Printable Version
Friday Alert
Friday, July 11, 2008(Alliance for Retired Americans)
Senate Vote Strengthens Medicare
On July 9, the U.S. Senate voted
to rescind cuts in Medicare reimbursements to
physicians, scale back subsidies to private
Medicare Advantage providers, and expand health
care coverage for low-income seniors.
Defying a White House veto threat, the Senate
reversed a June 26 vote on the same
issue. Senator Arlen
Specter (R-PA) changed his vote,
paving the way for other Senators to do the
same. Earlier this week the
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review published a
letter from Alliance Regional Board Member
Carl Paulett, chastising
Specter for standing with big insurance
companies rather than Keystone State
seniors. Many Republicans opposed the
bill because it would take away subsidies from
Medicare Advantage private insurance
plans. The vote on H.R. 6631 was 69-30,
with Senator John McCain the
lone absentee.
The roll call marked the return of Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), who is undergoing cancer treatments. “It is fitting that the first vote Senator Kennedy cast upon his return was in favor of a bill to strengthen Medicare,” said Alliance President George J. Kourpias. “Thanks to Senator Kennedy and his colleagues, physicians will continue to treat Medicare patients, low-income seniors will receive extra assistance with their health care costs, and Medicare Advantage programs will be reformed so that more money goes to seniors and not large corporations.” The bill has already been approved by the U.S. House of Representatives.
McCain Calls Social Security a
“Disgrace”
In remarks at a July 7
forum in Denver, Senator John
McCain called Social Security “a
disgrace.” According to the Washington
Post, McCain said “Americans have got to
understand that we are paying present-day
retirees with the taxes paid by young workers
in America today. And that's a disgrace.
It's an absolute disgrace, and it's got to be
fixed.” Participating in a Democratic
National Committee press conference, Alliance
Executive Director Edward F.
Coyle termed the remarks, “one of the
most insensitive, anti-senior comments I have
ever heard from a public official.” Also
this week former senator Phil
Gramm, a top adviser to McCain, told
the Washington Times that the U.S. is
a “nation of whiners” and that we are in a
“mental recession” not an actual one.
Washington Post Spotlights Social
Security Policy Choices
A front
page Washington Post article
contrasted the Social Security plans of
Senators Barack Obama
and John McCain.
According to the article, McCain is considering
raising the retirement age, reducing scheduled
benefit increases, and privatizing the system
through individual accounts. Obama, rejecting
an increase in the retirement age,
privatization, or a cut in benefits, pledges to
tax income greater than $250,000 per year at a
rate of two to four percent to help fix Social
Security’s projected shortfall.
Currently, workers pay 6% in taxes on income up
to $102,000. “It is important that
retirees spend the next few months learning
more about the issues and where the candidates
stand,” said Alliance Treasurer Ruben
Burks.
Cost Concerns Causing More
Americans to Delay Medical
Care
Worries about the price of
health care are causing more Americans,
including those with health insurance, to put
off or even go without treatment. In a
2007 survey conducted by the Center for
Studying Health System Change, about 20 percent
of respondents reported delaying or forgoing
medical care within the past year, a large
increase from the 14 percent who did so in
2003. 69 percent of those who postponed
care noted the cost of treatment as a
factor. Additionally, while uninsured
Americans reported the highest rate of not
seeking care – 38 percent of those polled – the
greatest increase of such cases was actually
among those with health insurance; 17 percent
of insured respondents said they did without,
up from 11 percent previously. Reasons
for such cost concerns among the insured may
have included high deductible and other
out-of-pocket costs rising in step with
skyrocketing health care prices.
Rising Gas Prices Have Forced Cuts
in Aid to Older Americans
On July
5, The New York Times reported that
soaring gasoline prices have caused elderly
support agencies to make cuts to programs like
Meals on Wheels, transportation assistance and
home care. Agencies in rural areas have
found difficulty in recruiting and keeping
volunteers because those agencies rely on
volunteers to provide their own gas.
Furthermore, there is a shortage of home aides
because those jobs have low pay and require
long drives. Instead, many potential home
aides have decided to enter the nursing home
industry. To make matters worse, many
rural older people not only will be deprived of
the nutritional value of home delivered meals,
but also the benefit of having someone from the
outside world regularly checking up on
them.
Florida Alliance Rallies for Health
Care
On Thursday, the Florida
Alliance for Retired Americans was represented
at three health care rallies across the state.
FLARA President Tony Fransetta
addressed attendees at a rally sponsored by a
coalition of community groups in Palm Beach
County, FLARA Secretary Barbara
DeVane collaborated with state AFL-CIO
leadership and community groups to host a
successful health care event in Tallahassee,
and in central Florida, field organizers
represented the Alliance at a community
coalition sponsored gathering. To let the
national Alliance know about success stories
from your state, email ARAFRIDAYALERT@retiredamericans.org.
Did You Know…
Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
figures show that about 26% of a typical Social
Security check goes to Medicare premiums, drug
coverage, co-payments, deductibles and other
costs related to the program (USA
Today).