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1993.11.15 :  Medicare Payments Up 13%

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Contact: Anne Verano
Monday, Nov. 15, 1993 
(202) 690-6145

Medicare benefit payments of $37.1  billion in the third quarter of
the 1993 fiscal year were 13 percent  greater than those in the
same quarter of FY 1992, the Health Care Financing Administration
announced today.

HCFA Administrator Bruce C. Vladeck cautioned that "data from a
single quarter cannot be seen as a trend.  The rate of increase for
the full fiscal year is expected to be somewhat lower." Statistics
comparing the first and second quarters of FY 1993 over FY 1992
showed that Medicare benefit payments increased at rates of 11.4
percent and 7.85 percent respectively.

The Medicare program, which serves the elderly and disabled, had
approximately 36.1 million enrollees in June 1993, an increase of
less than 2 percent from June of the previous year.

(Editor's Note: The federal fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 through
Sept. 30.  The third quarter of FY 1993 covered the period April
through June.  See attached table for state-by-state data on third
quarter expenditures and enrollees.)