[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 785 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 785

     To require the Trustees of the medicare trust funds to report 
recommendations on resolving projected financial imbalance in medicare 
                              trust funds.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                  May 9 (legislative day, May 1), 1995

 Mr. Packwood introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To require the Trustees of the medicare trust funds to report 
recommendations on resolving projected financial imbalance in medicare 
                              trust funds.
    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. TRUSTEES' CONCLUSIONS REGARDING FINANCIAL STATUS OF MEDICARE 
              TRUST FUNDS.

    (a) HI Trust Fund.--The 1995 annual report of the Board of Trustees 
of the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, submitted on April 3, 
1995, contains the following conclusions respecting the financial 
status of such Trust Fund:
            (1) Under the Trustees' intermediate assumptions, the 
        present financing schedule for the hospital insurance program 
        is sufficient to ensure the payment of benefits only over the 
        next 7 years.
            (2) Under present law, hospital insurance program costs are 
        expected to far exceed revenues over the 75-year long-range 
        period under any reasonable set of assumptions.
            (3) As a result, the hospital insurance program is severely 
        out of financial balance and the Trustees believe that the 
        Congress must take timely action to establish long-term 
        financial stability for the program.
    (b) SMI Trust Fund.--The 1995 annual report of the Board of 
Trustees of the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund, 
submitted on April 3, 1995, contains the following conclusions 
respecting the financial status of such Trust Fund:
            (1) Although the supplementary medical insurance program is 
        currently actuarially sound, the Trustees note with great 
        concern the past and projected rapid growth in the cost of the 
        program.
            (2) In spite of the evidence of somewhat slower growth 
        rates in the recent past, overall, the past growth rates have 
        been rapid, and the future growth rates are projected to 
        increase above those of the recent past.
            (3) Growth rates have been so rapid that outlays of the 
        program have increased 53 percent in aggregate and 40 percent 
        per enrollee in the last 5 years.
            (4) For the same time period, the program grew 19 percent 
        faster than the economy despite recent efforts to control the 
        costs of the program.

SEC. 2. RECOMMENDATIONS ON RESOLVING PROJECTED FINANCIAL IMBALANCE IN 
              MEDICARE TRUST FUNDS.

    (a) Report.--Not later than June 30, 1995, the Board of Trustees of 
the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund and the Board of Trustees of 
the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund shall submit to 
the Congress recommendations for specific program legislation designed 
solely--
            (1) to control medicare hospital insurance program costs 
        and to address the projected financial imbalance in the Federal 
        Hospital Insurance Trust Fund in both the short-range and long-
        range; and
            (2) to more effectively control medicare supplementary 
        medical insurance costs.
    (b) Use of Intermediate Assumptions.--The Boards of Trustees shall 
use the intermediate assumptions described in the 1995 annual reports 
of such Boards in making recommendations under subsection (a).
                                 <all>