Happy Birthday Medicare!!!
-
Jul 28, 2009 Posted by Adam Swope
The Pennsylvania Alliance for Retired Americans is pleased to observe Medicare’s 44th anniversary on Thursday by marking the program’s accomplishments and calling upon Congress to swiftly pass a health care reform bill that helps current and future retirees.
Medicare is a great American success story. It has helped reduce poverty and increase dignity among American seniors. It has established an American RIGHT that we all deserve care in our golden years. It has shown that there can be a valuable role for the federal government to help Americans afford to see a doctor or get a prescription filled.
As our leaders in Washington wrestle with Health Care Reform to benefit all Americans, reform that could be the most significant piece of social legislation since Medicare, it is important that legislators remember that Medicare needs reform too.
The Pennsylvania Alliance has been vocally advocating for several proposals that would improve Medicare and have a positive impact on overall health care costs in the long term:
- End overpayments to private insurance companies that cost Medicare an average of 14% more to provide similar coverage to traditional Medicare
- Close the “Doughnut Hole” in prescription coverage through Medicare Part D
- Reduce Medicare Part D costs and foster more competition by offering a “public” Part D option that would be empowered to negotiate for drug prices
- Allow early retirees to buy in to Medicare starting at age 55 to make sure that Americans can access regular preventative and early-detection services at a very critical stage in life
- Improve coverage and incentives for preventative care and wellness programs through Medicare to help Americans stay healthy and spend less on health care
These Medicare improvements, in addition to the CLASS Act to create a national Long Term Care insurance program, are the senior-specific components that must be addressed in order for health care reform to be truly comprehensive.
Along with a strong “Public Option” for uninsured workers, employer pay-or-play provisions and tighter restrictions on insurance companies, these Medicare and Long Term Care improvements will create a Health Care system worthy of our great nation. Medicare was the first great step toward this goal. Forty-four years later, Americans are still waiting for Washington to finish the job.
So call your member of Congress and your Senators, write your local paper and tell your family and friends. If we want Medicare to reach its 50th, we must pass Health Care Reform!
Happy Birthday, Medicare, and may you have many more years of bringing excellent healthcare coverage to America's seniors!
Jean Friday
President, Pennsylvania Alliance for Retired Americans