Fund Surplus May Cut Cost for Medicare’s Elderly, Disabled
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WASHINGTON — Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Tex.) said today that new revenue estimates may enable the 33 million elderly and disabled recipients of Medicare to pay substantially less for controversial catastrophic health care protection enacted last year.
Bentsen said the amount Medicare recipients pay could be cut by at least 16% because the Congressional Budget Office said the surplus in the catastrophic care funds “is twice as large as originally estimated, two times bigger than needed” to fulfill the law’s financial requirements.
“No decisions have been made on how to apportion any reduction among beneficiaries,” Bentsen warned. “The first step, which I am taking today, is to verify that there is in fact an excess surplus.”
To confirm the surplus amount, Bentsen asked Treasury Secretary Nicholas F. Brady, in a letter, to review the Administration’s current estimates.
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