Recent battles we've fought to protect Social Security and Medicare benefits
2009 - Led the fight again (like we did in 2008) to make seniors eligible for stimulus checks. The initial proposal for the Recovery and Reinvestment Act targeted all workers but excluded non-working seniors. With our successful lobbying efforts, seniors were included in the final bill. This time seniors are not required to complete any IRS filings and will automatically receive checks.
2008 - Led the battle to stop the harmful "Medicare Trigger" that imposes an arbitrary 45 percent cap on the government's funding of Medicare. And we achieved victory, although temporary, convincing Congress to postpone this harmful provision of the Medicare Modernization Act for the next two years.
2008 - Led efforts to convince Congress to pass the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA), which reduced government subsidies to Medicare Advantage plans, improved benefits for mental health, and averted a 10.6 percent cut in fees to physicians who treat Medicare patients, helping to preserve beneficiary access to doctors and other practitioners.
2007 - Helped persuade the House to pass legislation strengthening Medicare for future generations and correcting many of the flaws in the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003.
2007 - Convinced Congress to increase funding levels and thereby prevent massive furloughs at the Social Security Administration. The National Committee successfully fought for increased funds, averting office closures all over the country in 2007. After continued intense lobbying, Congress approved funding for Fiscal Year 2008 at $451 million over the previous year's level, helping speed up disability reviews.
2005/2006 - Thwarted the most serious attempt ever to partially privatize Social Security, flooding Capitol Hill with petitions and letters to Congress and the White House reaffirming seniors' rejection of private Social Security accounts. Town hall meetings, Capitol Hill briefings, talk show appearances, and our member-supported media campaign also helped erode and reverse lawmakers' support for privatization legislation. (Today, we continue to hold the line on privatization for the 19th consecutive year!)
2005 - Launched an aggressive campaign to protect Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLAs) from soaring Medicare out-of-pocket costs. Under the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, annual increases in Medicare deductibles have joined premiums in being indexed to rising health care inflation, and out-of-pocket costs will eventually consume nearly half of the average Social Security benefit check. Our campaign has been successful in bringing Congress' attention to this critical and growing issue, but we need to fight even harder to push Congress to take corrective action.
2004 - Helped save Social Security funds from being cut under a Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment by demonstrating overwhelming grassroots opposition to H.J. Res. 22. With appeals from 1.4 million National Committee members and supporters, the Constitutional Amendment was pulled from consideration before a scheduled vote in the House Judiciary Committee! There is talk almost every year about bringing it back up for a vote, so we need to keep a wary eye on it.
2003 - Prevented the full privatization of Medicare by helping defeat a dangerous House bill calling for full premium support, while continuing the fight to fix the misguided Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 that passed in its place. To date, millions of our members have signed letters and petitions to Congress urging immediate, "corrective" Medicare bills to make prescription drugs affordable and available to all seniors. In addition, we are determined to prevent the new law's privatization experiment scheduled to begin in 2010.
2000 - The National Committee was instrumental in earning seniors who have reached 'normal retirement age' the unlimited right to work without losing some of their Social Security benefits. In large part because of our efforts, the Senior Citizens' Freedom to Work Act was passed and signed into law on April 7, 2000.
2000 - Coordinated a coalition of senior organizations' efforts to reauthorize the Older Americans Act (OAA), ensuring continued funding for a variety of state and local programs, including meals programs, in-home support services, pension counseling programs, and jobs programs for seniors. We were successful in getting this program reauthorized again in 2006.
1999 - Helped pass the Work Incentives Improvement Act that allows disabled workers receiving Social Security and Supplemental Security Income payments to retain their Medicare or Medicaid insurance for longer periods after returning to work.
1997 - Stopped in the Senate, one vote shy of the two-thirds majority required for passage - a proposal, already passed in the House, for a Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment that did not protect the Social Security Trust Funds.