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Bernard R. Tresnowski

JAMA. 1986;256(24):3383.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

IN THIS issue of THE JOURNAL, the American Medical Association's Council on Medical Service publishes a detailed description of a Board of Trustees-proposed conversion of the federal Medicare program to private insurers, at a rate that includes prefunding of benefits for future generations.¹ The goals of the program are ambitious: prefunded, affordable accessibility of comprehensive protection for an increasing cohort of the elderly in a system rationalized by means testing. The system would depend on the private market to underwrite the benefits, which are defined as "all services presently covered by Medicare Parts A and B, with additional benefits including periodic health examinations and other preventive services" and catastrophic expense "above a specified beneficiary cost sharing limit."

Presumably there are statistics that would suggest the extent to which the proposed increase in the age of eligibility would limit liability, but this feature of the proposal may not go as . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
President, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Chicago

From the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Chicago.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, 676 N St Clair St, Chicago, IL 60611 (Mr Tresnowski).

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