In 1993, when the Clinton Administration first took office, the HI Trust Fund was projected to become insolvent in 1999. The Administration, together with the Congress, immediately took action and extended the life of the Trust Fund by several years. This summer, the Administration and Congress passed a sweeping reform of the Medicare program. The Balanced Budget Act is estimated to extend the life of the Trust Fund to about 2010 and puts in place major changes that modernize the program and make it ready for the 21st century. We established an information program for beneficiaries so that each beneficiary will receive pamphlets telling them about their choices, giving information about local organizations that can help them, and providing a toll-free number to call for more information.
Beneficiaries also can access the information through the Internet.
We expanded preventive benefits. We reformed the way we pay health plans and providers, and gave the program modernized purchasing authorities, so that program costs per beneficiary will be reduced to less than 4 percent average annual growth rate for Fiscal Years 1997 through 2002. We have been working aggressively with our partners in the Administration on Aging, the Office of the Inspector General, and the States to combat fraud. Our new and expanded authority will allow us to get even tougher. Through Operation Restore Trust and other efforts, this Administration has already taken strong steps to weed out waste and fraud.