Medicare and Social Security

Medicare has been a solemn promise our country has made to our seniors for generations: work hard, pay your taxes and we will ensure the health care you’ve earned is there for you when you need it most.  I will fight to keep that promise for both current and future generations.

To ensure Medicare’s long-term financial stability, I support the implementation of common sense reforms like switching to electronic medical records to lower costs and better coordinate services.  I believe it is important to use Medicare’s negotiating power to get better prices, especially regarding prescription drug costs.

I strongly oppose the privatization of Social Security or any other attempt to cut guaranteed benefits.  Social Security is a critically important bedrock of retirement for so many seniors in our region and I will fight to protect and preserve it.

Here are some of the steps I’ve taken to preserve and protect Social Security and Medicare.

• In June, I led a successful effort to maintain benefit verification statement services at local Social Security Field Offices.
   
• In February, I successfully helped lead a group of 117 other lawmakers in urging the President to rule out cuts to Social Security and veterans’ benefits in his budget proposal.
   
• I supported a resolution opposing the use of "chained CPI" for Social Security benefits. This sent a clear message that there are more reasonable ways to reduce the deficit that do not reduce Social Security benefits or balance the budget on the backs of seniors. I continue to strongly oppose any proposals that would lead to benefit cuts to Social Security.
   
• I have remained firm in my opposition to the Ryan Budget. This misguided plan would shift Medicare costs onto seniors and raise out-of-pocket health care costs for every senior by over $6,000 annually.