission Could Address Entitlement Programs' Financial Problems, According To Op-Ed

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 10 Oct 2007 - 6:00 PDT

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The "proposed escape" from problems with the long-term financial stability of Medicare and other entitlement programs -- the bipartisan commission -- "seems at first so drearily familiar and demonstrably ineffective that it's hardly worth discussing," but "what would distinguish this commission from its many predecessors is that Congress would have to vote on its recommendations," columnist Robert Samuelson writes in a Washington Post opinion piece. According to Samuelson, the "political theory is that, presented with a bipartisan package that cannot be amended, most politicians would do what they believe (privately) ought to be done rather than allow pressure groups, including retirees, to paralyze the process," he writes.

He writes that two bills -- one sponsored by Sens. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) and one sponsored by Reps. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) and Frank Wolf (R-Va.) -- would establish such a commission, adding that a "combination of these plans might work best." Samuelson proposes a commission that would include 20 members, with four "outsiders to provide different perspectives" and possibly to "build public support," and would allow the next president to "make changes -- and get credit -- without being able to start from scratch."

He concludes, "This commission approach has potential pitfalls: It might create a face-saving package that does little. But everything else has failed. The main political beneficiary would be the next president. It would be revealing if some of the hopefuls -- Democrats and Republicans -- would show that they grasp this by providing their endorsements. Otherwise, the odds that Congress will even create the commission are slim" (Samuelson, Washington Post, 10/3).

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