Perspective               

Medicare Panel to Advise Congress

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, "MedPac", a panel of private experts, plans to advise Congress to increase Medicare payments to rural hospitals. The panel suggests increasing the payments rural hospitals get for serving a larger-than-average share of low-income patients. The panel pointed out that urban hospitals generally have received more than rural hospitals for serving low-income patients.

The panel advisers said that people who live in rural areas do not seem to be getting worse health care than those who live in urban areas, but they identified several factors that make rural health care in America a concern. Many rural areas are isolated, not heavily populated, and fairly poor which imposes hardships on hospitals and clinics and makes it difficult for them to attract health care workers.

The panel's recommendation would basically allow rural hospitals to get more government money. Their report, however, questions whether Congress can attract HMOs and their extra benefits, such as prescription drug coverage, to rural areas. Because of small and widely scattered population, HMOs often find rural areas undesirable places to offer their services.

If you have Medicare and live in a rural area or are simply concerned about Medicare funding to rural hospitals, call 1-800-MEDICARE, that's 1-800-633-4227. You should also call your members of Congress. To find out how to contact your members of Congress, go to www.visi.com/juan/congress.

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