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Friday Alert February 8, 2008
Alliance for Retired Americans
888 16th Street, N.W. - Washington DC, 20006 - (202)
974-8222 - www.retiredamericans.or
Super Tuesday Leaves Clinton,
Obama, and McCain with the Most
Delegates
More than 14.6 million Democrats
and 9 million Republicans went to the polls on Tuesday to pick
their parties’ nominees for President. As of
Thursday, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) held an
85-delegate lead over Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL),
1045-960, according to RealClearPolitics.com. Sen. Obama won 13
states to Sen. Clinton’s 9 on Tuesday, with both winning
important states. As of Thursday, The Washington
Post said that Sen. Clinton had won 782 delegates on Super
Tuesday, while Sen. Obama had won 757. According to
The New York Times, in an incredibly even split, Sen.
Clinton won 50.2% of the two-candidate vote on Tuesday, and Sen.
Obama won 49.8%. As of Thursday, Sen. John
McCain (R-AZ) had 707 of the 1,191 total delegates
needed to clinch the GOP nomination, to 195 for former Arkansas
Gov. Mike Huckabee. Former Massachusetts
Gov. Mitt Romney ended his campaign on Thursday
with 294 delegates.
Congress Passes Stimulus Bill
Giving Rebates to Seniors
Senate Republicans
and Democrats agreed on Thursday to add rebates for 20 million
seniors and 250,000 disabled veterans to a House-passed economic
aid package, ending a partisan stalemate over the plan.
H.R. 5140, passed hours later in the House with the additions,
would rush tax rebates of up to $600 for individuals and up to
$1,200 for couples to most taxpayers within two to four
months. Seniors and disabled veterans with $3,000 in
Social Security or veterans benefits would be eligible for the
checks. Another package that included seniors and
veterans, as well as an extension of unemployment insurance and
additional funds for the low-income home heating assistance
program LIHEAP, was blocked by a Republican filibuster on
Wednesday. It fell a single vote short of the 60 needed
for consideration. The roll call vote for that plan,
available at http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=2&vote=00008,
had all 51 Democrats and Independents as well as eight
Republicans voting for it. The final tally was 58 to 41,
after Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) changed
his vote to no, a parliamentary move allowing him to bring up
the measure in the future. Sen. McCain missed the
Wednesday night vote, even though he was in Washington when it
was held and could have cast the deciding vote. According
to the Associated Press, asked about the vote, Sen. McCain said,
“We’ve just been too busy, focused on other
stuff.” The Alliance sent a letter to every U.S.
senator on Tuesday, writing that funds for low-income Social
Security recipients would have a nearly immediate effect on the
economy, and recommending increased energy assistance and food
stamps to aid retirees. “Many seniors who do not
have enough heat should know they came within one vote of
getting it,” said George J. Kourpias,
President of the Alliance.
President Bush Proposes
Means-Testing for Medicare Part D
As part of
his final budget proposal, released Monday, President
Bush revealed his plan to begin means-testing for the
Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit. The change would be
very similar to the means-testing implemented for Part B by the
Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA), which determines
beneficiaries’ premium levels based on their previous
year’s income. Health care advocates argue that making
these programs more expensive for wealthier beneficiaries, who
tend to be younger and in better health, undercuts their social
insurance nature. They expect many higher-income
recipients to ultimately opt out. In turn, costs will rise
for the millions of middle and lower-income seniors who rely on
the affordable coverage Medicare provides. Additionally,
if income thresholds for increased premiums are not scheduled to
rise with inflation, means-testing could apply to middle-income
seniors over time. “This is another attempt by this
Administration to privatize Medicare,” said Edward
Coyle, Executive Director of the Alliance.
“Means-testing Part D is the next step down a slippery
slope that undermines our social insurance programs.”
Merck Settles Extreme Fraud
Claims
In one of the biggest U.S. health care fraud
settlements ever, Merck & Co. will pay $671 million to
settle claims it overcharged the government for four popular
drugs and bribed doctors to prescribe its products, federal
prosecutors said on Thursday. A nationwide investigation,
triggered in 2000 by a former Merck
salesman-turned-whistleblower and broadened by a Louisiana
doctor who also exposed overcharging, resulted in two
settlements, the Houston Chronicle/Associated Press
reported. The alleged overcharges, dating back to the
mid-1990s, involved Medicaid programs, as well as federal
health-insurance programs at agencies including the Department
of Defense and Veterans Administration. The settlement is
the third largest ever for health care fraud, behind a $900
million case involving hospital operator Tenet Healthcare Corp.
and a $730 million case involving hospital chain HCA.
Medications involved in the cases included the cholesterol drugs
Zocor and Mevacor, the painkiller Vioxx, and the heartburn drug
Pepcid. “Drug companies are supposed to give
Medicaid the same discounts they give other entities,”
said Ruben Burks, Secretary-Treasurer of the
Alliance. “Merck was illegally charging taxpayers
more.”
Register Now for the National
Alliance’s First Regional Conference of
2008
The national Alliance will hold its
Western Regional Conference March 24-26 in Las Vegas, NV.
Locations and dates for later conferences are: Northeastern
Regional Conference, April 17-18 in Philadelphia, PA; Midwestern
Regional Conference, April 28-29 in St. Louis, MO; and Southern
Regional Conference, June 4-5 in Orlando, FL. The regional
conferences are a forum to work with other activists in the area
to learn how to increase grassroots advocacy, get seniors and
retirees registered and voting, and educate federal, state and
local legislators on the issues that concern retirees and
seniors, including prescription drugs, Medicare, Social Security
and retirement security. Join us to set the course for the
Alliance and for a country that cares about workers, retirees
and their families. For copies of the official
registration form for any of the four regional conferences, call
1-888-373-6497, email Joni Jones at jjones@retiredamericans.org,
or visit our website at www.retiredamericans.org.
Did You
Know...
According to the Associated Press, by
2040, it is anticipated that about 40% of voters will be 65 or
older.
Become part of a progressive grassroots movement!
Join the Alliance
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Alliance for Retired Americans 815 16th
St, NW Washington, DC 20006 www.retiredamericans.org
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