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For Immediate Release:  March 12, 1999
Contact: Rusty Jabour

National Medicare Commission to Meet on March 16 in Washington, D.C.

Chairmen Say They Will Call For a Vote on Reforms

WASHINGTON (March 12) – The National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare will meet on Tuesday, March 16, in Washington, D.C., and co-chairmen Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) and Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) will call for a vote on reform recommendations.

The Medicare Commission will meet on Tuesday, March 16, beginning at 5 p.m., in Room 1100 of the Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. The meeting is open to the public.

Last month, the Chairmen announced that the 17-member Commission would work past March 1 to try and get the votes of at least 11 members, the minimum required to make formal recommendations to the Congress and the President. The Commission is scheduled to end its work by March 31.

The Commission is considering a "premium support" proposal introduced by Chairman Breaux on January 26. The proposal is patterned after the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), which provides health insurance for members of Congress and for nine million federal employees, retirees and dependents nationwide.

Chairman Breaux said premium support in Medicare would promote market competition by moving Medicare away from government fee schedules that often do not accurately reflect health care markets. Three recent analyses concluded that Chairman Breaux’s proposal would slow Medicare’s growth in future years.

Without reform, Medicare is projected to go bankrupt in the year 2008, just three years before 77 million baby boomers begin retiring and becoming eligible for its health care benefits.

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