Social Security and Medicare
The issue of Social Security and Medicare is important to our district and to my work in Congress.
Entitlement programs currently make up two/ thirds of the federal budget and are of great importance to many Americans who rely on them. I strongly believe retirees deserve the benefits around which they have built their lives. Also, future generations deserve to be able to count on their own health and retirement security, too. However, the future of programs such as Medicare and Social Security are uncertain unless their flaws are addressed and modifications are made. By making gradual, structural improvements, Congress can preserve America’s social contract with seniors.
Medicare’s structural imbalance threatens beneficiaries’ access to quality, affordable care. A flaw in the program’s structure is driving up health care costs; that, in turn, is threatening to bankrupt the system – and ultimately our nation as well. The failure is to not act. Unless Congress fixes what is broken in Medicare, without breaking what is working, the program will wind up causing exactly what it was created to avoid – millions of American seniors without adequate health security and a younger working generation saddled with enormous debt to pay for spending levels.
The blank-check system in Medicare, in which the government pays most costs with no incentive to save or be efficient, threatens the solvency of this critical program. This is why I am a supporter of the FY 2013 budget plan, which puts Medicare on a sustainable path for current and future generations, while making no changes for those Americans 55 years of age or older. Please rest assured I will not support a plan that would cut benefits for seniors who are currently utilizing these programs, or for those who are nearing retirement age.
For those workers currently younger than 55, beginning in 2023, they would be given a choice of private plans competing alongside the traditional fee-for-service option on a newly created Medicare Exchange. Medicare would provide a premium‐support payment either to pay for or offset the premium of the plan chosen by the senior.
The Medicare Exchange would provide seniors with a competitive marketplace where they could choose a plan the same way Members of Congress do. All plans, including the traditional fee-for-service option, would participate in an annual competitive bidding process to determine the dollar amount of the federal contribution seniors would use to purchase the coverage that best serves their medical needs. Health care plans would compete for the right to serve Medicare beneficiaries.
The second-least expensive approved plan or fee-for-service Medicare, whichever is least expensive, would establish the benchmark that determines the premium-support amount for the plan chosen by the senior. If a senior chose a costlier plan than the benchmark plan, he or she would be responsible for paying the difference between the premium subsidy and the monthly premium. Conversely, if that senior chose a plan that cost less than the benchmark, he or she would be given a rebate for the difference. Payments to plans would be risk-adjusted and geographically rated. Private health plans would be required to cover at least the actuarial equivalent of the benefit package provided by fee-for-service Medicare.
Low-income seniors shopping for coverage would be offered the same range of high-quality options offered to all other seniors. They would be guaranteed the ability to choose a traditional fee-for‐service Medicare plan, or they could choose a private plan on the Medicare Exchange with a fully-funded account from which to pay premiums, co-pays and other out-of-pocket costs. Conversely, high-income seniors would pay an increased share of their premiums.
So far, this in the only plan that has been put forward by either party to prevent Medicare from going bankrupt.
I have received both the 60 Plus Association Award and the 2011 Standing Up for America’s Senior’s Award for my efforts in fighting to protect and preserve Social Security and Medicare.
I write a special monthly e-newsletter to keep Granite Staters informed about what I’m doing to help our seniors. If you would like to receive a copy of the e-newsletter, please email my Senior Projects Director, David Tille, at david.tille@mail.house.gov.