Medicare Plans Survey of Health Care Recipients

Medicare is planning a comprehensive survey--the first in a decade--designed to find out what health services its 35 million beneficiaries need, what services they now get and how they pay for them. It has awarded a $33-million contract to Westat Inc. of Rockville, Md., to carry out a three-year series of detailed interviews with program enrollees, Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan announced.

The survey will cover a nationally representative sample of about 12,000 people. Participation is voluntary. All information will be kept confidential and will not affect individual benefits, Medicare chief Gail R. Wilensky said.