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REMARKS BY:	DONNA E. SHALALA, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
PLACE:		Presidential Announcement Of New Initiatives To Protect Medicare Beneficiaries
DATE:		OCTOBER 8, 1998

Protecting the Care in Medicare

It's fitting to make today's announcement in the room with the portrait of President Theodore Roosevelt. As a third-party candidate in 1912, President Roosevelt was the first to propose that America adopt social insurance for senior citizens -- a forerunner to Social Security and Medicare. And in a couple of weeks, one of our greatest allies for senior citizens -- John Glenn -- will blast off and orbit the earth once again. It will be an incredible step for a Senator -- and a giant leap for senior citizens.

The Medicare program was one of the greatest leaps for senior citizens this nation has ever taken. It helped to change what it means to be old in America. And our nation must never -- it will never -- fall back to the days when senior citizens had to worry themselves sick over their health care. That's why this Administration has made safeguarding Medicare one of its most important legacies. It's why we extended the solvency of the Medicare Trust Fund for another decade. It's why we added preventive benefits. It's why we're working to increase health plan choices available to Medicare beneficiaries. And it's why we increased the ability of Medicare beneficiaries to make informed choices about their health care.

Right now, 6 million of our 39 million Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in HMOs. When done right, managed care can provide a seamless system of care from prevention to primary care to patient management. However, last month, the HMOs told our Health Care Financing Administration that in some parts of the country it was no longer profitable to serve Medicare beneficiaries. So they wanted to raise premiums, and drop benefits. We said no. But unfortunately, a small number of Medicare beneficiaries will no longer be able to choose an HMO.

But let me make clear -- these beneficiaries will not lose their Medicare coverage. Not for a moment. Let me repeat -- no Medicare beneficiaries currently in an HMO will lose their Medicare coverage. Medicare will continue to serve them.

But for the future, the President today will announce a series of targeted actions we'll take to make sure all Medicare beneficiaries understand their coverage is safe, and to protect their health care choices.

Now it's my privilege to introduce another great friend to America's senior citizens, an original sponsor of the Medicare program in Congress and one of its greatest protectors. Thanks to his leadership, like the Roosevelt family, the Dingell family has a long tradition of advancing health care and social insurance for all Americans. Congressman John Dingell

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