On July 30^th, the federal Medicare program turns forty-five, and Alliance members will be celebrating the occasion with events all across the country.  The events will serve to remind lawmakers and the general public how important and efficient the Medicare program has been in providing health coverage to retirees. At the same time, they will inform seniors on improvements to Medicare through the health care reform law.  For specific event information in your area, please e-mail araorganizing@retiredamericans.org.

The 75th anniversary of Social Security is also this year, on August 14.  The Alliance submitted testimony to the Subcommittee on Social Security of the House Ways and Means Committee for the record of a July 15 hearing, “Social Security at 75 Years: More Necessary Now Than Ever.”  In it, the Alliance addressed the incorrect words of deficit hawks who repeatedly claim that Social Security is to blame for the national debt, even though the program has not contributed to the federal deficit and maintains a $2.5 trillion surplus. To see the testimony, go to http://bit.ly/bi7qAJ.  To find a Social Security 75^th birthday event near you, go to http://bit.ly/aTIDaP.

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“John Boehner’s call to raise the Social Security retirement age to 70 is not only deeply hurtful and insensitive to workers, but also reflects a dangerously flawed misunderstanding of how Social Security is financed and operates,” said Edward F. Coyle, Executive Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, a four million-member grassroots advocacy organization.