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

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For Immediate Release: September 2, 1998
Contact: Rusty Jabour

Medicare Commission to Hear Ideas in Response to "Call For Solutions"

WASHINGTON (September 2) - A variety of professional associations and volunteer groups are scheduled to share their ideas about how Medicare can be improved when the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare meets next Tuesday afternoon in Washington, D.C.

The National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare will meet on Tuesday, September 8, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. in Room LA-202 of the Adams Building, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave., S.E., Washington, D.C. The meeting is open to the public. (meeting agenda)

Commission Chairmen, Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) and Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), said the groups that have been invited to share their ideas were among those professional associations, volunteer groups and citizens that responded to the Commission’s "Call For Solutions" which was issued last month.

The Commission issued its national "Call For Solutions," as part of continuing outreach efforts to inform Americans about the challenges facing Medicare and to include them in the improvement process. The Commission is working to make recommendations by March 1, 1999, to improve and strengthen Medicare for future generations.

The Commission’s 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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