The President’s Budget Plan -Good News and Bad News for America’s Seniors
Reaction from National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare President/CEO, Max Richtman on the President’s Budget:
“We’re glad to see President Obama respond to the GOP majority’s Social Security hostage-taking by including language in his 2016 budget allowing the routine rebalancing of the Trust Funds. Threatening people with disabilities with a 20% benefit cut unless there are broader Social Security benefit cuts plays politics with the livelihoods of 11 million Americans and their families rather than resolving this imminent funding issue. We applaud the President for taking a stand against this Social Security ploy. The President also included increased funding for the Social Security Administration which is desperately needed by an agency that’s been forced to reduce local office hours, cut back on consumer services, and increase the wait time for disability hearings. We urge Congress to approve this Social Security Administration budget.
While the President’s budget thankfully no longer includes cuts to Social Security, through the Chained-CPI proposal, his 2016 plan unfortunately still targets seniors by shifting more costs to Medicare beneficiaries through increased means-testing, premium hikes and co-pays. While some tout increasing means testing in Medicare as a way to insure ‘rich’ seniors pay their share, the truth is, the middle-class will take this hit as well.
Medicare has been means-tested since 2007 and the number of beneficiaries subject to higher premiums has been increasing. If passed, the President’s means testing proposal will hurt middle-class individuals and flies in the face of his budget theme of ‘middle-class’ economics. The economic realities facing America’s middle-class retirees are ignored by these provisions which shift even more costs onto seniors and exacerbate the retirement deficit gap millions of Americans face now and into the future. These Medicare proposals are especially worrisome given the fact that with the new GOP majority in Congress, passage of these cost-shifting plans can happen with a simple majority vote in the Senate posing a serious threat to millions of American seniors.” …Max Richtman, NCPSSM President/CEO
Chained CPI Will Cut Benefits Immediately
Quote:“…economists say you really have to do things like reform Social Security and Medicare and the President’s budget doesn’t do that.”
“Switching to this other way of calculating inflation, it’s called chained CPI, blah, blah, blah…whatever that means. But…it’s basically a way of calculating the cost of living increases for Social Security.”
Source: NPR’s “Here & Now”
Senior Business Editor: Marilyn Geewax
Correction:
ally, all economists don’t suggest cutting Social Security and Medicare to pay down the deficit. Far from it. Clearly NPR needs to work on expanding its sources beyond Washington’s billion dollar anti-Social Security, fiscal hawk lobby. Here are just a few respected economists and their writings to help get NPR started: Nobel Prize Economist, Paul Krugman, Center for Economic and Policy Research Economist, Dean Baker, and Economic Policy Institute Economist, Monique Morrisey, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Economist, Paul Van De Water, and Henry Aaron, Social Security Advisory Board and the Brookings Institute.
It’s also very discouraging when a major media outlet’s Senior Business Editor doesn’t understand even the basics of a proposal which would cut billions of dollars in benefits to both current and future retirees, veterans, people with disabilities and their families. In the same time it took to tell its listeners “blah, blah, blah…whatever that means” NPR could have given them the truth about what the Chained CPI does mean — benefit cuts starting immediately for millions of Americans still struggling in this economic recovery.
Social Security Will Exist for Future Generations
Quote:
“ ‘President Obama’s plan provides no hope of balancing the budget, no plan to save Social Security or Medicare, and no realistic ideas to grow the private economy or create jobs,’ U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio”
“’He ignores Social Security and Medicare, but we need real reform or these programs won’t exist for future generations of Americans,” (Rep. Tom) Rooney said’.”
Source: On Obama budget, Florida Republicans critical of lack of reforms to Social Security
Reporter: Jeremy Wallace
Correction:
Reporters have a responsibility to hold their sources, even Members of Congress, accountable to the truth. Unfortunately, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune did none of that in its coverage of the President’s budget.
It’s certainly no surprise that Congressional Republicans hope to use their new majority to cut benefits to millions of middle-class seniors who depend on Social Security and Medicare. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, unfortunately, gave its local lawmakers free reign to make up their own facts in support of that agenda.
Rep. Tom Rooney is flat-out wrong when he claimed “these programs won’t exist for future generations” without reform. There isn’t a single actuarial projection that Social Security and Medicare won’t exist for future generations. In fact, the Social Security Trustees report that with $2.76 trillion in the Social Security Trust Fund the program will be able to pay full benefits for decades to come – until 2033. At that point, there will still be enough revenue coming into the program to pay 77 percent of all benefits owed. Won’t exist? Hardly.
In the Herald-Tribune story, Senator Mark Rubio claimed the President’s budget offers “no plan” for Social Security or Medicare. Truth is this budget includes $400 billion in Medicare savings including, unfortunately, increased means-testing, premium hikes and co-pays for seniors. While these cuts apparently aren’t enough for Senator Rubio that doesn’t make them non-existent. This budget also addresses the more immediate Social Security disability shortfall with a simple administrative move, done 11 times before, that the House GOP refuses to consider.
As the old adage goes, “we’re entitled to our opinions but not our own facts.” Journalists owe it to their readers to report those facts not merely parrot one party’s political spin.
It’s (Past) Time to Reauthorize the Older Americans Act
Chances are if you, or anyone in your family, is 65 or older your life has been impacted by an Older Americans Act program. From Meals on Wheels to senior centers, prevention of physical and financial abuse, computer training to legal assistance, OAA programs touch the lives of millions of seniors and their families. This myriad of programs provides home and community-based services making it possible for older adults to remain independent, but they’ve continually faced flat or shrinking budgets at a time of growing needs. Funding programs that allow seniors to age in place is cost-effective; however, Congress has not reauthorized these programs since 2010.
Tomorrow, legislation to reauthorize OAA will be considered by the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) committee . We’ve urged the Senate to pass this reauthorization:
“S. 192 builds on the core programs of the Older Americans Act (OAA) – including congregate and home-delivered meals, help for family caregivers, transportation and senior center services – which enable older adults to remain as independent as possible. We support provisions in S. 192 that protect against elder abuse and strengthen long-term care ombudsman services, as well as programs such as fall prevention and chronic disease self-management that promote healthy living. OAA services help seniors avoid hospitalizations and nursing home care, and, as a result, save federal and state funds that otherwise would be spent on such care. In addition to reauthorizing OAA programs, increasing OAA funding is crucial to meet the growing needs of seniors and to compensate for the lack of adequate funding over past years, a funding shortfall that was aggravated by the sequester.”
We’ve created a video to introduce Members of Congress to the real-life impact their decisions have on average American seniors.
Will the President’s Commitment to Middle-Class Agenda Protect Social Security too?
There is always plenty of Monday morning quarterbacking after each year’s State of the Union. However, reading the commentary on last night’s speech was especially interesting since President Obama has clearly decided to take the gloves off in pursuing a popular middle-class economic agenda the American people support but the GOP-controlled Congress has no intention of passing:
“Republicans said that they were caught off guard by a major component of the president’s 2015 agenda, which he announced over the weekend and detailed further in his speech, to raise taxes and fees on the wealthiest taxpayers and the largest financial firms to pay for, among other things, tax breaks for the middle class and free community college. While these programs may prove popular with many Americans, Republicans said that they hoped the American public would see them as a ploy from a president who knows Congress will never pass them.” The New York Times
What the Republican leadership has supported is more tax cuts for huge corporations and the wealthy plus cuts to Social Security and Medicare. While the President didn’t emphasize Social Security and Medicare in last night’s State of the Union, he did highlight their importance to American families’ economic and health security. Truth is, you simply can’t improve the financial outlook for average Americans without protecting these programs. But of course, these days “protect” has very different meanings depending on whom you talk to in Washington.
Remember all those Congressional campaign promises about “protecting” Social Security? For the newly sworn-in GOP House what that actually meant was voting just hours after taking their oaths of office to put Social Security benefits cuts at the top of the Congressional agenda. You’ve got to give the House leadership credit for stealth. No one, outside a small circle of Republican Rules Committee members and GOP leadership, even knew this Social Security attack was coming. Slipped inside what’s usually a routine administrative start to each Congressional session was an unprecedented change to House rules that would allow a 20% benefit cut for millions of disabled Americans unless there are broader Social Security benefit cuts or tax increases. Of course, House Republicans have no intention of passing tax increases so guess what’s left? Benefit cuts to millions of Americans who receive Social Security.
This House vote illustrates the increasingly Orwellian nature of our political discourse, where words have little meaning because “save” means “slash” and “protect” means “privatize.” What’s even more noxious about this particular assault on Social Security is the ongoing effort to pit beneficiaries – retirees, the disabled, survivors and their families – against each other. Proponents of this stealth rule change in the House claim seniors will somehow suffer if the disabled are allowed access to the benefits they too have contributed to throughout their working years. That’s a particularly absurd notion since the majority of disability recipients are also older Americans. However, the divide and conquer politics of fear all-too-often work. This latest Social Security attack is built on a foundation of lies intended to demonize America’s disabled community.
No doubt, you’ve already heard the messaging, most recently espoused in an especially candid way by Senator and Presidential hopeful Rand Paul that: Social Security disability fraud is rampant because it’s so easy to receive benefits and people would rather collect a hefty check from the government than work. It’s the 2015 incarnation of “our nation is full of ‘welfare queens’ and ‘greedy geezers.’” It also suffers from the same basic problem…it’s simply not true.
So let’s break down a few of these Disability Myths.
MYTH: “Disability has become a form of permanent welfare for a lot of folks. It’s not that hard to prove a mental illness, or mental issues, or pain issues.”
Not that hard? So, why are the vast majority of claims denied?
FACT: “Nearly 80 percent of applicants are denied at the initial level, and fewer than 4 in 10 are approved after all levels of appeal. Underscoring the strictness of the disability standard, thousands of applicants die each year while waiting for benefits. And one in five male and nearly one in six female beneficiaries die within five years of being approved for benefits. Disability Insurance beneficiaries have death rates three to six times higher than other people their age.” Center for American Progress
It’s seems pretty ridiculous to claim the system’s being widely-abused when so many die just years after receiving benefits or while they’re still waiting for an answer.
MYTH: Growth in Social Security disability claims is “astonishing”, an “epidemic” and “startling.”
Actually, it’s called demographics. Ever heard of the baby boomers? Former SSA Commissioners from both Republican and Democratic administrations have taken issue with this fact-free, hysteria-laden portrayal of the disability program’s growth.
FACT: “It is true that DI has grown significantly in the past 30 years. The growth that we’ve seen was predicted by actuaries as early as 1994 and is mostly the result of two factors: baby boomers entering their high-disability years, and women entering the workforce in large numbers in the 1970s and 1980s so that more are now “insured” for DI based on their own prior contributions.” Open Letter from former SSA Commissioners
“As Baby Boomers retire, the program’s growth has already leveled off and is projected to decline further in the coming years.” Center for American Progress
MYTH: The entire system is “broken,” rife with “fraud” and “rubber-stamping judges” bankrupting the entire Social Security program.
FACT: The Government Accountability Office found that improper payments of Social Security benefits that include Disability Insurance had an error rate of just 0.6 percent. Government Accountability Office
Social Security touches the lives of virtually every American family and has unparalleled support across all ages, political parties and demographics. The GOP led House clearly hopes to drive a wedge through that coalition, pitting seniors against people with disabilities, young versus old and workers versus retirees. So much for a new Congress that “works together.”
President Obama’s economics agenda for the middle-class is not only popular but desperately needed for millions of Americans left behind in this recovery…including Social Security beneficiaries of all ages. Of course, the GOP Congress won’t pass it but there’s always 2016.
The President’s Budget Plan -Good News and Bad News for America’s Seniors
Reaction from National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare President/CEO, Max Richtman on the President’s Budget:
“We’re glad to see President Obama respond to the GOP majority’s Social Security hostage-taking by including language in his 2016 budget allowing the routine rebalancing of the Trust Funds. Threatening people with disabilities with a 20% benefit cut unless there are broader Social Security benefit cuts plays politics with the livelihoods of 11 million Americans and their families rather than resolving this imminent funding issue. We applaud the President for taking a stand against this Social Security ploy. The President also included increased funding for the Social Security Administration which is desperately needed by an agency that’s been forced to reduce local office hours, cut back on consumer services, and increase the wait time for disability hearings. We urge Congress to approve this Social Security Administration budget.
While the President’s budget thankfully no longer includes cuts to Social Security, through the Chained-CPI proposal, his 2016 plan unfortunately still targets seniors by shifting more costs to Medicare beneficiaries through increased means-testing, premium hikes and co-pays. While some tout increasing means testing in Medicare as a way to insure ‘rich’ seniors pay their share, the truth is, the middle-class will take this hit as well.
Medicare has been means-tested since 2007 and the number of beneficiaries subject to higher premiums has been increasing. If passed, the President’s means testing proposal will hurt middle-class individuals and flies in the face of his budget theme of ‘middle-class’ economics. The economic realities facing America’s middle-class retirees are ignored by these provisions which shift even more costs onto seniors and exacerbate the retirement deficit gap millions of Americans face now and into the future. These Medicare proposals are especially worrisome given the fact that with the new GOP majority in Congress, passage of these cost-shifting plans can happen with a simple majority vote in the Senate posing a serious threat to millions of American seniors.” …Max Richtman, NCPSSM President/CEO
Chained CPI Will Cut Benefits Immediately
Quote:“…economists say you really have to do things like reform Social Security and Medicare and the President’s budget doesn’t do that.”
“Switching to this other way of calculating inflation, it’s called chained CPI, blah, blah, blah…whatever that means. But…it’s basically a way of calculating the cost of living increases for Social Security.”
Source: NPR’s “Here & Now”
Senior Business Editor: Marilyn Geewax
Correction:
ally, all economists don’t suggest cutting Social Security and Medicare to pay down the deficit. Far from it. Clearly NPR needs to work on expanding its sources beyond Washington’s billion dollar anti-Social Security, fiscal hawk lobby. Here are just a few respected economists and their writings to help get NPR started: Nobel Prize Economist, Paul Krugman, Center for Economic and Policy Research Economist, Dean Baker, and Economic Policy Institute Economist, Monique Morrisey, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Economist, Paul Van De Water, and Henry Aaron, Social Security Advisory Board and the Brookings Institute.
It’s also very discouraging when a major media outlet’s Senior Business Editor doesn’t understand even the basics of a proposal which would cut billions of dollars in benefits to both current and future retirees, veterans, people with disabilities and their families. In the same time it took to tell its listeners “blah, blah, blah…whatever that means” NPR could have given them the truth about what the Chained CPI does mean — benefit cuts starting immediately for millions of Americans still struggling in this economic recovery.
Social Security Will Exist for Future Generations
Quote:
“ ‘President Obama’s plan provides no hope of balancing the budget, no plan to save Social Security or Medicare, and no realistic ideas to grow the private economy or create jobs,’ U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio”
“’He ignores Social Security and Medicare, but we need real reform or these programs won’t exist for future generations of Americans,” (Rep. Tom) Rooney said’.”
Source: On Obama budget, Florida Republicans critical of lack of reforms to Social Security
Reporter: Jeremy Wallace
Correction:
Reporters have a responsibility to hold their sources, even Members of Congress, accountable to the truth. Unfortunately, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune did none of that in its coverage of the President’s budget.
It’s certainly no surprise that Congressional Republicans hope to use their new majority to cut benefits to millions of middle-class seniors who depend on Social Security and Medicare. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, unfortunately, gave its local lawmakers free reign to make up their own facts in support of that agenda.
Rep. Tom Rooney is flat-out wrong when he claimed “these programs won’t exist for future generations” without reform. There isn’t a single actuarial projection that Social Security and Medicare won’t exist for future generations. In fact, the Social Security Trustees report that with $2.76 trillion in the Social Security Trust Fund the program will be able to pay full benefits for decades to come – until 2033. At that point, there will still be enough revenue coming into the program to pay 77 percent of all benefits owed. Won’t exist? Hardly.
In the Herald-Tribune story, Senator Mark Rubio claimed the President’s budget offers “no plan” for Social Security or Medicare. Truth is this budget includes $400 billion in Medicare savings including, unfortunately, increased means-testing, premium hikes and co-pays for seniors. While these cuts apparently aren’t enough for Senator Rubio that doesn’t make them non-existent. This budget also addresses the more immediate Social Security disability shortfall with a simple administrative move, done 11 times before, that the House GOP refuses to consider.
As the old adage goes, “we’re entitled to our opinions but not our own facts.” Journalists owe it to their readers to report those facts not merely parrot one party’s political spin.
It’s (Past) Time to Reauthorize the Older Americans Act
Chances are if you, or anyone in your family, is 65 or older your life has been impacted by an Older Americans Act program. From Meals on Wheels to senior centers, prevention of physical and financial abuse, computer training to legal assistance, OAA programs touch the lives of millions of seniors and their families. This myriad of programs provides home and community-based services making it possible for older adults to remain independent, but they’ve continually faced flat or shrinking budgets at a time of growing needs. Funding programs that allow seniors to age in place is cost-effective; however, Congress has not reauthorized these programs since 2010.
Tomorrow, legislation to reauthorize OAA will be considered by the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) committee . We’ve urged the Senate to pass this reauthorization:
“S. 192 builds on the core programs of the Older Americans Act (OAA) – including congregate and home-delivered meals, help for family caregivers, transportation and senior center services – which enable older adults to remain as independent as possible. We support provisions in S. 192 that protect against elder abuse and strengthen long-term care ombudsman services, as well as programs such as fall prevention and chronic disease self-management that promote healthy living. OAA services help seniors avoid hospitalizations and nursing home care, and, as a result, save federal and state funds that otherwise would be spent on such care. In addition to reauthorizing OAA programs, increasing OAA funding is crucial to meet the growing needs of seniors and to compensate for the lack of adequate funding over past years, a funding shortfall that was aggravated by the sequester.”
We’ve created a video to introduce Members of Congress to the real-life impact their decisions have on average American seniors.
Will the President’s Commitment to Middle-Class Agenda Protect Social Security too?
There is always plenty of Monday morning quarterbacking after each year’s State of the Union. However, reading the commentary on last night’s speech was especially interesting since President Obama has clearly decided to take the gloves off in pursuing a popular middle-class economic agenda the American people support but the GOP-controlled Congress has no intention of passing:
“Republicans said that they were caught off guard by a major component of the president’s 2015 agenda, which he announced over the weekend and detailed further in his speech, to raise taxes and fees on the wealthiest taxpayers and the largest financial firms to pay for, among other things, tax breaks for the middle class and free community college. While these programs may prove popular with many Americans, Republicans said that they hoped the American public would see them as a ploy from a president who knows Congress will never pass them.” The New York Times
What the Republican leadership has supported is more tax cuts for huge corporations and the wealthy plus cuts to Social Security and Medicare. While the President didn’t emphasize Social Security and Medicare in last night’s State of the Union, he did highlight their importance to American families’ economic and health security. Truth is, you simply can’t improve the financial outlook for average Americans without protecting these programs. But of course, these days “protect” has very different meanings depending on whom you talk to in Washington.
Remember all those Congressional campaign promises about “protecting” Social Security? For the newly sworn-in GOP House what that actually meant was voting just hours after taking their oaths of office to put Social Security benefits cuts at the top of the Congressional agenda. You’ve got to give the House leadership credit for stealth. No one, outside a small circle of Republican Rules Committee members and GOP leadership, even knew this Social Security attack was coming. Slipped inside what’s usually a routine administrative start to each Congressional session was an unprecedented change to House rules that would allow a 20% benefit cut for millions of disabled Americans unless there are broader Social Security benefit cuts or tax increases. Of course, House Republicans have no intention of passing tax increases so guess what’s left? Benefit cuts to millions of Americans who receive Social Security.
This House vote illustrates the increasingly Orwellian nature of our political discourse, where words have little meaning because “save” means “slash” and “protect” means “privatize.” What’s even more noxious about this particular assault on Social Security is the ongoing effort to pit beneficiaries – retirees, the disabled, survivors and their families – against each other. Proponents of this stealth rule change in the House claim seniors will somehow suffer if the disabled are allowed access to the benefits they too have contributed to throughout their working years. That’s a particularly absurd notion since the majority of disability recipients are also older Americans. However, the divide and conquer politics of fear all-too-often work. This latest Social Security attack is built on a foundation of lies intended to demonize America’s disabled community.
No doubt, you’ve already heard the messaging, most recently espoused in an especially candid way by Senator and Presidential hopeful Rand Paul that: Social Security disability fraud is rampant because it’s so easy to receive benefits and people would rather collect a hefty check from the government than work. It’s the 2015 incarnation of “our nation is full of ‘welfare queens’ and ‘greedy geezers.’” It also suffers from the same basic problem…it’s simply not true.
So let’s break down a few of these Disability Myths.
MYTH: “Disability has become a form of permanent welfare for a lot of folks. It’s not that hard to prove a mental illness, or mental issues, or pain issues.”
Not that hard? So, why are the vast majority of claims denied?
FACT: “Nearly 80 percent of applicants are denied at the initial level, and fewer than 4 in 10 are approved after all levels of appeal. Underscoring the strictness of the disability standard, thousands of applicants die each year while waiting for benefits. And one in five male and nearly one in six female beneficiaries die within five years of being approved for benefits. Disability Insurance beneficiaries have death rates three to six times higher than other people their age.” Center for American Progress
It’s seems pretty ridiculous to claim the system’s being widely-abused when so many die just years after receiving benefits or while they’re still waiting for an answer.
MYTH: Growth in Social Security disability claims is “astonishing”, an “epidemic” and “startling.”
Actually, it’s called demographics. Ever heard of the baby boomers? Former SSA Commissioners from both Republican and Democratic administrations have taken issue with this fact-free, hysteria-laden portrayal of the disability program’s growth.
FACT: “It is true that DI has grown significantly in the past 30 years. The growth that we’ve seen was predicted by actuaries as early as 1994 and is mostly the result of two factors: baby boomers entering their high-disability years, and women entering the workforce in large numbers in the 1970s and 1980s so that more are now “insured” for DI based on their own prior contributions.” Open Letter from former SSA Commissioners
“As Baby Boomers retire, the program’s growth has already leveled off and is projected to decline further in the coming years.” Center for American Progress
MYTH: The entire system is “broken,” rife with “fraud” and “rubber-stamping judges” bankrupting the entire Social Security program.
FACT: The Government Accountability Office found that improper payments of Social Security benefits that include Disability Insurance had an error rate of just 0.6 percent. Government Accountability Office
Social Security touches the lives of virtually every American family and has unparalleled support across all ages, political parties and demographics. The GOP led House clearly hopes to drive a wedge through that coalition, pitting seniors against people with disabilities, young versus old and workers versus retirees. So much for a new Congress that “works together.”
President Obama’s economics agenda for the middle-class is not only popular but desperately needed for millions of Americans left behind in this recovery…including Social Security beneficiaries of all ages. Of course, the GOP Congress won’t pass it but there’s always 2016.