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WASHINGTON, Mar 14 Reuters Health) - Responding to complaints from Democrats and a Senate vote on Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson Wednesday told the House Ways and Means Committee that the growing surplus in the Medicare Part A trust fund would be used for no other purpose than to pay Part A expenses.
Even though President Bush's budget shows the $526 billion 10-year Part A surplus as part of a "contingency fund" that could be used for other programs, Thompson told the House Ways and Means Committee, "everything that's taken out of the Medicare trust fund has to be repaid to the trust fund with interest."
In appearances last week before the House and Senate Budget Committees Thompson suggested that excess Part A funds could be used to pay Part B expenses. But he assured Democrats Wednesday that would not be the case. "I intend to keep it for Part A," he told Rep. Bob Matsui, D-CA.
Democrats have been complaining using Part A money to pay for Part B would deplete the Part A trust fund and would, in effect, allow the President to use Medicare funds to finance his $1.6 trillion tax cut.
On Tuesday, the Senate voted 53-47 to put the excess Medicare Part A funds into a "lockbox" from which they could not be used for purposes other than to pay for Part A expenses or pay down the national debt. But the amendment, linked to an unrelated bankruptcy bill, did not pass because it required a 60-vote "supermajority."
Thompson, however, said Wednesday that using the Medicare funds even for other Medicare expenses "would require a change in the law and I don't anticipate that happening."
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