ECONOMIC SCENE; High Costs, Courtesy Of Congress
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
David Leonhardt Economic Scene column on US House passage of sprawling Medicare bill that would throw out initial bidding results for some durable medical equipment, rather than basing prices for those items on ‘fee schedule’ set by Congress; says bidding program would lead to significant savings for Medicare; says bill was introduced by Rep John Dingell and John Boehner; says fight in Congress is example of how small group of constituents can potentially beat back policy that is clearly in pub…