Social Security Benefits Targeted in Deficit Talks
There are media reports that President Obama has caved on GOP demands that Social Security benefits be cut as part of a deficit deal. According to the Washington Post:
Obama also gave ground on a key Republican demand — applying a less-generous measure of inflation across the federal government. That change would save about $225 billion over the next decade, with more than half the savings coming from smaller cost-of-living increases for Social Security beneficiaries.
NCPSSM President/CEO, Max Richtman, had this reaction:
“Too many Washington politicians clearly hope middle-class Americans simply won’t notice billions of dollars in Social Security benefit cuts included in proposals changing the current cost of living allowance formula to a stingier chained CPI. I promise you, seniors and their families will notice.
If news reports are correct and the White House is considering this benefit cut, then President Obama has broken faith with seniors and his commitment to keep Social Security out of the deficit debate. The chained CPI would mean an immediate benefit cut of $130 per year for the typical 65-year old retiree and would grow exponentially to a $1,400 cut after 30 years of retirement.
Contrary to the political spin, this chained CPI proposal isn’t a “tweak” or an “adjustment,” it’s designed to cut benefits and raises taxes, largely on the poor and middle class, totaling $208 billion over ten years. $112 billion of those benefits cuts come from Social Security alone with up to $24 billion coming from VA benefits and civilian and military retirement pay cuts.
Seniors will have received an average COLA of 1.3% over 4 years with no increases in two of those years. Arguing that is too generous shows how out of touch some of our political leaders have become with the real-world economic realities facing average Americans. Adopting the chained CPI is nothing more than a political slight of hand targeting our nation’s middle class and poor and should be rejected by the President.” Max Richtman, NCPSSM President/CEO
For more details on the chained CPI here’s our one-page fact sheet, infographic and a detailed description from the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
Fix the Debt says Cutting Social Security is as American as…
What do you do when the vast majority of Americans, of all ages and political stripes, disagree with you? If you’re part of the well-financed anti-Social Security, Medicare lobby, you simply spend a portion of your billion dollar investment on a massive nationwide advertising campaign designed to convince Americans that cutting middle-class benefits is as American as…let’s see…McDonald’s hamburgers.
Burson-Marsteller subsidiary Proof Integrated Communications has launched a massive campaign for the Fix the Debt organization. The campaign includes images that are parody recreations of well-known advertising slogans with taglines like “I’m fixin’ it,” “Got debt?” and “Just fix it.” Johanna Schneider, MD of Burson’s DC office, said this is the biggest public policy campaign she has seen in some time.
This new campaign is in addition to the PR blitz already underway led by PR agencies DCI Group, Glover Park Group, and Dewey Square Group, which is also paid for by the same Pete Peterson funded anti-entitlement campaign.
How ironic that as Alan Simpson continues to attack seniors’ groups like ours for daring to represent their membership (and at $12 per year membership you can be sure we don’t have a billion dollars to spend) his big business and Wall Street funded “Fix the Debt” campaign is preparing an all-out advertising onslaught geared to buy the debate and silence the middle-class Americans who will actually pay the price for their failed fiscal policies. Representing seniors — BAD, representing big business — No problem!
The American people simply don’t believe cutting Social Security benefits for a senior living on an average $14,000 while lowering tax rates for corporations and the wealthy is fiscally responsible. They don’t believe the nation’s disabled, veterans, survivors and their families should pay the price for a deficit Social Security didn’t create.
However, as we’ve already seen, this Wall Street backed propaganda campaign has succeeded in convincing many on Capitol Hill that if millionaires lose even a penny of their tax cuts then the middle-class and poor must pay an even bigger price.
The question is will this massive ad blitz fool the American people into accepting massive benefit cuts with their fries?
Raising the Medicare Age is one of Washington’s Worst Ideas — Ever
And that’s saying something!
The weekend was buzzing with hints that President Obama might be open to trade a slightly higher tax rate for the wealthy for raising Medicare’s eligibility age. The New York Times’ Paul Krugman had the best summation of just how bad an idea this truly is:
First, raising the Medicare age is terrible policy. It would be terrible policy even if the Affordable Care Act were going to be there in full force for 65 and 66 year olds, because it would cost the public $2 for every dollar in federal funds saved. And in case you haven’t noticed, Republican governors are still fighting the ACA tooth and nail; if they block the Medicaid expansion, as some will, lower-income seniors will just be pitched into the abyss.
The Kaiser Family Foundation did a detailed analysis of the impact of raising the age of Medicare eligibility, taking into account the implementation of health care reform.
Seven million people age 65 or 66. 42 percent would turn to employer-sponsored plans for health insurance, either as active workers or retirees, 38 percent would enroll in the Exchange, and 20 percent would become covered under Medicare.
Two-thirds of adults ages 65 and 66 affected by the proposal are projected to pay more out-of- pocket, on average, in premiums and cost sharing under their new source of coverage than they would have paid under Medicare.
Premiums in the Exchange would rise for adults under age 65 by three percent (an additional ($141 per enrollee in 2014), on average, due to the shift of older adults from Medicare into the pool of lives covered by the Exchange.
Medicare Part B premiums would increase by three percent in 2014, as the deferred enrollment of relatively healthy, lower-cost beneficiaries would raise the average cost across remaining beneficiaries.
In addition, costs to employers are projected to increase by $4.5 billion in 2014 and costs to states are expected to increase by $0.7 billion.
Raising the age of eligibility to 67 in 2014 is projected to result in an estimated net increase of $3.7 billion in out-of-pocket costs for those ages 65 and 66 who would otherwise have been covered by Medicare.
In sum, raising Medicare’s eligibility age costs $2 for every $1 saved. Seniors, including those already in Medicare and those 65 & 66 years old who’d no longer qualify, would pay more. Businesses would pay more and states would pay more.
Sound like a good deal to you?
National Call In Day – Tell Congress No Cuts to Middle-Class Benefits
One Minute, One Call to Save Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid
The National Committee is joining advocates across the nation in a Congressional Call-In day on Wednesday, December 5th. Our goal is to flood Congress with calls reminding them that Americans of all ages and political parties do not support cutting middle-class benefits to pay for deficit reduction. Let’s shutdown the Capitol switchboard with thousands of calls delivering one simple message!
NO CUTS to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid
The threat to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid during this Lame Duck Congress is as serious as any time in these programs’ long and successful histories. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid do not belong in this deficit debate and we must urge Congress to take these programs off the table.
Making your call couldn’t be easier. Just dial NCPSSM’s Legislative Hotline and you’ll be directed to your Congressional leaders from one toll-free number:
NCPSSM CONGRESSIONAL CALL IN DAY
(800) 998-0180
Send our flyer to 5 of your friends and tell them One Minute, One Call can make the difference in the fight to preserve America’s vital retirement and health security programs.
Breaking Down Plans to Cut Medicare & Social Security
As we’ve reported here many, many times conservatives in Congress continue to demand cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to reduce the deficit. There are a myriad of bad ideas that they’ve proposed to do this.
Here are some (hopefully) easy to understand infographics on some of the proposals currently being debated in closed-door Congressional deficit talks. You’ll note that many are based on the Bowles-Simpson (BS) report, which is the bible for corporate CEO’s and the well-funded fiscal hawk lobby. You can also find all of these on the National Committee’s Lame Duck website.
We’re also asking you to sign the online version of our “No Cuts” petition here. We will have more than 65,000 petitions to deliver to the Senate soon…please add your voice to the debate.
Social Security Benefits Targeted in Deficit Talks
There are media reports that President Obama has caved on GOP demands that Social Security benefits be cut as part of a deficit deal. According to the Washington Post:
Obama also gave ground on a key Republican demand — applying a less-generous measure of inflation across the federal government. That change would save about $225 billion over the next decade, with more than half the savings coming from smaller cost-of-living increases for Social Security beneficiaries.
NCPSSM President/CEO, Max Richtman, had this reaction:
“Too many Washington politicians clearly hope middle-class Americans simply won’t notice billions of dollars in Social Security benefit cuts included in proposals changing the current cost of living allowance formula to a stingier chained CPI. I promise you, seniors and their families will notice.
If news reports are correct and the White House is considering this benefit cut, then President Obama has broken faith with seniors and his commitment to keep Social Security out of the deficit debate. The chained CPI would mean an immediate benefit cut of $130 per year for the typical 65-year old retiree and would grow exponentially to a $1,400 cut after 30 years of retirement.
Contrary to the political spin, this chained CPI proposal isn’t a “tweak” or an “adjustment,” it’s designed to cut benefits and raises taxes, largely on the poor and middle class, totaling $208 billion over ten years. $112 billion of those benefits cuts come from Social Security alone with up to $24 billion coming from VA benefits and civilian and military retirement pay cuts.
Seniors will have received an average COLA of 1.3% over 4 years with no increases in two of those years. Arguing that is too generous shows how out of touch some of our political leaders have become with the real-world economic realities facing average Americans. Adopting the chained CPI is nothing more than a political slight of hand targeting our nation’s middle class and poor and should be rejected by the President.” Max Richtman, NCPSSM President/CEO
For more details on the chained CPI here’s our one-page fact sheet, infographic and a detailed description from the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
Fix the Debt says Cutting Social Security is as American as…
What do you do when the vast majority of Americans, of all ages and political stripes, disagree with you? If you’re part of the well-financed anti-Social Security, Medicare lobby, you simply spend a portion of your billion dollar investment on a massive nationwide advertising campaign designed to convince Americans that cutting middle-class benefits is as American as…let’s see…McDonald’s hamburgers.
Burson-Marsteller subsidiary Proof Integrated Communications has launched a massive campaign for the Fix the Debt organization. The campaign includes images that are parody recreations of well-known advertising slogans with taglines like “I’m fixin’ it,” “Got debt?” and “Just fix it.” Johanna Schneider, MD of Burson’s DC office, said this is the biggest public policy campaign she has seen in some time.
This new campaign is in addition to the PR blitz already underway led by PR agencies DCI Group, Glover Park Group, and Dewey Square Group, which is also paid for by the same Pete Peterson funded anti-entitlement campaign.
How ironic that as Alan Simpson continues to attack seniors’ groups like ours for daring to represent their membership (and at $12 per year membership you can be sure we don’t have a billion dollars to spend) his big business and Wall Street funded “Fix the Debt” campaign is preparing an all-out advertising onslaught geared to buy the debate and silence the middle-class Americans who will actually pay the price for their failed fiscal policies. Representing seniors — BAD, representing big business — No problem!
The American people simply don’t believe cutting Social Security benefits for a senior living on an average $14,000 while lowering tax rates for corporations and the wealthy is fiscally responsible. They don’t believe the nation’s disabled, veterans, survivors and their families should pay the price for a deficit Social Security didn’t create.
However, as we’ve already seen, this Wall Street backed propaganda campaign has succeeded in convincing many on Capitol Hill that if millionaires lose even a penny of their tax cuts then the middle-class and poor must pay an even bigger price.
The question is will this massive ad blitz fool the American people into accepting massive benefit cuts with their fries?
Raising the Medicare Age is one of Washington’s Worst Ideas — Ever
And that’s saying something!
The weekend was buzzing with hints that President Obama might be open to trade a slightly higher tax rate for the wealthy for raising Medicare’s eligibility age. The New York Times’ Paul Krugman had the best summation of just how bad an idea this truly is:
First, raising the Medicare age is terrible policy. It would be terrible policy even if the Affordable Care Act were going to be there in full force for 65 and 66 year olds, because it would cost the public $2 for every dollar in federal funds saved. And in case you haven’t noticed, Republican governors are still fighting the ACA tooth and nail; if they block the Medicaid expansion, as some will, lower-income seniors will just be pitched into the abyss.
The Kaiser Family Foundation did a detailed analysis of the impact of raising the age of Medicare eligibility, taking into account the implementation of health care reform.
Seven million people age 65 or 66. 42 percent would turn to employer-sponsored plans for health insurance, either as active workers or retirees, 38 percent would enroll in the Exchange, and 20 percent would become covered under Medicare.
Two-thirds of adults ages 65 and 66 affected by the proposal are projected to pay more out-of- pocket, on average, in premiums and cost sharing under their new source of coverage than they would have paid under Medicare.
Premiums in the Exchange would rise for adults under age 65 by three percent (an additional ($141 per enrollee in 2014), on average, due to the shift of older adults from Medicare into the pool of lives covered by the Exchange.
Medicare Part B premiums would increase by three percent in 2014, as the deferred enrollment of relatively healthy, lower-cost beneficiaries would raise the average cost across remaining beneficiaries.
In addition, costs to employers are projected to increase by $4.5 billion in 2014 and costs to states are expected to increase by $0.7 billion.
Raising the age of eligibility to 67 in 2014 is projected to result in an estimated net increase of $3.7 billion in out-of-pocket costs for those ages 65 and 66 who would otherwise have been covered by Medicare.
In sum, raising Medicare’s eligibility age costs $2 for every $1 saved. Seniors, including those already in Medicare and those 65 & 66 years old who’d no longer qualify, would pay more. Businesses would pay more and states would pay more.
Sound like a good deal to you?
National Call In Day – Tell Congress No Cuts to Middle-Class Benefits
One Minute, One Call to Save Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid
The National Committee is joining advocates across the nation in a Congressional Call-In day on Wednesday, December 5th. Our goal is to flood Congress with calls reminding them that Americans of all ages and political parties do not support cutting middle-class benefits to pay for deficit reduction. Let’s shutdown the Capitol switchboard with thousands of calls delivering one simple message!
NO CUTS to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid
The threat to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid during this Lame Duck Congress is as serious as any time in these programs’ long and successful histories. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid do not belong in this deficit debate and we must urge Congress to take these programs off the table.
Making your call couldn’t be easier. Just dial NCPSSM’s Legislative Hotline and you’ll be directed to your Congressional leaders from one toll-free number:
NCPSSM CONGRESSIONAL CALL IN DAY
(800) 998-0180
Send our flyer to 5 of your friends and tell them One Minute, One Call can make the difference in the fight to preserve America’s vital retirement and health security programs.
Breaking Down Plans to Cut Medicare & Social Security
As we’ve reported here many, many times conservatives in Congress continue to demand cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to reduce the deficit. There are a myriad of bad ideas that they’ve proposed to do this.
Here are some (hopefully) easy to understand infographics on some of the proposals currently being debated in closed-door Congressional deficit talks. You’ll note that many are based on the Bowles-Simpson (BS) report, which is the bible for corporate CEO’s and the well-funded fiscal hawk lobby. You can also find all of these on the National Committee’s Lame Duck website.
We’re also asking you to sign the online version of our “No Cuts” petition here. We will have more than 65,000 petitions to deliver to the Senate soon…please add your voice to the debate.