he influence of this source appear to facilitate or obstruct community health care nursing goals as they relate to the home health care industry?
Board of Trustees of the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund. (1998). 1998 annual report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund: Communication from the Board of Trustees, Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund Corporate Source: United States. Board of Trustees of the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
This article presents the 1998 annual report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) Trust Fund also know as Medicare Part B which pays for physician services, outpatient hospital services, home health services, and other medical expenses for adults aged 65 and over and for the long-term disabled. The report contains:
1. A description of Medicare amendments enacted as part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.
2. An explanation of the nature of the trust fund.
3. A summary of the operations of the trust fund in fiscal year 1997.
4. Estimates of the expected operations and status of the trust fund through 2007 and of the actuarial status of the fund through 1998.
5. And a description of actuarial methodology and principal assumptions for the SMI cost estimates.
The financing established for the SMI program for calendar year 1998 is estimated to be sufficient to cover program expenditures and to preserve an adequate reserve in the trust fund. It is noted that although two of the trustees' key recommendations in 1997 were implemented through the Balanced Budget Act--the SMI premium was permanently established at the level of 25 percent of expenditures and a National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare was created--program costs continue to grow faster than the gross domestic product ...