We also have strongly warned against the dangers of government-run catastrophic coverage - which is an open invitation to extend Medicare's administered pricing structure to virtually all of the drugs consumed by seniors. And we stressed the importance of giving seniors incentives to make wise purchasing decisions and giving plans incentives to institute coordinated care and disease management programs.

Mike Franc, Dani Doane, and Tripp Baird of Heritage deserve kudos for their heroics in organizing and shepherding us through these meetings set up with so many members to show a united front among our three organizations. Thanks to Heritage for including Joe and me in these meetings.

This conversation will continue on Monday, June 2, on Capitol Hill with a public briefing sponsored by Heritage, AEI, and Galen. We hope you will be able to join us for lunch when we will lay out our principles and recommendations for Medicare and prescription drugs. See the events section below for registration information.

A highlight of the briefing will be release of the long-awaited Consensus Group's Statement on Medicare and Prescription Drugs. Please don't miss this kick-off event for the Medicare drug debate.

And speaking of great events, we hope you were able to attend the excellent forum at AEI this week on implementation of the tax credits enacted in 2002. If you couldn't join us, here's yet another of the stellar event reports by Galen's Joe Moser.

Health Policy Matters will not be published next week but will resume the first week in June. In the meantime, we hope you have a restful Memorial Day.

Grace-Marie Turner