Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 10, 1995                   TAG: 9508100075
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GOODLATTE: MEDICARE'S BROKEN - THE QUESTION IS HOW TO FIX IT

What the public doesn't know is what Congress intends to do about this, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, said Wednesday.

Beginning next year, the money coming in to the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, called Part A of Medicare, will be lower than the amount going out. Sometime in 2001, the fund is expected to have a deficit of $130 billion.

Republicans intend to redraw Medicare, and this month they are out priming senior citizens for what's to come. Goodlatte did his first standup on the subject at the upscale retirement home, Brandon Oaks, in southwest Roanoke. He also planned to take his financial charts to Friendship Manor retirement center and centers in Lynchburg, Staunton and Bridgewater.

A final design to save the health insurance program from bankruptcy is not in place, but it is expected to be ready by Sept. 15 and voted on in October. One thing certain, Goodlatte said, the plan that is proposed won't be the "one-size-fits-all" one that now exists. Neither will it be a program that will force older citizens into a plan unwillingly, he reassured.

"I don't think anyone 80 or 90 years old should be removed from a system they've come to rely on," he said.

The proposed solution probably will be a menu of health insurance programs ranging from the status quo Medicare to plans with a variety of coverage and copayment amounts, he said. Each of the 37 million people eligible for Medicare could get a voucher worth so many dollars that they then could use to shop for health care - "something like the federal employees have now," he said.

Democrats argue, however, a voucher plan won't keep pace with the cost of private insurance and that the result will be a gap of more than $1,000 between what insurance will cost and what the government is willing to pay by 2001.

One thing both parties agree on, however, is that Medicare is in trouble. It had to be bailed out two years ago and something has to change.

Goodlatte said he'd like to see senior citizens get more involved in managing the program. He wants any new Medicare plan to include financial incentives to encourage Medicare users to report errors or inappropriate charges they find on medical bills.

Part A of Medicare is funded with payroll tax and co-payments and raising either isn't a popular decision, he noted.

Part B of Medicare - the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund - which covers physician and home health costs is funded annually by contributions from each Social Security recipient, $46.10 per month, supplemented by the federal government. It faces a similar money crunch, but later down the road, Goodlatte said.

Whatever plan is proposed, Goodlatte said it will not cut Medicare spending and that the Republicans' budget plan actually increases Medicare spending per beneficiary from $4,800 to $6,700 in 2002.

"Only in Washington, D.C., would a $1,900 increase be called a cut," he said.

Memo: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.