Printable Version
Friday Alert
Friday, December 12, 2008(Alliance for Retired Americans)
President-Elect Obama Officially
Presents Tom Daschle as Secretary of
HHS
On Thursday, Barack
Obama presented former Senator
Tom Daschle as his choice to
become Secretary of the Department of Health
and Human Services, as well as to lead efforts
to secure "affordable, accessible health care
for every single American." The
President-elect said that Mr. Daschle, a former
Senate majority leader from South Dakota, would
also be director of a new White House Office of
Health Reform. In that position, Mr.
Daschle will be a leading architect of
proposals to expand coverage and rein in health
costs, according to Bloomberg
News. Mr. Obama has pledged to make
affordable health insurance available to
everyone through government subsidies, to
require that insurers cover all applicants
regardless of their medical history, and to
create a government-provided system similar to
Medicare for those who want an alternative to
private coverage. He has said that
getting everyone covered could cost as much as
$65 billion annually. Savings will come
in part from cutting payments to Medicare
Advantage (MA) plans. Obama singled out
Medicare Advantage - the privately run,
government-funded alternative to Medicare -
during his Thursday remarks. Obama has
called payments to insurers excessive and
pledged to reduce funding for Medicare
Advantage by $15 billion annually. Also
on Thursday, House Ways and Means Health
Subcommittee Chairman Pete
Stark (D-CA) released a report by the
Government Accountability Office (GAO) showing
that private MA plans spent less on health care
services than they projected in 2006. As
a result, private plans pocketed an extra $1.33
billion in profits-- 65% more than estimated in
their 2006 bids. This is the second year
in a row that MA organization profits exceeded
their own projections. Many policy
experts say that private insurers would hold
down costs and improve care if they had to
compete with a public plan. Mr. Daschle
wants to establish a Federal Health Board, an
independent entity like the Federal Reserve,
which would make coverage decisions for federal
health programs by reducing or denying payment
for new drugs and procedures that aren't as
effective as current ones. Said Alliance
Executive Director Edward
Coyle, "Mentioning Medicare Advantage
at such an important press conference shows
that President-elect Obama is putting seniors
before insurance companies."
Negotiations on Auto Industry Bridge
Loan Collapse in Senate
The
prospects of a $14 billion government loan to
the American auto industry fell apart on
Thursday night, as Senate Republicans came out
forcefully against the bill passed by the House
on Wednesday night -- a bill that was also
supported by the White House. The major
stumbling block on reaching a deal was deep
wage cuts for union workers. The House
package had passed on a 237 to 170 vote, with
Democrats providing most of the support.
Results of that vote are at http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll690.xml
. The House bill would have granted
emergency short-term loans to General Motors
and Chrysler and required the companies to
submit to broad government oversight directed
by a "car czar" appointed by President
Bush. For procedural reasons,
the measure needed 60 votes to advance in the
Senate; however, only 52 Senators voted for
it. "Since the Senate was not able to
come to an agreement, we will have to hope that
the Treasury Department acts soon," said
Ruben Burks,
Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance. Go
to http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=2&vote=00215
for complete results of the Senate vote.
Study: Most Seniors Experienced No
Reductions in Spending as a Result of Part
D
Last Thursday, a study by the
Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR)
analyzed the extent to which various groups of
seniors benefited from the Medicare
Prescription Drug, Improvement, and
Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA). The
report, "The Impact of the Medicare Drug
Benefit on Health Care Spending by Older
Households," found that most seniors
experienced no reductions in their health care
spending as a result of the Medicare drug
benefit. The study used data from the
Bureau of Labor Statistics to compare the
changes in spending by older households from
2004 to 2006. The analysis found that
only seniors in the lowest income quintiles -
the lowest 20% by income and the next lowest
20% - experienced savings on health related
expenditures. While households in the 1st
and 2nd quintiles - the wealthiest - saw the
rate of increase in drug expenditures fall or
rise at a slower pace as a result of the MMA,
households in the higher quintiles saw a more
rapid increase in their prescription drug
expenditures. The latter may have been
associated with greater use of drugs. To
see the full report, go to: http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/Impact-of-Medicare-Drug-Benefit-2008-12.pdf
.
Unable to Sell Homes, Some Seniors
Unable to Move to Assisted Living
The housing crisis has kept
thousands of older Americans who need support
and care from moving into retirement
communities or assisted-living centers,
effectively stranding them in their own homes,
a New York Times article reported
recently. Without selling their houses or
condominiums, many cannot buy into retirement
homes that require a payment of $100,000 to
$500,000 to move in. Some are removing
themselves from waiting lists, canceling plans
with packing services and staying where they
are, in houses that fit well 30 years ago, but
over the years have become lonely, too large or
too treacherous to navigate. Many
residents who moved before selling their homes
are spending through their savings while they
wait. There are signs that some families
and retirees are turning to adult day care
services as a stopgap. Providers say
their business has spiked as people look for an
alternative to continuing care or home aides to
provide food, companionship and therapeutic
services. Staying in their homes is
especially risky for seniors who have trouble
getting up stairs or who need someone to check
on them.
Save the Date: Alliance Legislative
Conference June 15-18, 2009
In the
wake of last month's historic elections, the
Alliance has moved up its 2009 Legislative
Conference to June 15-18 in Washington
DC. It will provide an
opportunity for Alliance members to hear from
leading members of the Obama administration,
organize grassroots activities to improve
Medicare and strengthen retirement security,
and lobby on Capitol Hill. "The Obama
administration will hit the ground running on
issues we've been working on for eight years,"
said Alliance President George J.
Kourpias. "We want to mobilize
as quickly as we can, so we have moved up the
conference from September." More details will
be available in January.
Related Documents
- Friday Alert
Friday Alert