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PRESIDENT CLINTON UNVEILS PRINCIPLES FOR
MEDICARE REFORM AND UNDERSCORES
NEED TO DEDICATE THE SURPLUS TO MEDICARE
February 3, 1999
Today, in his speech to the American Association of Retired
Persons (AARP), President Clinton will underscore the need to dedicate
15 percent of the budget surplus to secure the Medicare Trust Fund
until 2020. He will stress his preference for bipartisan Medicare
reform that is necessary to modernize Medicare and achieve additional
savings to strengthen the program, and will outline four main
principles that he believes any such plan should meet. The President
will:
Highlight the Need to Dedicate Budget Surplus to Strengthen
Medicare. The President will highlight the fact that, while we need
reform to improve competition and efficiency in the Medicare program,
these reforms will not produce savings that are sufficient to
significantly extend the life of the Trust Fund. In fact, if
reductions in growth alone were used to extend the life of the Medicare
Trust Fund, spending growth per beneficiary would have to be limited to
2.8 percent per year -- in every year -- to get to 2020. This rate is
over 60 percent below projected private health insurance spending per
person (7.3 percent). Moreover, since this growth rate is below general
inflation, the value of Medicare spending per beneficiary would erode.
These projections help explain why virtually every independent health
analyst agrees that Medicare cannot be significantly strengthened
without adding outside financial support such as the surplus.
Unveil Principles to Guide Medicare reform. The President will
outline principles that he will use to evaluate any Medicare reform
proposal. Any broad-based reforms should:
Dedicate Surplus to Secure Medicare until 2020. One of the
fundamental goals of Medicare reform is to put the program on stronger
financial footing to better prepare it for the demographic and health
challenges of the next century. These challenges cannot be addressed
solely through making the program more efficient, transferring current
liabilities out of the Trust Fund, or increasing payments. The
President is proposing to use 15 percent of the projected surpluses
over the next 15 years to secure the Medicare Trust Fund until 2020 as
part of broader reforms to further strengthen the program.
Modernize Medicare and Make It More Competitive. Medicare
should adopt the best management, payment, clinical and competitive
practices used by the private sector, to help maintain high-quality
services and keep spending growth in line with the private spending.
Moreover, strong and effective Federal administration of Medicare
should be assured.
Guarantee Defined Set of Benefits Without Excessive New Costs
to Beneficiaries. Beneficiaries should still be entitled to an
adequate set of health benefits. A modernized, well-defined benefits
package is needed to assure that health plans compete on cost and
quality rather than price. Reforms should also maintain or strengthen
protections for low-income beneficiaries, assure that any new cost
burdens are not excessive, and assure that beneficiaries have access
to a viable traditional Medicare program.
Use Savings from Reform to Help Fund a Prescription Drug
Benefit. Millions of Medicare beneficiaries have no or inadequate
coverage for their medications, limiting their access to needed
treatments. In fact, over half of Medicare beneficiaries pay more than
$500 per month for prescription drugs and one in 10 pay more than
$2,000. Prescription drugs have become an essential part of treatments
and cures, and are expected to play an even greater role in health care
in the next century. The President believes that additional savings
from making Medicare more efficient should be used to help finance a
long-overdue prescription drug benefit for all Medicare beneficiaries.