    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
    [August 8, 1996]
    [Pages 1279-1280]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on Proposed Legislation To Establish a Veterans' Medicare
    Reimbursement Model Project
    August 8, 1996

        Today I have directed Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jesse Brown to
    send to Congress legislation for an innovative pilot that will expand
    health care options for our Nation's older veterans.
        The ``Veterans' Medicare Reimbursement Model Project Act of 1996''
    fulfills a recommendation made by the Vice President's National
    Performance Review and moves forward an idea proposed during the early
    days of this administration. The proposal has the potential of multiple
    benefits: expanding the choice of health care for older veterans;
    bringing new resources, utilization, and operational experience to the
    VA health care system; and producing savings for the Medicare Trust Fund
    by providing health care to Medicare-eligible veterans at a lower cost
    in the VA system.
        This bill would establish a model demonstration project under which
    the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) would be reimbursed by the
    Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for health care provided
    to certain Medicare-eligible veterans.
        It would open the VA system to Medicare-eligible veterans at a
    limited number of sites, allowing VA to receive reimbursement from
    Medicare, and testing whether this is a way of

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    improving health care access and quality for Medicare-eligible veterans
    while protecting the integrity of the Medicare program. The proposal
    incorporates a rigorous evaluation of this demonstration program.
        This legislation is particularly important given the increasing
    number of veterans age 65 and older--by the year 2000, the number of
    Medicare-eligible veterans will exceed 9.3 million, or 38 percent of the
    total veteran population. This model project will allow us to learn more
    about how we can meet the need of veterans.
        The Departments of Defense and Health and Human Services have also
    been working on developing specifications for a model project to allow
    Medicare-eligible military retirees to use military treatment facilities
    with Medicare reimbursement and plan to have a proposal ready in the
    near future.