Printable Version
Friday Alert
Friday, March 7, 2008
(Alliance for Retired Americans)
John
McCain Restates Support for Social Security
Privatization
In an interview
appearing in the March 3 edition of The Wall Street
Journal, John McCain restated his
support for the privatization of Social
Security, saying, “As part of Social Security
reform, I believe that private savings accounts
are a part of it -- along the lines that President
Bush proposed.” The proposal
McCain favors is the same Bush privatization
plan rejected by the American people in 2005
for jeopardizing the economic security of
current and future retirees and ravaging
guaranteed benefits for seniors and the
disabled. Without the program, half of
all American seniors would live in
poverty. Privatization would mean a
30-50% cut in benefits, with the average
retiree losing $134,000 in payments over 20
years of retirement. Arizona Alliance
members gathered outside a Phoenix Social
Security office this morning to protest Sen.
McCain’s support for privatization, which he
has consistently favored and voted for in
2006. “Don't be fooled, John McCain is,
was, and always will be a privatizer,” said
George J.
Kourpias, President of the Alliance for
Retired Americans. “While he fancies himself
a maverick, he has long championed the Bush
plan to gamble away Social Security on the
roulette wheel of the stock market. In a
Bush-McCain world, seniors' risk would be Wall
Street's reward.”
Fidelity: $225,000
in Savings Needed per Couple for Retirement
Health
A couple retiring this year
will need about $225,000 in savings to cover
medical costs in retirement, according to a
study released Wednesday by Fidelity
Investments and reported in The Washington
Post. The figure, calculated for a
couple age 65, is up 4.7% from the $215,000
estimate for 2007, the Boston-based financial
services company said. The study assumes
workers do not have employer-sponsored retiree
health care coverage. It includes
expenses associated with Medicare premium
payments as well as co-payments and
deductibles, plus out-of-pocket prescription
drug costs. Fidelity's first study, in
2002, found that a couple needed $160,000 in
savings to fund medical costs in retirement;
that total has risen an average of 5.8% a
year. The study blamed the rising health
care costs this year on reasons that include
higher costs for services such as doctors’
visits; rising expenses associated with new
technologies; and increased incidence of some
chronic conditions, like diabetes. “The
Center for Retirement Research at Boston
College estimates that six in 10 older workers
are at risk of being unable to maintain their
standard of living in retirement,” said Ruben Burks,
Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance. “I
hope that those who are currently planning
their retirements are factoring in enough for
health care.”
Insurance Industry
Agrees to End Abusive Medicare Advantage
Marketing Tactics
Executives from the
health insurance industry and America’s
Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), their lobbying
group, met with members of the Senate Finance
Committee on Monday to answer questions about
the abusive marketing tactics used to sell
Medicare Advantage and Part D plans. As a
result of increasing reports of seniors being
fraudulently enrolled in the programs and
subjected to hard-sell sales pitches, the
industry announced support for greater
supervision of insurance agents selling to
Medicare beneficiaries. Additionally,
they agreed to end tactics such as door-to door
sales, cold calls and financial incentives to
bribe seniors to switch from traditional
Medicare. Committee Chairman Max Baucus
(D-MT) applauded AHIP for supporting better
oversight, and said he plans to include and
expand on the ideas in new regulations.
According to CQ Today, the new Medicare
legislation is expected this spring. “I
am glad that Sen. Baucus is not simply agreeing
to the insurers’ concessions and leaving the
table,” said Edward Coyle, Executive Director
of the Alliance. “There is a long way
to go before traditional Medicare no longer has
to compete with the unfair advantages given to
the insurance industry.”
Alliance, Other
Aging Organizations Spell Out Seniors’
Federal Budget Priorities
Senate
Democrats unveiled a budget plan on Tuesday
that would provide $35 billion for a second
round of government spending aimed at
stimulating a weak economy. As part of
the continuing effort to make sure that
seniors’ voices are heard regarding the
budget, on Tuesday the Alliance was one of
eight groups to sign onto a letter from the
Leadership Council of Aging Organizations
(LCAO), a coalition of 53 non-profits dedicated
to the older population. In the letters,
sent to Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), Chair of the
Senate Budget Committee, and Rep. John Spratt
(D-SC), Chair of the House Budget Committee,
the groups spelled out why President Bush’s
FY 2009 budget proposals are detrimental to the
Medicare program. They explained that an
expansion of means-testing would increase
beneficiary premiums and undermine the social
insurance nature of Medicare, and that the
arbitrary cap on general revenue financing of
Medicare limits meaningful reform. They
stated further that Medicare savings should be
achieved by stopping unwarranted subsidies to
private Medicare Advantage plans, and that the
budget resolution should provide resources for
necessary Medicare improvements, such as
helping those with limited
incomes.
First Regional Conference Less Than
Three Weeks Away
The national
Alliance will hold its first regional
conference of 2008, March 24-26 in Las Vegas,
NV, with U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley (NV-01) among the
featured speakers. The Western Regional
Conference will provide a forum to work with
other activists in the region to learn how to
increase grassroots advocacy, get seniors and
retirees registered and voting, and educate
federal, state and local legislators on the
issues that concern retirees. Join us to
set the course for the Alliance and for a
country that cares about workers, retirees and
their families. For copies of the
official registration form for any of the four
regional conferences, call 1-888-373-6497,
email Joni
Jones at jjones@retiredamericans.org,
or visit our website at www.retiredamericans.org.
Locations and dates for later conferences
are: Northeastern Regional Conference,
April 17-18, 2008 in Philadelphia, PA;
Midwestern Regional Conference, April 28-29,
2008 in St. Louis, MO; and Southern Regional
Conference, June 4-5, 2008 in Orlando,
FL.
Did
You Know…
A poll taken in January
by USA
Today, the Kaiser Family Foundation and
the Harvard School of Public Health found that
costs have led 29% of Americans not to fill a
prescription in the past two years.
Related Documents
- Friday Alert
Friday Alert