Friday Alert
Friday, October 9, 2009(Alliance for Retired Americans)
CBO Says Senate Finance Committee
Health Care Bill Would Reduce
Deficit
Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid (D-NV) said on
Thursday that the Finance Committee will vote
this Tuesday on a 10-year, $829-billion
proposal that would expand health coverage to
94% of eligible Americans while reducing the
federal deficit. Sen. Reid's announcement
came a day after the nonpartisan Congressional
Budget Office (CBO) said the committee's
version of health legislation would provide
coverage to 29 million uninsured Americans,
while still paring future federal deficits, by
slowing the growth of spending on medical
care. According to The New York
Times, the much-anticipated cost analysis
showed the bill meeting President Obama's main
requirements, including his demand that health
legislation not add "one dime to the
deficit." Overall, the budget office
said, the bill would reduce deficits by a total
of $81 billion in the decade starting next
year. The budget office also found that
the Finance Committee bill would reduce
payments to private Medicare Advantage plans by
$117 billion over 10 years, and that a proposed
tax on high-cost insurance policies contained
in the plan would raise $201 billion over 10
years.
The bill would establish insurance cooperatives, to compete with private insurers, but will not contain a national public option. The budget office said the co-ops would not establish "a significant market presence in many areas." The CBO report cleared the way for the Finance Committee chairman, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) to push for a panel vote. Senior White House officials are then scheduled to be in the room throughout negotiations to merge competing Senate health care bills from the Finance and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committees. After that, the stage would be set for Democrats to take health reform legislation to the floor for debate by the full Senate later this month.
National Public Option Will Be in
House Bill, Not Senate Finance Committee
Bill
A companion bill moving
through the House would cost more than the
Senate Finance Committee's bill, but would also
do more to expand coverage, the budget office
said. Speaker of the House Nancy
Pelosi (D-CA) declared that the House
bill would contain a public option to compete
nationally with private insurance plans.
"The Alliance will continue to fight for a
real, national public option and against the
taxation of higher-end health insurance plans,"
said Barbara J. Easterling,
President of the Alliance. This
Wednesday, the Illinois Alliance told Rep.
Timothy Johnson (R) to honor
overwhelming support for health insurance
reform by providing a strong public
option. Barbara
Franklin, Illinois Alliance President,
pointed to this September's New England
Journal of Medicine survey regarding
health care reform and the public option, which
shows that seventy-three percent of the doctors
in this country support a public option like
Medicare as part of health care reform.
Information on the event and study are here: http://ara.typepad.com/blog/2009/10/illinois-fill-our-doctors-prescription-congressional-event.html.
Medicare Part D Premiums to Rise for
Many in 2010
Monthly premiums for
Medicare beneficiaries who are enrolled in Part
D stand-alone prescription drug plans will rise
11% on average, to $38.85 in 2010, if
beneficiaries opt to stay in their current
plans, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation
analysis of the 2010 Part D plan
offerings. Up to 1.2 million people on
Medicare would see monthly premium increases of
at least $10 unless they switch to a less
expensive plan. Furthermore, for the
first time since the Medicare drug benefit
began, a majority of stand-alone drug plans (61
%) will require enrollees to meet a deductible
before coverage begins. "Without real
health care reform, prescription drug and
medical bills will continue to break seniors'
backs," said Ruben Burks,
Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance.
Connecticut, Iowa Alliance Members
Strike Back at Humana, Sen.
Grassley
Last Friday, Connecticut
Attorney General Richard
Blumenthal requested private Medicare
Advantage providers including Aetna, Anthem,
ConnectiCare, HealthNet, UnitedHealth and
WellCare disclose information they provided to
their beneficiaries on the potential impact of
health insurance reform. The request
follows Humana's misleading mailings sent to
Medicare Advantage customers and subsequent
investigation. Cal
Bunnell, President of the Connecticut
Alliance for Retired Americans said, "The
recent revelations of fear-mongering mailings
by Humana, Inc. make it more important than
ever to be vigilant in protecting the public
interest." Read about it on the AFL-CIO
blog: http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/10/02/connecticut-attorney-general-to-investigate-insurance-company-abuses/.
This Tuesday, Iowa seniors took a stand in front of Senator Charles Grassley's (R) office in Davenport. They denounced the Senator's support of Humana's scare tactics regarding health reform. The Iowa Alliance joined with others at a rally where Alliance Regional Board Member and activist Joyce Hermanstorfer read a letter that was then delivered to Grassley's office. Donald Rowen, President of the Iowa Alliance for Retired Americans, said, "Humana mailed its Medicare Advantage recipients false information about health insurance reform, and Senator Grassley thinks that is acceptable. We are tired of seniors being misled by such scare tactics; and we are tired of Senator Grassley defending big business instead of Iowa's seniors." For more, click here: http://ara.typepad.com/blog/2009/10/iowa-seniors-speak-out-against-grassley-denounce-senators-support-of-humana-scare-tactics.html.
Alliance Members Still Have "The
Write Stuff"
Alliance members
continue to write letters to the editor in
droves during the health insurance reform
debate. Writers who have had their point
of view on health care and other topics
published in their communities recently
include: Don Badie, Leon Burzynski,
John Cardwell, Tony Fransetta, Dave Friesner,
Paul McGavis, Charles Matul, Urias Meadows,
John Newman, John Pernorio, Dianna Porter,
Scotty Watts, and Laura
Wickwar. Thank you to all!
If you have had your letter published, but are
not on this list, please mail us a copy, or
e-mail a copy to letters@retiredamericans.org.
You will receive a pen that says "Retirees with
the Write Stuff" for helping us to amplify our
message.