There has been much skuddlebutt about who wants to do what to/for seniors...so where are the views of the 2 parties and the candidates? Glad you asked:

1. Maintain Medicare's free preventive services:

Because of the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Medicare patients now receive many screenings and an annual "Wellness visit"(although you must use this terminology when making your appointment with your doctor). Seniors also receive cancer screenings and other disease prevention services with no copays.

Obama supports this, Romney wants to terminate this care

2. Continue closing the Medicare part D "donut hole".

First, for people who haven't dealt with this, this is how the donut hole worked prior to the ACA(Obamacare): Senior prescriptions were covered until they got up to $2750...then, even tho seniors were still paying the drug insurance premium, they were responsible for prescription costs up to $4500, then Part D would kick in again. This may not sound like much...except I know that one of my prescriptions, without my insurance, costs about $400, and I have 2 more that add up to $400...this is per month( I have insurance and I only pay a co-pay)...and these are for asthma, blood-pressure, not some rare disease. So it'd only take maybe 3 months for part D to throw me in the donut hole, not too much help.

In the ACA, the "donut hole" has already been cut in half and will be closed by 2020 and this affects over 4 million seniors!

Obama, obviously, supports this. Romney? Nope, let those seniors pay the high prices.Can't afford it, get a job.

3. Stop waste, fraud, abuse in Medicare:

The ACA puts laws in place that ends subsidies for insurance companies, tracking down fraudulent providers who either overcharge or try to swindle Medicare. Just this piece of the legislation is predicted to add about 10 years to Medicare Solvency! In one Fiscal Year alone, this act saved over $4 Billion in fraud and overcharges. 

And yes, again, Obama supports this, but Romney doesn't....

So is there anything that Romney supports? Oh, sure.....

4. Raise the Retirement age:

Romney, Ryan and many of the republicon congress support a requirement for all Americans to work to age 69 or 70 before being able to collect full Social Security earned benefits and not receive Medicare until 67. You betcha Romney supports this(and President Obama opposes).

This has been an ongoing march because, we all know that people are living longer! I mean our basic mortality is now in the 80's so we should be able to work longer! Another lie. 

Our life span has not been lengthen because all of us are getting old..remember, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and many other of the fore-fathers lived well into their 70's and 80's. The difference is that infant, child, women of child-bearing age was much lower until the 1950's or so. In the 1930's our life expectancy was about 58, its now 77. BUT the difference in infant mortality? In 1935, the infant mortality rate was 56.7 per 1000 live births. In 2009? It was only 6.7 deaths per 1000 live births. Just that fact skewers the idea that Americans are living so much longer....no, its just that many more people are making it through childhood!

The other fact that is not included in this factoid is there is a big difference on who can work until old age. Look at the Supreme Court! I'm sure their average age is about 65! This works well for people who have worked in higher income workplaces. But for the working poor? Those people who serve you at diners, work fast food, retail(yes, I'm really thinking about mallwart here), middle class workers such as police, firefighters, trades--all of these people are at risk of shorter life spans.

Again, Romney is just fine with people working until they die. President Obama opposes this.

5. Medicare Coupons..or the Ryan plan of Medicare vouchers.

We already know who's plan this is....So Romney/Ryan/Republicons want to end Medicare and give Seniors a voucher of about $7000 to "shop" for health care insurance. Now, any senior that has to search through Part D plans or Medicare Advantage plans knows how difficult and aggravating that is. And the triple R's want you to do that with insurance companies...why not just farm it out to Groupon like a spa coupon? I can see the email:

"Hurry for your chance at this medicare groupon discount!!! Our program ensures you'll get some care...just don't be very ill cuz it doesn't cover cancer, transplants, heart disease...or anything else that may be considered too expensive for our partners to be able to make any money!"

Add to this, their idea of repealing the ACA and losing the savings that Medicare has seen since 2010 and that spells financial ruin for many middle class seniors.

This is one of the Romney/Ryan's great plan, Romney has called Ryan's budget, "Marvelous"...President Obama Opposes.

6. Block-Grant Medicaid and reduce funding.

Why should seniors worry about Medicaid? That's for poor people. Sorry, but one of the largest uses of Medicaid funds is for Nursing homes for middle class seniors. The House budget committee would cut funding by $800 Billion and allow states to spend the remaining funds any way they want.

Romney, of course, supports this. President Obama opposes.

Romney doesn't care about seniors who aren't as rich as he, and before you go to the polls, you need to know this. If you are a senior and vote for Romney and the other R Politicos, you are, in all probability, affecting your ability to live safely and securely with the knowledge that your health care is covered...and again....

Mr. Romney where are your TAX RECORDS!!!!!

WHAT ARE YOU HIDING!!!

So-call Physician Group Created By Conspiracy Teabagger

So many silly crazy lies. I did an article on the ACA decision and some guy quoted this so-called physician groups "survey" as truth from god...small g....but, surprises of surprises? This "group" is just another right wing front that tries to legitimize crazy ideas--all vaccines are bad, blames immigrants for spreading leprosy(actually its been proven to be armadillos), that Hillary Clinton killed Vince Foster, besides other crackpot conspiracy theories....so, this "group" "surveys"  by sending out online and FAXes to 17,000 doctors...a whole 699 responded:

The survey was conducted by fax and online from April 18 to May 22, 2012. DPMAF obtained the office fax numbers of 36,000 doctors in active clinical practice, and 16,227 faxes were successfully delivered. Doctors were asked to return their completed surveys by fax, or online at a web address included in the faxed copy. Browser rules prevented doctors from filing duplicate surveys, and respondents were asked to provide personal identification for verification. The response rate was 4.3% for a total of 699 completed surveys.

Wow...less than 5%(and actually about 2.5% from the original pool) even bothered to respond, now, anyone who has done reputable surveys/polls or taken statistics would expect a larger amount of the respondents to answer...otherwise, throw out the poll and begin again, must be something wrong with it. Oh, but I did put in that nasty librul word---reputable.

Now, this has been zipping around the right wing alterworld that this is FACT--83% of doctors(that actually bothered to fill this out) are thinking about quitting medicine because of current changes in medical system!!! OK, so what part of the medical system? Ryan's plan to kill Medicare? Obamacare? Changes in technology? Changes in local regulations? See, it's not spelled as it would be in a reputable out so what were these doctors actually answering? And why do they only get 2 choices(plus unsure)? Professional pollsters gauge using a 5 point system which is the standard.

Another point that it might just be a junk poll? Brietbart, Drudge, Daily Caller and Faux news are the only ones that are jumping up and down about this--not CNN(Fox Lite), not ABC,NBC or CBS, all of which have taken up other talking points from the those sites in the past.

I really think its sad that people can be fooled by this crap, but when you don't check sources...or don't either have the knowledge or education to understand the basics about poll taking and sources(and most of the rest of the real world), its easy to understand how it happens, specially when many of the ones that follow Faux, etc. are older, less educated, fearful, people who prefer similar rather than diverse experiences, and/or have very little knowledge about how the United States was formed('cept for the canned versions)...its not surprising. Sad, but not surprising.

Quinn's so called budget...or how to make retirees homeless!

I just can't figure out why politicians keep attacking seniors...first its the tea party and republicans trying to  privatize(read banksters steal the $3.2 Trillion in trust fund) Social Security, then Paul Ryan and his carnival shell game of "vouchers", and now Governor Quinn(who's supposed to be a DEM), wants to cut senior programs and attacking state retirees pensions and health care. I know, I know, all of you have been told how good we have it and we're breaking the state...and the public believes the lie. SB1313 tore apart the security of health care for seniors, now the general assembly and the so-called "liberal" governor want to cut cost of living increases. I don't know about the rest of the world, but in the last 4 years that I've been retired, gas has gotten ridiculous, which has affected what I spend for gas, what I spend for food, you know, those luxuries of living....
Now, this is because of the rich wanting to be richer and have many of their bills subsidized by what's left of the middle class/working poor. As I've stated in past posts, Illinois is not broke, but the tax system is--we need to get rid of the retailer's discount on sales tax(for large retailers) and single sales factor, again for large corporations(mom and pop operations are exempt from this handout). But, no...the state of Illinois lawmakers are quivering and licking the feet of the Chamber of Commerce(read...stick it to the little guy) and the Chicago Commercial Club, both of which that have board members who receive 7-8 figure golden parachutes. These Monopoly men don't want any tax reform, that would mean they would have to pay their fair share, nope, let's take it out on the 80 year old secretary who's making under $25000 a year after working for 30+ years!
A couple of weeks ago, Senate Bill 1313 passed both the houses with bi-partisan votes...nice to see our so-called representatives working together to screw us! And quickly! It took all of 2 weeks to pass 1313(ok, the number is ironic...but maybe it shoulda been SB 666), no hearings, no committees, no public comments. Just screw the senior citizen. What this does is change the way retiree insurance is handled and could end up costing retirees whole bunches of money..now, the lie that's told to all is that retirees got "free" insurance...hmm....I have out of pocket expenses that total about $500-600 a month(that includes premiums I pay for my family) and I actually thought I knew the meaning of "free"...obviously, the Chamber, Commercial Club and legislature own a different dictionary than I do.
So now the latest and greatest way to screw employees is either eliminate the cost of living raise, or to cut it to less than 1.5% or to give retirees a so called choice--we can either choose between having some type of health insurance or a cost of living increase...isn't that FUCKING NICE...why do I feel that I'm Oliver saying to Sikes, "please sir, could I have a bit more gruel?" Only problem is no one is going to come and proclaim me an heir! And how does the corporate media report on this? The far right leaning Chicago Tribune had an article about how the general assembly members and governors...have made out like wall street bandits while the average state worker's pension is less than $25,000...and many get only that-no Social Security. But the Trib has been trumpeting "many" trumped up pension scandals...there was the one on 2 men that upped their pension by working for one day at a school, then the ex-representative who doubled his pension by working for Alderman Burke for a month, but not one article on the 27,000 retirees who would be severely effected by cuts to their only form of retirement income.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure that if we(union) were able to actually bargain, we could come up with some solutions-we have in the past, but that's not gonna happen. We are an easy target so why would our corporate legislatures allow a few facts about our pensions get in the way????  Yes, these changes would effect the general assembly members who vote on them, but not to the degree that it will state retirees...I mean, I only had one job--in a prison--for 30 years, unlike many of our part time politicians who collect $67,000 a year in salary...and another $69K(representatives) or $80K+(senators) for office "allowances", not to mention mileage and per diem...now, as I said, I worked for the Department of Corrections. I began as clerical, then went to officer and retired as a correctional counselor--I made, after 28 years about $65,000 for a full time job! They start out as $67,000 the first year for their part time job. I did not receive mileage to go to and from work and was expected to take a state vehicle if I had to travel to Springfield...so, again, why is the general assembly working to screw us out of our pensions??????
All I have to say is remember, WE VOTE and we will not be afraid to vote you out of office.

Happy Birthday ACA, and how it affects Seniors

March 23  marks the two year anniversary since President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law and made health care reform a reality. The Alliance for Retired Amercans hosted about 30 events across the country to celebrate the anniversary - and the benefits for seniors were enacted by this bill.that come with it. While the whole week will celebrate the anniversary, March 19 is a day for all seniors to celebrate the ways that the ACA is improving their own lives.

When we hear people bad-mouth the new health law by derisively calling it ‘Obamacare,’ say, ‘Damn right! Obama cares for seniors – that is why his new law is closing the doughnut hole, lowering the cost of prescription drug costs, and helping seniors better afford their doctor visits and medical tests,’” said Edward F. Coyle, Executive Director of the Alliance.

There's been many lies by the right on what "ObamaCare" does to the American Health Care machine...I prefer dealing in facts and realities:

Fact: Cheaper prescription drugs for seniors. Since the ACA began, seniors have saved over $2 billion for medication coverage. President Obama and the Democratic led congress knew the burden that the Part D "Donut hole" had caused for many seniors. This has now been cut in half and will be gone by 2020.

Fact: Free vaccinations and screenings such as mammograms, prostate cancer screenings. All seniors are eligible to an annual "wellness" health check up with their doctor, which covers a multitude of tests/screenings, smoking cessation, nutritional information.

Fact: You choose your doctor. If the doctor that you want to see accepts Medicare, then you are covered. 

Fact: ACA reduces waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare which extends the life of the Medicare Trust Fund and ensures that seniors receive their "money's worth".

Fact: There are NO death panels in Medicare. This was an outright lie. If there are any type of death panels, it would be under the guise of insurance companies denying clients health care! 

So...if you are a senior and you are under the Medicare act, your health care has been strengthened by the Affordable Care Act...enjoy your new benefits and stay healthy!