John B. Breaux: “last Friday, March 6, the newly appointed National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare held its first…”

“last Friday, March 6, the newly appointed National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare held its first meeting. Chaired by myself and Congressman Bill Thomas, Administrative Chairman, the commission was established by last year's balanced budget agreement to thoroughly study and assess the entire program--top to bottom--and make specific recommendations to Congress and the Administration for fundamental Medicare reform. Our target deadline for getting these bipartisan, consensus recommendations in your hands is March 1, 1999. When I say consensus here, I mean that any recommendation we put forward will have received 11 votes--a super majority of the 17 commission members. I remain optimistic that our recommendations will receive an even higher level of support than that required under the statute. Every member of the commission recognizes how very important it is for us to succeed in coming up with something that can be passed by Congress and signed into law. I think we got the commission's work off to a very good start. We are just beginning what promises to be an exciting year as we come together to protect and preserve a program that we all agree has served us well over the last 33 years. But we also have to face the reality that if Medicare is to be there for another 33 years and beyond, we must look beyond the program's financial solvency and address issues like quality, equity, and efficiency as well.…”