Seniors
Strengthening Medicare Through Health Care Reform
As part of health care reform, I was committed to making sure that we fixed what’s broken in the health care system and strengthened what’s working. For 46 years, Medicare has provided critical health care and financial stability for seniors and people with disabilities – and it’s working for seniors in western and central Wisconsin. Under health care reform, Medicare was strengthened and improved by:
- Immediately lowering prescription drug costs for the 8,800 seniors in western Wisconsin stuck in the ‘donut hole’ and ultimately closes it altogether by 2020. The bill provides a $250 rebate to Medicare beneficiaries who hit the donut hole in 2010. Drug manufacturers started providing 50% discount on brand-name drugs in the donut hole.
- Eliminating Medicare co-payments for preventive care so that seniors will pay nothing on recommended preventive services that will keep them healthier longer. It also limited cost-sharing requirements in Medicare Advantage plans to the amount charged for the same services in traditional Medicare coverage and improved payment accuracy to ensure that Medicare pays the right amount for health services.
- Fighting waste, fraud and abuse in the system by strengthening existing enforcement and compliance tools and eliminating overpayments to providers. New penalties were created for submitting false data on applications, false claims for payment, or for obstructing audits or investigations related to Medicare or Medicaid.
Medicare is an important program that is working for our seniors. I supported health care reform because it strengthens and improves this vital program and protects it for years to come. Reform also ensures the sustainability of our health care system and provides stable, affordable, high-quality health care to all Americans.
Protecting Social Security
As a member of the Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over Social Security, I am committed to finding responsible solutions to address the long-term financing challenges facing the program. I know we can find a way to ensure Social Security remains strong for today’s seniors while making sure future generations can rely on it too. As part of my commitment to protect its solvency, I strongly oppose privatizing Social Security because it would rob money from the system that is needed to pay benefits for today’s seniors. We cannot leave the emergency retirement money of our nation to be subject to the ups and downs of the stock market.
In 2005, when some members of Congress tried to privatize the program, I fought hard to save Social Security from this effort to destroy it, putting our seniors’ financial security at risk. When the stock market plunged and the housing bubble burst, there was one thing America’s seniors could count on - Social Security. There are those in Congress today that are again threatening to privatize Social Security. We cannot allow that to happen. I have fought to keep Social Security strong for today’s seniors and generations to come.
According to the Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees, Social Security has enough money to pay 100% of benefits for decades to come through payroll taxes and the Trust Fund. During the decades before Social Security's finances reach a critical point, I believe the Social Security Trust Fund surplus should be reserved for Social Security payments alone. Protecting the Social Security surplus from being raided for other spending will protect the program and prevent us from having to increase the deficit to make sure seniors get the benefits they’ve earned.
Economic Stability for Seniors
Seniors, like so many Americans, are struggling at this time and are worried about the present and future. I am working every day on behalf of the seniors in western Wisconsin to rebuild our economy and protect the programs most important to them. We’re making tough choices to turn this country around and put us on a path towards shared prosperity for generations to come.
Protecting seniors and their income from financial frauds and schemes so they have money for the things they need is also critical. That’s why I supported new and tougher regulations on the banking industry through the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act which bans unfair rate increases and forbids the abusive fees and penalties that credit card companies have inflicted on America’s seniors.
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More on Seniors
Washington, DC — Today, Rep. Ron Kind is reminding Wisconsinites that the Medicare Open Enrollment period ends on December 7, 2021. Wisconsin seniors can sign up for Medicare coverage or make changes to their current health care plans by visiting Medicare.gov.
Washington, DC – Today, Rep. Ron Kind voted for the Build Back Better Act. This historic legislation will create millions of good-paying jobs, lower everyday costs for working families, and rebuild the middle-class backbone of our nation – all without adding to our deficit.
La Crosse, WI – Today, Rep. Ron Kind voted to pass provisions of the Build Back Better Act through the Ways and Means Committee that make landmark progress in lowering health care costs, creating jobs, boosting our economy, and supporting working families across Wisconsin.
La Crosse, WI – Today, Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) introduced the bipartisan Medicare Advantage Quality Payment Relief Act. This legislation will reward high-performing Medicare Advantage health plans while lowering premiums for Wisconsin seniors. The bill was introduced with Reps. Mike Doyle (D-PA), Mike Kelly (R-PA), and Brett Guthrie (R-KY).
Washington, DC —Today, Rep. Ron Kind voted for a Fiscal Year 2022 appropriations package to create good-paying jobs right here in Wisconsin, invest in rural broadband, support working families across the state, and expand access to health care for our veterans.
This package also includes Rep. Kind’s amendment to increase support for the Water & Waste Disposal Loan & Grant Program. The program provides critical funding for clean and reliable drinking water systems, sanitary sewage and waste disposal, and storm water drainage in our rural areas.
Washington, DC – Today, Rep. Ron Kind voted for the bipartisan Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act, which would make it easier for employees to prove when they are the victim of age discrimination in the workplace.
Washington, DC – Today, Rep. Ron Kind announced the Biden-Harris Administration’s release of $50,772,152 in funding to Wisconsin for critical Older Americans Act programs as part of the American Rescue Plan he helped pass.
Washington, DC – Yesterday, Rep. Ron Kind voted to pass H.R. 2954, the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2021, out of the Ways and Means Committee.
La Crosse, WI – Earlier this month, Rep. Ron Kind voted to pass the landmark American Rescue Plan, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021. Today, Rep. Kind is highlighting the critical resources that Wisconsin families and communities will receive to help crush the COVID-19 virus and build back stronger than ever.
Washington, DC — Today, Rep. Ron Kind voted to pass the American Rescue Plan to provide long-awaited relief to Wisconsinites, help schools safely reopen, ramp up vaccine deployment, and get our economy back on track. The package now heads to the President’s desk for his signature.