Prometheus 6   

G.O.P. Steals Thunder
By ROBIN TONER
The House and Senate have passed the biggest expansion and overhaul of Medicare since it was created, and it was Republicans who pushed it through.

NEWS ANALYSIS
G.O.P. Steals Thunder
By ROBIN TONER

WASHINGTON, June 27 �� Medicare has always been a signature Democratic program, the proud legacy of President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society, established and protected by the Democratic majorities that reigned in Congress for much of the past 40 years.

Now, the House and Senate have passed the biggest expansion and overhaul of Medicare since it was created, including a major new drug benefit for the 40 million elderly and disabled Americans covered by the government health insurance program. And it was Republicans, led by President Bush, who pushed it through.

� In an effort to secure conservative support for the Medicare bill, House Republican leaders combined it, at the last minute, with a separate bill encouraging people of all ages to set up two types of tax-exempt personal savings accounts to help pay medical expenses. By a vote of 237 to 191, the House on Thursday approved the new savings accounts, estimated to cost the Treasury $174 billion in lost revenue over the next decade.

Dr. Frist reflected in an interview six months ago that his party needed to redefine itself on Medicare just as it had on education, with Mr. Bush's promise of "no child left behind."