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1993.04.28 :  Qualified Medicare Beneficiary Program

Contact:  Anne Verano (202) 690-6145
April 28, 1993

       It was announced today that the Health Care Financing
Administration recently mailed about a quarter of a million
letters to low-income Americans who may qualify for savings of
thousands of dollars annually in out-of-pocket payments for
Medicare services.
       "We are strongly committed to providing Medicare services,
through the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary program, to eligible
elderly Americans who cannot afford the usual Medicare premiums,
deductibles and co-payments," said HHS Secretary Donna E.
Shalala.  
"We are pleased to note that we have already received
approximately 60,000 responses to this special mailing."    
       Payments covered under the QMB program are:
       --The $676 in-patient hospital deductible for each
beneficiary hospital stay,
       --The $221 monthly Part A premium,
       --The $36.60 monthly Part B premium,
       --The $100 annual Part B deductible,
       --The $84.50-per-day skilled-nursing-facility charge for
day 21 through 100,
       --The $169-per-day Part A hospital charge for day 61
through 90,
       --The $338-per-day Part A hospital charge for 60 lifetime 
reserve days for any hospitalizations longer than 90 days.

       Under the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary program, enacted
by Congress in 1988, state Medicaid programs are required to pay
the above Medicare premiums, deductibles and co-payments for
elderly and disabled Americans whose incomes and assets place
them below the poverty line.
       "HCFA has worked hard to reach potential QMB
beneficiaries," said William Toby Jr., acting administrator of
HCFA.  "This mailing is the latest in a series of efforts that we
have undertaken, efforts that include the use of newspapers,
radio and television.  The letter, with its self-mailing
enrollment form, has proven highly effective."
       Questions on QMB eligibility and enrollment should be
addressed to local welfare offices, whose phone numbers and
addresses are listed in telephone directories, and which may also
be obtained by calling HCFA's toll-free hotline, 1-800-638-6833.

                               # # #

Editor's Note:  HCFA, an agency of the U. S. Department of Health
and Human Services, directs the Medicare and Medicaid programs,
which help pay the medical bills of more than 67 million
Americans.  HCFA's estimated fiscal year 1993 expenditures are
almost $230 billion.