Printable Version
Bush Budget Harms Seniors
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
For
Immediate Release
Bush
Budget Harms Seniors
Alliance for Retired Americans Says
Medicare Cuts,
Means-Testing Are Especially
Damaging
The following statement
was issued today by Judy Cato, Executive Vice
President of the Alliance for Retired
Americans, regarding President Bush’s
budget.
Thank you all for coming today,
and thank you to Senators Conrad, Stabenow, and
Menendez for bringing attention to the negative
impact President Bush’s budget is having on
all Americans.
My name is Judy Cato, and
I am Executive Vice President of the Alliance
for Retired Americans.
I am from White
Plains, Maryland, and for several decades I
managed a high-rise senior citizens living
complex in Suitland, Maryland.
For
those of you who are unfamiliar with my
organization, the Alliance brings together over
3.5 million retirees from labor and
community-based groups through a grassroots
movement to improve the health care and
economic security of older
Americans.
The President’s cuts to
Medicare and Medicaid will compound the
problems facing seniors and millions of other
Americans struggling to deal with rising health
care costs.
For starters, the
President’s Medicare budget includes cuts of
$556 billion over ten years, as well as an
expansion of means-testing.
President
Bush wants to means-test the Part D
prescription drug program the same way that
Part B is means-tested.
Means
testing undermines the social insurance nature
of the Medicare program, raising costs for
seniors who are dependent on it.
Over time, that would lead to
more middle-class seniors like myself paying
higher premiums.
The
President’s Medicare budget reflects the
wrong priorities. He wants to drain the
Medicare Trust Fund at the expense of seniors,
while continuing to offer insurance companies
subsidies through the Medicare Advantage
program.
The most effective way for
Medicare to save money is to allow the
government to negotiate lower drug prices with
the pharmaceutical companies.
At the
same time, President Bush’s budget cuts back
the flexibility that states have to deal with
programs like Medicaid.
Under his
proposal, states would not have the option to
raise the amount of home equity that can be
counted against an individual’s eligibility
for long term care under Medicaid.
The
President’s budget also inadequately funds
health research conducted by the National
Institutes of Health (NIH).
Without needed research funding
now, we will see delays in promising treatments
and cures for diseases like Alzheimer’s and
Parkinson’s.
If that’s not scary
enough, the President wants to replace all or
part of Social Security’s guaranteed benefits
with the risky, unreliable returns of private
investment accounts.
In addition, the
President’s budget proposal is $100 million
less than the Social Security Commissioner’s
budget request.
Social Security
should get at least the funding level requested
by the Commissioner.
Otherwise, Social
Security field offices will be forced to close.
That is exactly what happened
earlier this month in Oskaloosa,
Iowa.
We must keep local Social Security
offices open to offer easy access to seniors
who can't travel longer distances or deal with
the maze of automatic phone calls.
The
Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly
program has been severely under-funded as
well.
President Bush’s figure is at
least $1.1 billion less than the amount needed
to pay for upcoming contract
renewals.
And finally, LIHEAP, the
low-income home heating assistance program,
continues to be funded at approximately half of
its authorized funding level.
We all
know how dangerous excessive heat and cold can
be to seniors.
Thank you, everyone, for
doing your part to increase public awareness of
these issues.
###
Contact: David
Blank (202) 637-5275 or dblank@retiredamericans.org