Ethics Newsline®

WASHINGTON
The federal government last week tried to quell a mounting controversy by launching a probe into allegations that a former official barred the release of cost estimates for the new Medicare bill.

Richard Foster, an actuary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), says he was threatened with firing if he provided figures showing that the Medicare bill would cost much more than the Bush administration was saying.

The Medicare bill, which was signed into law last December after a marathon session of congressional arm-twisting and head butting, was set at a maximum cost of no more than $400 billion over the next ten years.

In January, the White House disclosed that its actual cost would be $534 billion, reported the New York Times.

Foster, who says his boss, Thomas Scully, threatened to fire him if he responded to congressional requests for estimates, had been predicting since last June that the bill’s true cost would be between $500 billion and $600 billion.

After Foster went public with his allegations, Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike blasted the HHS for withholding information that likely would have impacted their vote on the Medicare bill last November.

“They had to keep the vote open three hours to get this bill passed,” Rep. Gil Gutknecht (R-Minn.) told the Times. “If members had known that there were already in hand estimates that were significantly higher than the one that was advertised, I think it would have been even harder to get the votes.”

“You undermine the credibility and integrity of the legislative process any time you deliberately withhold information from Congress,” added Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine). “You hamstring our ability to do the best job we can.”

So far, Scully, who left the government in December for private consulting work, denies threatening to fire Foster, although he admits joking about it, reported the Washington Post.

Scully told a reporter with Knight Ridder, which first reported Foster’s allegations, that Liz Fowler, a lead lawyer for the Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee, would confirm his efforts to ensure the actuary’s independence.

“He’s a liar,” she said of Scully, according to Knight Ridder.

Scully’s former boss, HHS head Tommy Thompson, also failed to back Scully last week, characterizing him as a tough-to-manage employee who may have crossed the line.

“Tom Scully was running this. Tom Scully was making those decisions,” Thompson insisted to the Post.

“There seems to be a cloud over this department because of this,” Thompson added last week, announcing the probe. “We have nothing to hide. So I want to make darn sure that everything comes out.”

In related news, the House of Representatives’ ethics committee last week said it was launching a formal investigation into allegations that Republican leaders tried to bribe Rep. Nick Smith (R-Mich.) into voting for the Medicare bill. Although the bill passed, Smith refused to change his vote and has since backed away from his accusations that he was offered a bribe, according to the Associated Press.