Many Medicare beneficiaries are and it’s no wonder given all the misinformation swirling aroundhealth reform legislation.Today Congressional leadership and the administration have teamed up to help seniors understand how health reform will impact Medicare.
?Older Americans are dependent on Medicare for their health coverage. So seniors are especially susceptible to misinformation that Medicare is threatened by reforms. They are anxious and looking for information and they absolutely need a reliable place where they can get their questions answered accurately. It?s critical that seniors get the facts about provisions that will benefit them as soon as next month.? Barbara B. Kennelly, President/CEO
For 84-year-old Ben Williamowsky, the health care reform debate was often confusing and frustrating. As a retired dentist, he understands our current health system well, yet was discouraged by the amount of misinformation being targeted to seniors, during the debate and even now. Williamowsky described his frustration at a Capitol Hill news conference hosted by House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi today:
?I?m old enough that I remember what it was like in the early days after Medicare was created ? when similar scare tactics were used ? threatening seniors with all sorts of bad things if Medicare was enacted. None of them happened. Doctors didn?t go out of business or stop seeing seniors. In fact, life was much better for millions of seniors who desperately needed health coverage and today Medicare is a tremendous success story. But not everyone remembers history the way I do. That?s why we absolutely need someplace we can trust to answer our questions and dispel the false rumors about this new law. ? Dr. Ben Williamowsky, Medicare Recipient
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius described a new brochure being mailed to Medicare beneficiaries to help them sort fact from fiction, avoid scammers who want to profit from seniors? confusion and give beneficiaries the information they need to take advantage of historic reforms in the donut hole, preventative services and more.The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare is committed to providing America?s seniors with updated and detailed analyses of how healthcare reform legislation will affect their medical coverage in Medicare. In our newly released web video, ?Health Reform and Seniors?, we describe many of the provisions in health reform which will touch the lives of seniors, some as soon as next year. The video is available on the National Committee?s YouTube Channeland will also be made available to seniors groups, town hall meetings, and grassroots events.This video supplements the National Committee?s popular newsletter, Secure Retirement, which provides detailed coverage of health care reform in its spring issue. In fact, we?ve run a second printing of this publication due to very high demand from seniors nationwide.