Former Medicare overseers say the prescription drug program (Part D) is a model for reform

August 23, 2011

Michael O. Leavitt and Tommy G. Thompson, both former governors and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretaries, believe that the Medicare prescription-drug program (commonly referred to as Medicare Part D) serves as a model for the entire Medicare program.

In a column published in today’s Orlando Sentinel they opine that Congress should look to the five-year track record of Part D as a template for controlling costs for the rest of Medicare.

“Policymakers should be dubious of efforts to tamper with the program [Medicare] by requiring new special payments from drug makers, outright rationing of medicines, or creating a plan under direct government control,” they write in the exclusive editorial published in Florida’s second-largest paper.

“Instead, Medicare Part D, the best and most successful part of Medicare, should be looked at as a model for the entire Medicare program and beyond.”

Michael O. Leavitt, a former three-term governor of Utah, served as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services from 2005-2009. He is the founder and chairman of Leavitt Partners, a firm that advises clients in the health and food safety sectors.

Tommy G. Thompson, a former governor of Wisconsin, served as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services from 2001-2005. He is now a partner at the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

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