|
WASHINGTON (June 4) -- The Restructuring Task Force of
the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare
will hold its organizational meeting tomorrow in Washington,
D.C., Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) and Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Calif.)
announced today.
The task force will meet from 9:00 to 9:30 a.m., Friday,
June 5, in Room H-137 of the U.S. Capitol in Washington,
D.C. It will be the first meeting of the task force, and the
meeting is open to the public. The task force will primarily
discuss organizational matters.
The Restructuring Task Force is looking at ways to structure
Medicare and will report to the 17-member commission at its next meeting (details of that
meeting will be announced later).
The Medicare program was enacted by the Congress in 1965 and began operating in July
1966.
The 17-member National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare was
established by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and is charged with finding ways to preserve
Medicare for future generations. The commission's report is due to be delivered to the
Congress and the Administration by March 1, 1999.
Experts say that in 10 years, Medicare will face a dramatic increase in the demand for its
services as 77 million "Baby Boomers" start retiring.
|
| <font size="-1", face="Arial","Helvetica">Restructuring Task
Force Members*
Stuart Altman
Bill Frist
Phil Gramm
Samuel Howard
Anthony Watson
*Chairmen Breaux and
Thomas also are members of
the task force.
|
|