CONGRESS READIES VOTE ON PLAN TO REFORM MEDICARE

WASHINGTON -- Aides to U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, R-Mo., say House legislation will save a Medicare system that otherwise will go broke in seven years.

A vote on the Medicare Preservation Act is scheduled for Thursday. The law, which reforms Medicare, passed two House committees last week.

But unless the full Congress approves the reform, officials say Medicare soon will be out of money.

Glenn Kelly, a legislative aide to Emerson, said the legislative measure in the House stands in sharp contrast with the plan sponsored by President Bill Clinton, which he called a simple bandage for a severe problem.

"The Clinton administration's plan is more status quo," he said. "They would keep the program on an autopilot. Our plan would be true reform."

Emerson spokesman Pete Jeffries said the plan might be complicated, but the options are simple. Those options are explained in a Medicare reform fact sheet put out by Emerson and published on Page 5.

Jeffries said much of the plan has been clouded by false rhetoric.

Emerson's fact sheet also explains the specifics of the legislation being considered in the House.

"We are working to preserve Medicare," Kelly said. "We want it to remain solvent for this generation and the next generation and the one after that."