Posted on: Monday, July 12, 2004

EDITORIAL
Congress must insist on full disclosure

By now, most people have heard how the Bush administration duped or tricked Congress into approving a Medicare prescription drug plan by seriously underestimating its cost.

This bit of sleight-of-hand has been criticized by both Democrats and Republicans.

Many Republicans were unwilling to vote for the plan if it cost more than $395 billion over 10 years.

Now we know (as the administration knew then) that it will cost well over $500 billion.

The inspector general's office for the Department of Health and Human Services concluded last week that no laws were broken in the withholding of true costs.

But the office did confirm that Thomas Scully, then the administration's Medicare chief, threatened to fire chief Medicare actuary Richard Foster to prevent him from giving detailed cost information to lawmakers.

So while those actions may not have been illegal, there is nothing to stop Congress from making such maneuvers illegal in the future. It should pass a law requiring full and open disclosure of costs and other information on pending legislation.