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Friday Alert March 7, 2008
Alliance for Retired Americans
888 16th Street, N.W. - Washington DC, 20006 - (202)
974-8222 - www.retiredamericans.or
John McCain Restates Support
for Social Security Privatization
In an
interview appearing in the March 3 edition of The Wall
Street Journal, John McCain restated his
support for the privatization of Social Security, saying,
“As part of Social Security reform, I believe that private
savings accounts are a part of it -- along the lines that
President Bush proposed.” The
proposal McCain favors is the same Bush privatization plan
rejected by the American people in 2005 for jeopardizing the
economic security of current and future retirees and ravaging
guaranteed benefits for seniors and the disabled. Without
the program, half of all American seniors would live in
poverty. Privatization would mean a 30-50% cut in
benefits, with the average retiree losing $134,000 in payments
over 20 years of retirement. Arizona Alliance members
gathered outside a Phoenix Social Security office this morning
to protest Sen. McCain’s support for privatization, which
he has consistently favored and voted for in 2006.
“Don't be fooled, John McCain is, was, and always will be
a privatizer,” said George J. Kourpias,
President of the Alliance for Retired Americans. “While he
fancies himself a maverick, he has long championed the Bush plan
to gamble away Social Security on the roulette wheel of the
stock market. In a Bush-McCain world, seniors' risk would
be Wall Street's reward.”
Fidelity: $225,000 in Savings
Needed per Couple for Retirement Health
A
couple retiring this year will need about $225,000 in savings to
cover medical costs in retirement, according to a study released
Wednesday by Fidelity Investments and reported in The
Washington Post. The figure, calculated for a couple
age 65, is up 4.7% from the $215,000 estimate for 2007, the
Boston-based financial services company said. The study
assumes workers do not have employer-sponsored retiree health
care coverage. It includes expenses associated with
Medicare premium payments as well as co-payments and
deductibles, plus out-of-pocket prescription drug costs.
Fidelity's first study, in 2002, found that a couple needed
$160,000 in savings to fund medical costs in retirement; that
total has risen an average of 5.8% a year. The study
blamed the rising health care costs this year on reasons that
include higher costs for services such as doctors’ visits;
rising expenses associated with new technologies; and increased
incidence of some chronic conditions, like diabetes.
“The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College
estimates that six in 10 older workers are at risk of being
unable to maintain their standard of living in
retirement,” said Ruben Burks,
Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance. “I hope that
those who are currently planning their retirements are factoring
in enough for health care.”
Insurance Industry Agrees to
End Abusive Medicare Advantage Marketing
Tactics
Executives from the health insurance
industry and America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP),
their lobbying group, met with members of the Senate Finance
Committee on Monday to answer questions about the abusive
marketing tactics used to sell Medicare Advantage and Part D
plans. As a result of increasing reports of seniors being
fraudulently enrolled in the programs and subjected to hard-sell
sales pitches, the industry announced support for greater
supervision of insurance agents selling to Medicare
beneficiaries. Additionally, they agreed to end tactics
such as door-to door sales, cold calls and financial incentives
to bribe seniors to switch from traditional Medicare.
Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) applauded
AHIP for supporting better oversight, and said he plans to
include and expand on the ideas in new regulations.
According to CQ Today, the new Medicare legislation is
expected this spring. “I am glad that Sen. Baucus is
not simply agreeing to the insurers’ concessions and
leaving the table,” said Edward Coyle,
Executive Director of the Alliance. “There is a long
way to go before traditional Medicare no longer has to compete
with the unfair advantages given to the insurance
industry.”
Alliance, Other Aging
Organizations Spell Out Seniors’ Federal Budget
Priorities
Senate Democrats unveiled a
budget plan on Tuesday that would provide $35 billion for a
second round of government spending aimed at stimulating a weak
economy. As part of the continuing effort to make sure
that seniors’ voices are heard regarding the budget, on
Tuesday the Alliance was one of eight groups to sign onto a
letter from the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations
(LCAO), a coalition of 53 non-profits dedicated to the older
population. In the letters, sent to Sen. Kent
Conrad (D-ND), Chair of the Senate Budget Committee,
and Rep. John Spratt (D-SC), Chair of the House
Budget Committee, the groups spelled out why President
Bush’s FY 2009 budget proposals are detrimental to the
Medicare program. They explained that an expansion of
means-testing would increase beneficiary premiums and undermine
the social insurance nature of Medicare, and that the arbitrary
cap on general revenue financing of Medicare limits meaningful
reform. They stated further that Medicare savings should
be achieved by stopping unwarranted subsidies to private
Medicare Advantage plans, and that the budget resolution should
provide resources for necessary Medicare improvements, such as
helping those with limited incomes.
First Regional Conference
Less Than Three Weeks Away
The national
Alliance will hold its first regional conference of 2008, March
24-26 in Las Vegas, NV, with U.S. Rep. Shelley
Berkley (NV-01) among the featured speakers. The
Western Regional Conference will provide a forum to work with
other activists in the region 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. 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.
Locations and dates for later conferences are:
Northeastern Regional Conference, April 17-18, 2008 in
Philadelphia, PA; Midwestern Regional Conference, April 28-29,
2008 in St. Louis, MO; and Southern Regional Conference, June
4-5, 2008 in Orlando, FL.
Did You
Know...
A poll taken in January by USA
Today, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School
of Public Health found that costs have led 29% of Americans not
to fill a prescription in the past two years.
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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