[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 32 (Monday, August 12, 1996)]
[Pages 1430-1431]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Proposed Veterans' Medicare Reimbursement Model Project 
Legislation

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 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

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with Medicare reimbursement and plan to have a proposal ready in the 
near future.