JUNE 9, 2000 


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Medicare to Cover Care in Clinical Tests

 President Clinton announced Wednesday that Medicare will begin covering costs of routine patient care associated with clinical tests of new drugs and treatments. "As America ages, we must provide all our seniors affordable, quality health care, and we should be using our cutting-edge science to meet that challenge," the President said. "Simply put, the more seniors we enroll in trials the faster we’ll be able to use these advances to save American lives."

There is a disparity between the number of seniors affected by diseases and the number of seniors who take part in clinical trials of new treatments for those diseases. For example:

  • While 63% of cancer patients are over 65, seniors make up only 33% of those enrolled in clinical trials for new cancer treatments;
  • While 44% of breast cancer patients are elderly women, only 1.6% of women in clinical trials are elderly.
 The White House said that current Medicare reimbursement policy discourages seniors from taking part in clinical trials because there is no guarantee Medicare will cover the treatment.
Source: Associated Press 6-7-2000