Putting Seniors First

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Protecting Seniors from Medicare Cuts

Supporter of Efforts to Prevent Medicare Payment Cuts to Physicians

• In 2010, Congressman Murphy voted to ensure seniors have continued access to the doctors they know and trust by preventing a pending 21.5% Medicare payment cut for physicians.
  
  
• In 2008, Congressman Murphy was a proud supporter of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act, which eliminated a pending 10% cut in payments for Medicare physicians.
  
  
• These efforts are supported by more than 150 organizations, including the American Medical Association, AARP, Leadership Council of Aging Organizations, National Council on Aging, American Legion, National Rural Health Association, Mental Health America, and National Association of Chain Drug Stores.

Protecting Seniors from Financial Exploitation

Author of a bill to increase protections for older Americans against financial abuse and scams

• Experts are calling financial exploitation of seniors the "crime of the 21st century," and they're right. Financial abuse cost elderly victims $2.6 billion in the last year alone, depriving millions of older Americans of the savings and retirement security they had worked for their entire lives.
  
  
• Congressman Murphy introduced legislation to create the Office of Financial Protection for Older Adults (OFPOA), which passed the House of Representatives. The Office would tackle this growing threat by educating seniors on the warning signs of fraud, providing strengthened oversight of misleading or fake certifications of senior financial advisors, and improving coordination between current elder protection agencies to better serve seniors.

Fighting to Close the Donut Hole

Supporter of efforts to close the Medicare Part D coverage gap, known as the “donut hole”

• Today, seniors can be left paying thousands of dollars out of pocket for their prescription drugs if they fall into the donut hole.
  
  
• Over 11,000 seniors in my district fell into this gap last year, forcing many of them to make impossible decisions between taking their medication and paying their mortgage or electricity bills.
  
  
• Congressman Murphy committed to fighting to ensure that the final version of health reform protects seniors’ access to the medication they need and finally closes the donut hole.

Cracking Down on Medicare Fraud

Author of a bill to reduce Medicare fraud and protect the financial integrity of the program

• Medicare fraud and abuse hurt the healthcare program that seniors depend on and it costs American taxpayers a staggering $60 billion each year. This is unacceptable and must be stopped.
  
  
• Congressman Murphy introduced the bipartisan Improving Medicare Policy for Reimbursements through Oversight and Efficiency (IMPROVE) Act, which closes a loophole that scan artists currently exploit in order to commit Medicare fraud and disappear without a trace.
  
  
• This legislation, which passed the House of Representatives, prevents fraudulent Medicare providers and suppliers from exploiting current loopholes in the system. It has been endorsed by the AARP and the National District Attorneys Association, the head of which said that this bill will help law enforcement do their job, both by preventing crime and making it easier to track down perpetrators and recover taxpayers’ dollars.

Ensuring Seniors Receive the Support and Services They Need

Supporter of Stimulus Provisions to Assist Seniors

• Congressman Murphy supported the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which provided Social Security seniors an additional $250 Social Security payment to help them through the financial downturn.
  
  
• The ARRA also included $100 million in funding for senior nutrition services, such as home-delivered meals and those served in senior centers and nursing homes.

Expanding Research and Finding Cures

Proud Co-sponsor of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2009

• Congressman Murphy is a longtime advocate of the ethical use of embryonic stem cell research and the promise it holds for the more than 100 million Americans who suffer from cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, spinal cord injuries and other debilitating diseases.
  
  
• This bill would allow for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. While President Obama signed an executive order in January 2009 allowing for this research, Congressman Murphy believes it is important to codify the President’s actions and ensure that all research adheres to strict ethical standards.

Ensuring Seniors Receive the Benefits They Have Earned

Proud Co-sponsor of the Social Security Fairness Act

• Congressman Murphy believes that workers who dedicated their lives to public service should not lose the retirement benefits that they or their spouses earned throughout their careers.
  
  
• This bill would repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), both of which unfairly reduce or eliminate benefits that public employees or their surviving spouses have earned and were expecting to receive in retirement.

Protecting Seniors’ Choice by Providing Access to Home or Community-Based Care

Proud Co-sponsor of the Community Choice Act

• Congressman Murphy believes seniors and disabled individuals deserve the right to choose to receive home or community-based services, or to retain the right to receive services in an institutional setting.
  
  
• This bill provides seniors with real choices by allowing individuals who are eligible for services in other care facilities the opportunity to choose instead to stay in their homes and receive assistance with daily living activities and health-related functions.

Protecting Seniors from Physical Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation

Supported the Elder Abuse Victims Act

• This bill would protect seniors from abuse by establishing elder abuse research and prosecution programs to aid victims, provide abuse prevention and protections training to prosecutors and law enforcement officials, and establish emergency crisis response teams to combat this horrible crime.

Proud Co-sponsor of the Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act

• This bill protects seniors’ legal rights by providing that a pre-dispute arbitration agreement between a long-term care facility and a resident shall not be valid. It ensures that nursing home corporations cannot hide clauses in their contract forcing seniors into unfair, one-sided mandatory binding arbitration - on the corporation’s terms - in the case of a lawsuit.
  
  
• Congressman Murphy believes that if a resident or an individual acting on their behalf feels a nursing home has been negligent, that individual should have the right to trial by jury, with arbitration as a voluntary option.

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