AMMAC is working to bring together the people, organizations, expertise, and resources necessary to promote and attain U.S. Congressional authorization for a Demonstration Project for Medicare in Mexico.

Demonstration Projects are the limited-scale experiments that Medicare undertakes to test innovations in Medicare Program design. Demonstration Projects are aimed at reducing costs, improving health outcomes, increasing Program efficiency, or decreasing bureaucracy and streamlining administration. Medicare does not make large Program changes without first conducting a Demonstration Project.

Medicare legislation provides authorization for Demonstration Projects to be developed and implemented within the U.S., but not in foreign countries. Congressional authorization and waivers of a number of provisions in the Medicare legislation will be required in order to implement a Demonstration Project for seniors living in Mexico.

We believe that a Demonstration Project for Medicare in Mexico will prove to be successful on a number of levels.

1. Medicare Program savings will result, thanks to significantly lower health care costs in Mexico.
   
   
2. Improved health outcomes for seniors living in Mexico, who are likely to access care earlier when symptoms arise, and to have more frequent preventive examinations and care.
   
   
3. Stimulate and enhance improvements already underway in certain sectors of the Mexican health provider industry.
   
   

In 2009, there is currently the best opportunity yet seen to bring Medicare services to eligible retirees living in Mexico. This is due to a confluence of political and economic events in the United States and Mexico. The current focus on healthcare reform in the U.S. provides an opportunity to promote Demonstration Projects generally, while the need to find Medicare Program cost savings becomes more urgent each year.

While we are working hard to get a proposal introduced in Congress in 2009, we know from experience that legislation can move slowly. We are prepared to continue pushing this agenda until the goal is attained. Success goes to the persistent in the halls of Congress.