Archive for July, 2008
Congress Does NOT Pull the Trigger on Seniors
Monday, July 28th, 2008Congress once again did the right thing and cast a vote for seniors by setting aside the Bush administration’s flawed Medicare trigger proposal (required in the privatization legislation passed in 2003) and the mandatory cuts it requires. Chairman Pete Stark says the trigger was passed solely “to do a hatchet-job on Medicare”. He’s so right. The [...]
New Social Security Estimator
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008When should I retire? Sounds like such a simple question…one asked by millions of seniors each year. Yet the answers are as unique as the individual asking them. To help future retirees sort through it all, the Social Security Administration has unveiled a new benefits calculator. This isn’t a first for SSA but this latest [...]
New Medicare Law is About More Than Just Doctors’ Pay
Monday, July 21st, 2008Last week’s Medicare votes gave Congress and the President a simple choice: strengthen the Medicare program for seniors and their physicians or support billions in wasteful subsidies the health insurance industry has lobbied hard to protect. Ultimately, even those who’ve supported the billions of dollars of wasteful subsidies to private Medicare Advantage insurers for years [...]
Seniors Applaud Congressional Veto Override
Tuesday, July 15th, 2008Barbara B. Kennelly, President and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, issued the following statement to NCPSSM members and supporters today: “Thanks to hard won bi-partisan support in the House and Senate, America’s seniors and their caregivers have averted physician pay cuts that would have severely limited healthcare access to [...]
Bush Will Veto Medicare Bill Tomorrow
Monday, July 14th, 2008The majority of Congress, including loyal Republicans, America’s seniors and their physicians will be told once again where this administration’s priorities lie…with the insurance industry. Congressional Quarterly reports this afternoon: President Bush will veto the recently cleared Medicare bill Tuesday, a senior administration official said Monday on a conference call arranged by the White House. [...]
Sen. McCain Spins Social Security Comment
Thursday, July 10th, 2008You know it’s bad when even the “clarification” gets it wrong. Senator McCain’s explanation of his ‘Social Security is a disgrace’ comment shows he either doesn’t understand the system’s long-term financial picture or he’s just picking up where the President’s privatization campaign left off. Here is his clarification from The Trail: McCain sought to clarify [...]
Medicare Victory for Seniors and Their Doctors
Thursday, July 10th, 2008HR 6331 Stops Medicare Physician’s Payment Cuts and Trims Wasteful Insurance Industry Subsidies. Reaction from National Committee President/CEO, Barbara B. Kennelly: “Today’s vote provided a clear choice between sound policy to improve healthcare for seniors or funding massive giveaways to private Medicare insurers. We thank those Senators who made the right choice. We only hope [...]
John McCain Says Social Security is a “Disgrace”
Wednesday, July 9th, 2008Hard to imagine, right? Even the most hard-core, anti-Social Security flame throwers in town generally use less inflammatory (and fundamentally flawed) language to describe America’s most popular government program. Why then would Senator McCain go there? Good question. Now, you might be thinking “he probably didn’t mean what he said…or it was just a slip [...]
Improved Medicare Patient Care or Higher Insurer Profits?
Monday, July 7th, 2008Sounds like an easy choice, right? Apparently, not for Republican Senators who voted against the Medicare bill last month. By all accounts, that Medicare vote, which preserved billions in insurance industry subsidies while requiring cuts in doctors’ payments, made for a tough July 4th recess for some Senators. You can certainly see why… casting a [...]