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Friday Alert
Friday, April 25, 2008
(Alliance for Retired Americans)
Call to
Action for Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries is
Coming Soon
The Senate is moving
quickly to craft a bill that will address a
scheduled cut in Medicare payments to
physicians, and the bill is also likely to
include other Medicare changes. At a
meeting with doctors earlier this month, Senate
Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus
(D-MT) outlined a package of Medicare
legislation that would delay for 18 months a
10% Medicare physician payment cut that is
scheduled to take effect July 1, CQ Today has
reported. The measure would prevent the
cuts until 2010 and could also increase
payments by 1.1%. The bill would cost
about $8.4 billion over five years; halting the
cuts without the increase would cost about $8
billion. The legislation is expected to
reach the Senate floor in early May.
Alliance members will be asked to weigh in on
this legislation. A message will be
spelled out that urges Senators to include
benefits for low-income seniors, not just
providers, and to curb subsidies for Medicare
Advantage private insurance plans. The
Alliance will be providing: a letter you can
e-mail to your Senators; a toll-free call in
phone number; suggested talking points; and
details concerning which Senators are being
targeted. “"This could be a tough fight,
but it is also an excellent opportunity for
Alliance members to be heard," said George J.
Kourpias, President of the
Alliance.
More Geriatric Health Care Providers
Will be Needed as Baby Boomers Grow
Older
The Medicare legislation that
is being considered follows the release of a
report stating that the number of older
patients with complex health needs increasingly
outpaces the number of health care providers
able to adequately care for them. An
Institute of Medicine committee released the
report, Retooling for an Aging America,
Building the Health Care Workforce, last
week. The report says that the nation
faces an impending health care crisis when the
78 million baby boomers soon begin turning
65. The institute, an arm of the National
Academy of Sciences, also reported that there
are not enough specialists in geriatric
medicine; that sufficient training for health
care providers is unavailable; and that the
specialists who currently exist are
underpaid. It stated further that
Medicare may even hinder seniors from getting
the best care, due to: low reimbursement rates;
a focus on treating short-term health problems
rather than managing chronic conditions; a lack
of coverage for preventive services; and a lack
of coverage for health care providers' time
spent collaborating with a patient's other
providers. The report found there are
about 7,100 doctors certified in geriatrics in
the United States, one per every 2,500 older
Americans. While today's seniors tend to
be healthier and live longer than previous
generations, people over 65 often have health
care needs that are more complex than those who
are younger.
Older
Voters Play Key Role in Presidential
Primaries
Older voters played an
important role in Pennsylvania's Democratic
presidential primary on Tuesday, which was won
by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY). The
state is second only to Florida for the
greatest proportion of residents over 65, and
58% of registered Democrats are over 45, an age
that has been a dividing line in the
race. According to The New York
Times, age has been a more reliable
predictor of voter choice than gender, income
or education; race has been the only stronger
indicator, and then only if the voter is
African-American. Seniors have
consistently favored the 60-year old Clinton
over Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), age
46. Exit polls conducted by
Edison/Mitofsky in the primary states before
Pennsylvania have shown 57% of voters 65 and
older supporting Clinton, with 36% supporting
Obama. The reverse was true for those
under 30, with 59% for Obama and 38% for
Clinton. "Older voters are the most
consistent group to show up at the polls," said
Edward
Coyle, Executive Director of the
Alliance. "No matter who wins the
Democratic nomination, we will continue to vote
with full force in November to elect a
President who truly cares about
seniors."
Senator Baucus Speaks Out Against Social
Security Privatization
In response to
a report on Social Security reform released
last week by the Treasury Department, Senate
Finance Committee Chairman Baucus
reiterated that privatization is still not a
solution. The fourth in a series of
briefs on the issue, Social Security Reform: Mechanisms for
Achieving True Pre-Funding, available at
www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/reports/ss_issuebrief_no.4.pdf,
details proposals that would divert a portion
of current workers' Social Security payroll
taxes into private accounts. "President
Bush's private accounts plan would
increase debt held by the public by $5 trillion
over the first 20 years in operation," said
Baucus. "I am convinced that private
accounts are a bad idea, and examining this
report only confirms my view. I will do
everything I can to make sure that private
accounts are not enacted into law." Added
Ruben
Burks, Secretary-Treasurer of the
Alliance, "Americans have spoken loudly and
clearly against privatization – we defeated
Bush's plan once, and will ensure Social
Security remains the reliable safety net that
it was intended to be."
Midwestern Regional
Meeting Just Around the Corner
The
national Alliance will hold its third regional
meeting of 2008 next week, April 28-29 in St.
Louis, Missouri. The Midwestern 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 either of the
remaining regional conferences, call
1-888-373-6497, email Joni Jones at jjones@retiredamericans.org
or visit www.retiredamericans.org.
The Southern Regional Meeting, the last of the
four, will take place on June 4-5, 2008 in
Orlando, Florida. The Western Regional
meeting took place in March, while the
Northeastern Regional Meeting took place
earlier this month.
Did You
Know…
The Employee Benefit Research
Institute's 2008 survey, conducted in January,
recorded the sharpest one-year decline ever in
the public's confidence about having a
financially secure retirement (FOX Business
News).
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