Measures on health readied

WASHINGTON — Within days of convening, the new Congress will return to some of the biggest battles of the past decade as House Democrats try to rush through legislation requiring the government to negotiate lower drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries and overturning President Bush's restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research.

The Medicare proposal highlights the profound differences between Democrats and Republicans over the future of the nation's health-care system, the proper role of government and the role of private markets in securing the best value for the huge sums spent on health care.

State officials say they wish Congress would focus on a more immediate problem: Money for the Children's Health Insurance Program, which provides coverage for 4 million low-income children, is running out in more than a dozen states.

Dr. Rhonda M. Medows of the Georgia Department of Community Health, said, "Our program will run out of federal money in March, and all 260,000 children in the program will lose their health-care coverage if Congress fails to act."

In debating the future of the children's health program, which has broad bipartisan support, Congress will take up proposals to cover some of the 46 million people who have no health insurance.

Dr. Mark B. McClellan, former administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said, "Congress should consider expanding the Children's Health Insurance Program to low-income adults." Many Democrats agree. But even modest proposals may collide with Democratic efforts to restore fiscal discipline and to reduce the federal budget deficit.

Congress convenes on Thursday. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is in line to be speaker, has said the House will, in its first 100 hours, vote on bills to authorize drug price negotiations under Medicare and to expand federal financing of stem cell research.

Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine, said he was "giddy" at the prospect of being able to legislate on health care after toiling for 10 years in the minority. "People in Maine find it incomprehensible that the Medicare law has a provision that forbids negotiation of lower prices," said Allen, who introduced a bill to give beneficiaries access to drug discounts negotiated by the government in 1998.

Most Democrats want to repeal the ban on price negotiations. Wendell E. Primus, an aide to Pelosi, said the Democratic proposal would require the secretary of health and human services to negotiate, but would not specify how.