President Obama's Speech
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Sep 11, 2009 Posted by Adam Swope
Following President Obama's address to Congress on Wednesday, September 9th, Pennsylvania Alliance President Jean Friday sent the following letter to Pennsylvania members of Congress, as well as released it to the media:
Dear Congressman/Senator,
Now that Congress is back in session, it’s time to go work and enact health care reform! Every day that Congress delays will mean more Americans losing coverage, millions without access to the health care they need, and Americans still paying the highest prescription drug prices in the world.
President Obama’s speech on Wednesday illustrated the many reasons why we need health care reform. The members of the Alliance for Retired Americans want you to know that retirees, too, have a large stake in health care reform. There are a number of important retiree health care issues that we believe Congress should address when enacting health care reform:
- Closing the Medicare Part D doughnut hole and allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices will help millions of older Americans.
- Many pre-Medicare eligible retirees, ages 55-64, often cannot find or afford health insurance. A provision should be made for them to buy into Medicare.
- Medicare Advantage overpayment subsidies, on average 14% above the cost of traditional Medicare, should be eliminated and the savings used for Medicare improvements.
- Eliminating co-payments for preventive screenings will improve the quality of life for retirees.
- A public plan in national health care reform will lower health care costs for all Americans, retired and working, which will improve the solvency of Medicare.
Finally, we oppose the taxation of health care benefits, which would actually create disincentives for employers to provide health care benefits. While the cost of the legislation should be considered, this would be a counter-productive solution. Furthermore, let’s look at more than just the CBO score of the legislation and take into account the long-term savings to the system that can’t be scored.
We look forward to working and meeting with you on these vital issues. The time for action is now. We hope that you will have the courage to stand up against the scare tactics and intimidation and do what’s right for America, regardless of the short-term political implications. We owe it to our grandchildren.
Sincerely,
Jean Friday
President, Pennsylvania Alliance for Retired Americans