Friday Alert

(Alliance for Retired Americans)

Alliance Commemorates Medicare's 44th Birthday with Events Across the Country
Forty-four years ago yesterday, President Lyndon Johnson signed Medicare into law.  To mark the birthday, members of the Alliance held more than 30 grassroots events around the country on Thursday, honoring Medicare's success and outlining a positive agenda for health care reform.  The events, in 17 different states, called for change that will help current and future retirees.  Events were held in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and South Carolina.  Thousands of Alliance members held birthday parties, sent letters to the editor to their local newspapers and visited the local offices of lawmakers to call for real health care reform, rather than cosmetic changes.  For more specific details about the events, click on http://www.box.net/shared/voiana4mrv.  Alliance Executive Director Edward F. Coyle called Medicare "a great American success story," and contrasted those who enacted it with the opponents of health care reform today.  "It is unfortunate that some are seeking to derail health care reform through misleading and divisive attempts to scare seniors.  The truth is that several leading proposals on Capitol Hill would actually make it easier for retirees to see a doctor, get a prescription filled, or afford long-term care," he stated.  Alliance members are calling for legislation that helps early retirees buy into Medicare coverage and closes the Medicare Part D "doughnut hole" that forces many seniors to spend several months each year paying full price for their prescriptions while still having to pay their premiums.  Alliance members also call for making long-term care affordable through a public insurance plan; continuing tax policies that encourage employers to provide retiree health benefits; and creating a "public plan" option that provides affordable coverage and puts healthy pressure on private insurers to keep their premiums and business practices in check.  As of Friday morning, Alliance members had sent more than 500 letters to their Members of Congress this week reminding them to consider the needs of seniors when reforming health care.

White House, U.S House Reach a Health Care Deal
U.S. House leaders, the White House and four conservative Democrat "Blue Dogs" on the House Energy and Commerce Committee reached a deal on Wednesday for a health care overhaul.  Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR), head of the Blue Dog health care task force, said that the deal would cut more than $100 billion from the health bill, increase exemptions for small businesses and prevent the public insurance option from basing reimbursements on Medicare rates.  The deal also includes a promise from Democratic leaders to hold off on a floor vote until September.  Four of the seven Blue Dogs on Energy and Commerce who had been holding up the bill - Ross, Blue Dog Co-Chairman Baron Hill (IN), Rep. Zack Space (OH) and Rep. Bart Gordon (TN) - agreed to the package.  Under the reported agreement, the bill would eliminate over $160 billion in subsidies to insurance companies over 10 years through Medicare Advantage.  The bill would also gradually close the doughnut hole, eliminate co-payments and deductibles for most preventative services and make it easier for low-income people to pay for their premiums.  Small businesses with less than $500,000 in payroll would be exempt from an employer mandate that they provide health insurance.  "It is important for seniors that this bill is passed, because it reduces wasteful spending and expands Medicare benefits," said Barbara J. Easterling, President of the Alliance.  The House Energy and Commerce Committee resumed its markup of the bill on Thursday night.

Senate Health Care Update
According to Politico, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) would only say on Thursday that he was "cautiously optimistic" that the Senate Finance Committee would vote on a bill before the summer break begins next Friday.  Earlier this week, the Associated Press reported that the committee has dropped several key provisions that are contained in the House health care reform bill.  The article stated that a "gang of six" on the Committee, three Democrats and three Republicans, wish to eliminate the public plan option, despite President Barack's support for it.  The six are reportedly on track to remove the public option in favor of having a non-profit cooperative sell insurance in competition with private industry.  The negotiators also seek to exclude a requirement of many congressional Democrats for large businesses to offer coverage to their workers.  The senators involved in the negotiations include Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) the senior Republican.  Others negotiating are Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad (ND) and Jeff Bingaman (NM), and Republicans Olympia Snowe (ME) and Mike Enzi (WY).  Sen. Snowe confirmed that co-ops are the preferred approach of the six.  "It's safe to say that'll probably remain in the final document," she said.  The group was also reportedly considering a tax of as much as 35% on high-cost insurance policies.  "The public policy option is crucial for health care reform," said Mr. Coyle.  "In addition, the proposals that aim to tax the health care policies of high-paid Goldman Sachs executives could well end up hitting benefits for working families and retirees, who are already reeling from health care costs."

The Insurance Industry Seeks to Prevent the CLASS Act
In recent weeks, the insurance industry has ramped up its efforts to exclude the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act legislation for long term care from health reform. The legislation (S. 697 and H.R. 1721) would create a government insurance program to provide seniors and the disabled with about $75 per day to help them pay for home care and other expenses for assisted living or nursing homes.  Both the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee proposal and the House health care bill currently include the CLASS Act.  However, according to Roll Call, private insurance lobbies are hard at work to prevent it from passing.  They have argued that the CLASS Act will be overly costly and will result in their being crowded out of the market by government competition.  Recent estimates run counter to these claims, however.  The Congressional Budget Office projected that the program would save nearly $60 billion over the next 10 years, with Medicaid savings by year six of its implementation. "The CLASS Act is vital to health care reform, cost-effective, and is a market stimulator," said Ruben Burks, Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance.  "It needs to be included."