<font size="-1" , face="Arial" ,"Helvetica">National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare

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For Immediate Release: August 13, 1998
Contact: Rusty Jabour

Medicare Commission Issues
"Call For Solutions"


WASHINGTON (August 13) - The National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare has issued a national "Call For Solutions," inviting professional associations, volunteer groups and citizens to submit their ideas about how Medicare can be improved for generations to come.

Commission Chairmen, Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) and Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), said the "Call For Solutions" is designed to ensure that all ideas are solicited and considered as the Commission works to make recommendations by March 1, 1999, to improve and strengthen Medicare.

"Call For Solutions" ideas should be submitted to the Commission in writing by Monday, August 24. The ideas can be e-mailed to the Commission at solutions@medicare.commission.gov, or they can be mailed to:

"Call For Solutions"
c/o The National Medicare Commission
101 Independence Ave., S.E.
Washington, D.C., 20540-1998

A number of organizations and citizens will be given the opportunity to give brief presentations to the Commission at its September 8 meeting in Washington, D.C.

The Chairmen said the "Call For Solutions" is part of the Commission's continuing outreach efforts to inform Americans about the challenges facing Medicare and to include them in the improvement process.

The outreach efforts have included 20 public Commission and task force meetings since March, including a July 13 field hearing in Minneapolis. The full Commission meetings have been covered by C-SPAN, and the Commission's website lists the latest meeting schedules, news advisories and all available testimony.

   The Facts About
         Medicare

Today, nearly 40 million Americans rely on Medicare for their health care. The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (which also created the Medicare Commission) ensures solvency of the Medicare Part A Trust Fund for the next 10 years.

But in 10 years, that picture begins to change rapidly -- both in numbers of Medicare beneficiaries and costs -- because that's when 77 million "Baby Boomers" (those persons born between 1946 and 1964) begin to enter Medicare and dramatically increase the demand for its services.

Meanwhile, the number of workers per retiree will fall significantly, thus placing a potentially heavier financial burden on those workers to support Medicare.  During the same period of time, Medicare’s annual expenditures are expected to rise from $207 billion (in 1997) to between $2.2 and $3 trillion by the year 2030.


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