Entitled to Know

Barbara B. Kennelly, President and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, issued the following message to NCPSSM members and supporters today:

“Once again we’ve seen the profits of the insurance industry take precedence over a call for help from America’s seniors and their doctors. The Administration’s allies in the Senate last night rejected HR 6331, a bill that would have preserved Medicare beneficiaries’ access to their doctors by averting a physician fee cut. Instead of approving important beneficiary improvements for the more than 44 million seniors and people with disabilities served by Medicare, a minority in the Senate once again blocked action on legislation that would have begun to reduce the overpayment of billions of tax payer dollars to Medicare Advantage insurers.

H.R. 6331 would have improved access to prevention and mental health services for all beneficiaries, and decreased the cost-sharing burden for low-income seniors who often forgo services because of expense. In addition, the bill would have preserved access to needed physical, occupational and speech-language therapy and prohibit many of the abusive marketing practices used to enroll beneficiaries in private Medicare Advantage plans and Part D prescription drug plans.

The momentum of the on-going privatization of Medicare continues to worsen the economic and healthcare outlook for the elderly. How ironic as the Presidential candidates discuss improvements to our nation’s healthcare system, the Congress continues to weaken our one universal healthcare plan – Medicare.”

House Ways and Means Health subcommittee Chairman, Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) has introduced an important piece of legislation to prevent Medicare Advantage (MA) plans from charging seniors and people with disabilities more than traditional Medicare.

The Medicare Advantage Truth in Advertising Act would prohibit MA plans from charging higher cost-sharing. Stark says:

“Medicare Advantage plans don’t live up to their name. Though seniors and people with disabilities wouldn’t know it from the never-ending stream of insurance propaganda, Medicare Advantage plans charge more than traditionalMedicare for a large number of services – everything from home health care to hospital stays and chemotherapy drugs to durable medical equipment. The Medicare Advantage Truth in Advertising Act protects beneficiaries by ensuring they won’t face higher out of pocket costs in private plans than they do in Medicare.”

The Chairman's News Release also says:

"The bill would continue to permit flat co-payments – which private plans charge for certain benefits or services in lieu of deductibles or co-insurance in traditional Medicare – but those charges could never exceed Medicare’s charges.”

The National Committee supports this legislation because; as our President/CEO, Barbara Kennelly says, beneficiaries aren't getting what they pay for with this privatized plan:

"Despite receiving substantial overpayments, private MA plans can provide inferior health coverage compared to traditional Medicare. While MA plans are required to cover everything that Medicare covers, they do not have to cover every benefit in the same way. For example, private plans may create financial
barriers to care by imposing higher cost-sharing requirements for benefits that protest the sickest and most vulnerable beneficiaries. Preventing private plans from imposing greater cost-sharing requirements than traditional Medicare would better protect beneficiaries from higher and unexpected out-of-pocket costs."

Here's another link to a Committe Chart detailing sample higher out of pocket costs in Medicare Advantage.

by Barbara B. Kennelly, President/CEO

How wonderful it is to finally hear the truth about what’s really happening with the privatization of Medicare expressed so clearly and persuasively in the halls of Congress. Specifically I’m talking about the House Budget Committee hearing on Medicare Advantage plans held this morning. As I testified to Chairman John Spratt and the rest of the Budget committee members today, our 4 million members and supporters are committed to the preservation of Social Security and Medicare.


At a time when Americans are being told we “can’t afford” Medicare and Social Security it’s ridiculous to continue paying private insurers billions of dollars in subsidies equaling approximately $1,000 more a year for each beneficiary than traditional Medicare currently pays. These insurance industry subsidies will cost taxpayers $149 billion dollars over the next decade and cut two years from Medicare’s solvency. These subsidies must go.

Congressional Budget Office Director Peter Orszag and Mark Miller, the Executive Director of Medicare’s Payment Advisory Commission, offered compelling and indisputable evidence that the insurance industry has reaped the benefits of these massive subsidies yet there’s little evidence of the promised efficiencies and savings for beneficiaries. In fact, Medicare beneficiaries are paying $24 a year in higher Part B premiums just to fund excess payments to private plans.

Since the passage of the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) of 2003, Medicare has been undergoing a transformation into a privatized program. This legislation is a weapon aimed at the heart of traditional Medicare. It was designed to accomplish the goal expressed by former Speaker Newt Gingrich – to lure seniors voluntarily out of Medicare so that it would eventually wither on the vine. The overpayments to Medicare Advantage plans the committee explored today are just one of the tools in the MMA to achieve this end.

I cannot overstate the damage these Medicare Advantage overpayments will cause to the traditional Medicare program if they are not eliminated. Ultimately, overpaying MA plans will shatter the risk pool that makes Medicare work. Medicare Advantage plans tend to attract healthier seniors because of their benefits. As more of these seniors are lured out of traditional Medicare, they leave behind the frailest and most vulnerable to pay higher and higher premiums. Also, as MA enrollments grow, so do taxpayer subsidies. Over time, this cycle will cause Medicare to become unaffordable – for both taxpayers and beneficiaries.

At a time when our nation is struggling with how to create affordable health care coverage for all Americans, it is simply incomprehensible to me why we would destroy the one affordable, universal health care system that already exists in Medicare.

Barbara B. Kennelly, NCPSSM President/CEO says:

“The Medicare funding warning included in this year’s Trustees Report is just the latest of many ticking time bombs hidden in the pages of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. This warning is arbitrary and completely ignores the real challenge facing Medicare, which is the sky-rocketing cost of our nation’s healthcare system.

Arbitrary budget cuts, privatized healthcare plans and industry slush funds are just a few of the MMA provisions which significantly weaken Medicare’s financial outlook. The financing problems Medicare faces can not be solved by dismantling the program. Mandating cuts based on an unrealistic target will hurt beneficiaries and ultimately destroy this vital program.”

The projected dates for when the Social Security and Medicare trust funds will be exhausted have also been pushed back one year. Here is the link for the Social Security Trustees Report.

What a wonderful challenge and theme for this year's Joint Conference of the American Society on Aging and the National Council on Aging!

Nearly 4 thousand professionals in the field of aging are in Chicago today for the two day event. This is a huge gathering of some of the America's best thinkers on aging policy. They're challenging themselves to think broadly and creatively about our aging nation. James P. Firman, President and CEO of NCOA says:

by Barbara B. Kennelly, President/CEO (bio)

President Bush’s ongoing campaign to convince Americans we “can’t afford” our aging population continues with new claims of economic gloom and doom…unless we cut Social Security.

We should not confuse the fact that there will be more retirees in the future with the notion that benefits are too high and should be cut. The average Social Security retiree check – right now – is just over $1,000 a month. Could you live on $12,000 a year? Yet, 20 percent of Social Security beneficiaries do just that. For 2 out of 3 retirees, Social Security is most of their income.

The fastest growing part of the federal budget isn’t Social Security and Medicare…it’s the interest on the debt which has grown by nearly $3 trillion in just the last 5 years. The Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and the Iraq War have dramatically increased the federal debt and seniors are being asked to pay the price.

We need to get our immediate fiscal problems under control so that we will be in a position to strengthen the Social Security and Medicare programs, not privatize or destroy them in the name of “entitlement reform”.