Byline: Robert Burns Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- President Clinton opened a campaign Monday to alert low-income elderly Americans to Medicare assistance that many don't know they are entitled to receive.
Clinton said he was ordering a series of steps aimed at improving awareness, including sending more mailings to Medicare and Social Security households, encouraging simpler application processes and making eligibility information available on the Internet.
``This is a duty we owe our parents and our fellow citizens, and we should honor it. It is the right thing to do,'' Clinton said during a brief appearance in the Rose Garden.
Clinton cited a consumer group's study showing that many low-income elderly and disabled Americans do not take advantage of the assistance in paying their Medicare premiums.
``Over 3 million of the hardest pressed Medicare beneficiaries still do not receive the help to which they are due,'' Clinton said.
Medicare, the government health insurance for people over age 65 and the disabled, charges a monthly premium - now $43.80 - for coverage of doctors' office visits and other outpatient treatment. It is deducted automatically from a person's Social Security retirement or disability check.
Congress in 1989 instructed Medicaid - which insures the nation's poor and is run jointly by the federal and state governments - to pick up the tab for certain low-income beneficiaries. Over the years, eligibility requirements have been relaxed, opening the aid to more people.
The newest expansion is limited, providing $1.5 billion in help over the next five years to people with incomes higher than ever before. It means an estimated 1.6 million additional Medicare beneficiaries are eligible for help on a first-come, first-serve basis, until the money runs out.
Nationwide, only 4,723 people were receiving the aid as of June, although enough money was set aside in last year's balanced budget act to help nearly half a million people in 1998, according to a study released Monday by Families USA, an advocacy group.
In his remarks Monday, Clinton also said he was troubled by a New York Times report that the nation's biggest health maintenance organizations, or HMOs, are withdrawing managed care programs for the poor and elderly. The newspaper said big organizations such as Aetna and U.S. Healthcare have shut down some Medicaid services in 12 states.
``It was a very disturbing story, but we want to get all the facts,'' Clinton said, adding that he asked Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala to investigate the HMO situation nationwide.
