WASHINGTON -- House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Thursday that he disagreed with a major proposal President Obama advanced this week to help trim health care costs.
Obama wants to give a little-known panel, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, more power to come up with recommendations to control costs in the government's Medicare program.
Congress then would be required to vote on those recommendations -- up or down, without revision -- much like the model used for the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) for military installations.
Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, said there's little support for the idea, which Obama floated Wednesday in a letter to two senators.
"It was OK for BRAC," Hoyer said. "But for legislation that affects literally millions and millions of Americans -- that's an entirely different issue from a policy standpoint."
"I don't think there is great enthusiasm for a take-it-or-leave-it proposal coming out of some commission," he added. Hoyer's remarks came during a forum organized by The Christian Science Monitor.
White House spokesman Reid Cherlin declined to comment on Hoyer's criticism.
The notion of empowering the Medicare commission builds on legislation introduced last month by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., which would make the panel an independent agency -- much like the Federal Reserve, which has the power to independently set interest rates and other monetary policy.
Kenneth Thorpe, a health-policy professor at Emory University, said resistance to beefing up the commission is no surprise. "Congress never likes to give up power," he said.
In another sign of congressional resistance, Republican senators -- including Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi, the ranking member of the Senate health committee -- said Thursday that prospects of a bipartisan deal on health care were in jeopardy after the president signaled strong support for a new government-run health insurance plan.
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