The Rural Health Panel is publishing this policy paper to provide a foundation for a discussion of the recommendations and findings presented in the June 2001 report (Report) of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), Medicare in Rural America. In this paper, the Panel comments on MedPAC’s recommendations and offers a critique of several findings that did not prompt specific recommendations. The purpose of this paper is to advance a policy discussion that yields changes in the Medicare program that are responsive to the special needs of rural America.
This report was written by Health Panel Members Andrew Coburn, Charles Fluharty, J. Patrick Hart, A. Clinton MacKinney, Timothy McBride, Keith Mueller, Rebecca Slifkin; published Sept. 28, 2001.
