Friday Alert
Friday, December 11, 2009(Alliance for Retired Americans)
Senate May Vote to Offer Medicare to
Those 55 - 64
President
Obama hailed a tentative health care
agreement announced in the Senate on Tuesday
night, saying that he would support it, and
majority leader Harry Reid
(D-NV) sent the proposal to the Congressional
Budget Office for cost analysis the next
day. According to The New York
Times, the deal would allow some people
ages 55 to 64 to buy coverage through Medicare
beginning in 2011. At first, they would
pay full cost. Eventually, the
legislation would allow them to obtain
subsidies to help defray the cost. Senior
advocates view the Medicare expansion as a
major step for people nearing retirement who
face some of the biggest obstacles to obtaining
insurance and pay some of the highest
prices. The agreement also calls for
creating a menu of national insurance plans,
modeled after those offered to federal workers,
including members of Congress. The new,
nonprofit insurance plans would be overseen by
the Office of Personnel Management, which now
runs the Federal Employees Health Benefits
Program. The deal maintains the public
option as a fallback plan, to be "triggered" if
private insurers do not step up to offer the
new national plans.
Activists rallied outside the Senate on
Thursday, pressing senators to drop a tax on
higher-end insurance plans. At issue is a
proposed 40% excise tax on health care plans
costing more than $8,500 annually for
individuals and $23,000 for families.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT),
who spoke at the event, has introduced an
amendment with Sen. Sherrod
Brown (D-OH) to strip out the
insurance plan tax. "The House approach,
which would raise income taxes on individuals
making more than $500,000 a year and couples
making more than $1 million, would not have the
detrimental effect on coverage for retirees and
older workers that the Senate's excise tax
would," said Barbara J.
Easterling, President of the
Alliance. On the Senate floor on
Thursday, Sens. Byron Dorgan
(D-ND) and John McCain (R-AZ)
pushed an amendment to allow U.S. pharmacies
and drug wholesalers to import Food and Drug
Administration-approved drugs from Canada,
Europe and a few other countries. A vote is
likely to occur on Monday – watch for a "Get
Active" e-mail letter today from the Alliance
to send your senators encouraging a "Yes"
vote.
Alliance Runs Health
Reform Ads in Maine Aimed at Two Key
Senators
A television advertising
campaign launched this week by the Alliance
decries insurance industry scare tactics and
outlines for seniors how health care reform
would help them better afford to see a doctor
and get a prescription filled. The
30-second spot, Stick to the Facts: Reform
Good for Seniors, began a week-long heavy
ad buy on local cable in Maine, home of the
oldest population in the nation based on median
age. Maine's two U.S. Senators,
Republicans Olympia Snowe and
Susan Collins, are key votes
in the health care debate currently on the
Senate floor. Click on http://bit.ly/6ePxpH to view
the ad. In it, a narrator cites some
widely held misconceptions of health reform,
saying they are, "just what the insurance
lobbyists want you to think."
Conrad-Gregg Entitlements Task Force
Concerns Senior Activists
On
Wednesday, Senators Kent
Conrad (D-ND) and Judd
Gregg (R-NH), chairman and ranking
member, respectively, of the Senate Budget
Committee, introduced new legislation to create
a bipartisan fiscal task force to address the
nation's long-term budget crisis. The
bill establishes an 18-member task force
comprised of ten Democrats and eight
Republicans. The panel would consist
entirely of currently-serving members of
Congress selected by Democratic and Republican
Congressional leaders, as well as the Treasury
Secretary and one other administration official
selected by the President. "This task
force could be used to try to solve the fiscal
crisis at the expense of seniors, by cutting
retirees' Social Security benefits
unnecessarily," cautioned Ruben
Burks, Secretary-Treasurer of the
Alliance. The Leadership Council of Aging
Organizations, a broad coalition of senior
groups including the Alliance, sent a letter to
the House and Senate on Tuesday objecting to
the creation of a fast-track entitlements
commission that could offer recommendations
that are forced through Congress without
amendments, under extremely short timelines,
with no opportunity to debate individual issues
or consult with constituents.
Holiday Greetings Reflect Urgency of
Health Reform
This week kicked off
a four-week Alliance holiday card campaign
targeting House and Senate members on their
health reform votes. The message is
simple: "Give the gift of health care reform;
please help us have a happier and healthier
year in 2010." North Carolina was first
to personally deliver their greeting to Rep.
Heath Shuler (D) - other
states nationwide will follow. Today,
Friday, the New Mexico Alliance's 'Senior to
Senior' event in Las Cruces wraps up with a
visit and card-delivery to Rep. Harry
Teague's (D) office. A total of
66 congressional offices will receive personal
visits. To see photos from the events,
click here: http://bit.ly/8thfD0.
New Alliance State Presidents
Welcomed in West Virginia and
Georgia
The Alliance welcomes two
new state presidents: Sterling
Ball in West Virginia and
Kenny Bradford in
Georgia. Mr. Ball has over 35 years of
labor movement experience and says, "Retirees
have a wealth of knowledge that we intend to
utilize fully in West Virginia." Kenny
Bradford became President of the Georgia
Alliance last Saturday. "I have always
been involved in politics, and am honored to
have this role with the Alliance in passing
health care reform," he said. A United
Auto Workers retiree, Mr. Bradford worked for
General Motors for 39 years.
Over 3,000 People Have Visited Our
Blog - Have You?
The
Alliance's new blog, http://ara.typepad.com/, is a
hotspot for information about national and
state-specific Alliance actions and
issues. The blog comes in addition to our
website - with frequently updated content,
comments from readers and photo/video
features. We encourage you to "bookmark"
the blog on your computer and check in
periodically for news. Several Alliance
activists also disseminate Alliance and retiree
information on their personal or state blogs.
Among them are Shane Fox, a
Texas Community Action Network board member, at
http://psst-progressivesavvyseniorstexas.blogspot.com/;
and Terry Schleder, New Mexico
Alliance Field Coordinator, at http://healthcarenownm.blogspot.com/.