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(Circulation. 2001;104:244.)
© 2001 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorials

Bush Administration and the Democratic Senate Wrestle With Health Care

Ward Casscells, MD

From the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Correspondence to Ward Casscells, MD, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 6431 Fannin, Houston TX 77030. E-mail s.ward.casscells@uth.tmc.edu

Key Words: Editorials • health policy • insurance • Medicare • Medicaid

As his administration approaches its 6-month mark, President Bush has filled his cabinet, survived a showdown with China over a spy plane, and seen his $1.35 trillion tax cut passed by the House and Senate—just as the Republicans lost control of the Senate with the change of party by Senator James Jeffords of Vermont, who became an independent. Yet Bush and the new Senate Majority leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) agree that a patients’ bill of rights is a top priority.

Presidential Appointments

For Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), President Bush selected Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, a conservative best known for successfully pruning the welfare roles in Wisconsin. Less well known is that, to do so, he offered innovative solutions for day care and health care for the former welfare recipients entering the work place. Thompson was known as a supporter of scientific research and a critic of governmental bureaucracy, particularly at HHS and its Health Care Financing Administration, now renamed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

In filling out his staff and agency directors, Thompson and the White House, advised by Senator Bill Frist, MD (R-TN), have considered hundreds of nominees (Disclosure: the author served on the Bush-Cheney Transition Committee). To run CMS, they tapped Thomas Scully, who was formerly in charge of Medicare and Medicaid budget oversight at the Office of Management and Budget under former President Bush, after which he served as Executive Director of the Federation of American Health Care Systems, the . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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