Senior citizens stand to pick up a $24 billion tab for health care if the Senate Finance Committee proposal to add a 20 percent co-payment for laboratory services goes into place, say groups representing clinical laboratories.

The impact of this proposal could be devastating for Medicare beneficiaries, particularly for those in rural communities and nursing homes, they say. The entire clinical laboratory community is at risk; the administrative and financial burden of this proposal threatens the viability of labs across the country.

In addition to access issues for patients and higher costs for their health care, labs will need to send out a quarter of a million new bills EVERY DAY to collect the copayment, note the groups. In many cases, it will cost laboratories more to collect the bills than the co-pay itself.

Join NILA (the National Independent Laboratory Association), AAB (the American Association of Bioanalysts) and others in the lab community to help stop this provision. Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard TODAY and ask to be connected to your Senator's office. Tell them not to shift $24 billion to seniors by imposing a co-payment on laboratory services.

For more information, contact Elaine Vining , Government Relations Director , NILA, 1500 K St., N.W., Suite 1100 , Washington, DC 20005 , PH: 202/230-5676 , FX: 202/842-8465 , EM: elaine.vining@dbr.com.