| This call for a General Strike is a non-violent, peaceful, and powerful means to send a message to D.C. It is not meant to hurt the country in any way but to remove those who have. | |
9/11-15/08 
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MEDI-CARE REFORM FACTS & LINKS
The Medicare Program is the second-largest social insurance program in the U.S., with 44.1 million beneficiaries and total expenditures of $432 billion in 2007.
Unless Congress acts soon, Medicare fees paid to physicians will be cut automatically 10 percent next year, with additional cuts of about 5 percent every year beginning in 2009. Organized medicine has made it clear that cuts of such magnitude would adversely affect senior access to health care as physicians close off their practices to new Medicare patients.
If you’re counting on Medicare in your retirement, this report is a must-read ... and a critically important step in protecting the value of your Medicare benefits.
While health care costs soar, millions of Americans remain uninsured and baby boomers approach retirement. The President proposed $556 Billion in Medicare cuts in his FY09 budget which will directly impact healthcare access for millions of seniors, while at the same time preserving $150 billion in insurance industry giveaways. Influential interest groups continue to push for cuts in entitlement programs that would undermine our nation’s commitment to its elderly.
Could it be that Medicare, as you know it, will disappear?
How worried should you be?
Here are the Facts
IT’S NOT ALL THE BABY BOOMERS’ FAULT.
While it’s true that large numbers of retiring Baby Boomers will begin collecting benefits over the next decade, other factors within our government’s control are threatening your benefits.
The Bush Administration’s tax breaks...
which primarily benefit the wealthiest 5% of Americans1 are the major reason deficits have reached historic highs — and why programs such as Medicare are being targeted for drastic spending cuts.
Medicare’s long-term costs...
are primarily driven by the same factors that are causing healthcare costs to skyrocket for all workers and their employers. This means that efforts to contain Medicare spending without addressing the bigger picture problems of America’s healthcare system simply will not work.2
President Bush’s 2009 Budget proposes $556 Billion in spending cuts...
over ten years that could result in reducing fee-for-service Medicare. The proposal would cut payments to doctors, hospitals, and other such providers. But it’s seniors who will suffer most when these providers3 begin to turn patients away.
The passage of this Administration’s Medicare Modernization Act of 2003...
has done little to slow beneficiaries’ rising out-of-pocket costs and its subsidies to private insurance companies have instead helped costs rise even more. The Medicare Part B premium alone has nearly doubled during the Bush Administration.4
Many seniors cannot afford the privatized Part D prescription drug benefit, 5 with its infamous “doughnut hole” gap in coverage. After reaching $2,400 in covered prescription costs, beneficiaries must pay the next $3,051.25 of their covered drug costs — while still paying monthly premiums — because Medicare won’t kick back in until they’ve reached $5,451.25 in covered drug costs.6
Means-Tested Part B pushed Medicare more toward privatization...
since it pressures so-called “wealthy” seniors whose premiums are expected to double or TRIPLE7 what other beneficiaries pay to abandon Medicare. Over time, this will convert Medicare from a universal entitlement into an income-based welfare program. The higher your income, the more you are paying this year — and from now on.8
Fight Medicare Cuts!
LINKS:
www.medicareadvocacy.org The Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc. is a national non‑profit, non-partisan organization that provides education, advocacy, and legal assistance to help elders and people with disabilities obtain Medicare and necessary health care. The Center was established in 1986. We focus on the needs of Medicare beneficiaries, people with chronic conditions, and those in need of long‑term care. The organization is involved in writing, education, and advocacy activities of importance to Medicare beneficiaries nationwide. The Center's central office is in Connecticut, with offices in Washington, DC and throughout the country.
www.keepmedicarefair.org Sign the KeepMedicareFair.org petition and help us reach our goal of gathering 200,000 signatures to tell Congress that raising Medicare premiums even higher to cover skyrocketing health care costs is just not fair!
www.aei.org The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a private, nonpartisan, not-for-profit institution dedicated to research and education on issues of government, politics, economics, and social welfare. Founded in 1943, AEI is home to some of America's most accomplished public policy experts--from economics, law, political science, defense and foreign policy studies, ethics, theology, medicine, and other fields. The Institute sponsors research and conferences and publishes books, monographs, and periodicals. Its website, www.aei.org, posts its publications, videos and transcripts of its conferences, biographies of its scholars and fellows, and schedules of upcoming events.
AEI's purposes are to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism--limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and responsibility, vigilant and effective defense and foreign policies, political accountability, and open debate. Its work is addressed to government officials and legislators, teachers and students, business executives, professionals, journalists, and all citizens interested in a serious understanding of government policy, the economy, and important social and political developments.
Wish not so much to live long as to live well.
