Issue Position: Seniors

Issue Position

Our seniors are truly our greatest generation. They helped make America the strongest and most prosperous nation ever to grace the face of the earth. The hard work that they did over the years built our country, and now we owe them not only a debt of gratitude but also a strong social safety net to ensure that they have security in their golden years.

One of my top priorities will be to ensure that our seniors, particularly those with low incomes, have access to housing, top-notch medical care, and other needed benefits. Demographic trends show that we not only face the challenge of the aging of the baby boom generation, but we also need to address the fact that more and more seniors are outliving their savings.

Clearly, the federal government needs to keep the promises that it made to our current seniors. Current recipients paid into federal programs like Medicare and Social Security for many years.

I believe that our elected officials also have an obligation to ensure that these vital programs remain strong and solvent for future generations. As it stands now, absent any action, Medicare will become insolvent by 2024, Social Security by 2033, and Social Security disability by 2020.

As Your Congressman:

* I will work on a non-partisan basis with both Democrats and Republicans to help protect, strengthen, and preserve Medicare and Social Security. I will not support any change to these programs that affects current recipients or those nearing eligibility.

*I will fight to keep Social Security off budget. Washington politicians will tell you that the Social Security Trust Fund contains $2.6 trillion. In reality, the trust fund is filled with IOU's from the Federal Government because money dedicated to the Trust fund has been diverted and spent on other programs. Most recently, Congress raided the trust fund for $120 billion as part of the payroll tax holiday.

*I will fight against any budget or legislation that takes funding away from Medicare in order to bail out Obamacare. This has already happened once when $716 billion was diverted away from Medicare and to Obamacare. These cuts have already proven to be detrimental to seniors access to care.

* I will work to make changes to Social Security that will stabilize the program for future generations. I support means testing wealthier recipients as well as raising the minimum benefit for some of our oldest low-income beneficiaries. I will also support increased caps on IRAs in order to allow people to save more for retirement.

*I will support the Earned Retiree Healthcare Benefits Protection Act. This legislation will protect the retirement health benefits of our nation's seniors by prohibiting post-retirement benefit reductions. It is essential that protections be put in place to ensure retirees receive the benefits that have been promised given all of the corporate mergers, consolidations, and takeovers.

*I will support the Medicare Common Access Card Act that could prevent Medicare fraud and save up to $30 billion per year. This proposal would create a Smart Card program that patients and providers could use to cut down on improper and fraudulent billing.

* I will work to repeal The Independent Payment Review Board established under Obamacare. This un-elected and un-accountable Board has been given extraordinary powers to impose arbitrary across-the-board cuts to physicians and other providers and cut Medicare Reimbursement levels. Democrats such as Congressman Mike Capuano and Barney Frank have joined with the American Medical Association and other health care providers in calling for its repeal. I share the concerns of many that the reimbursement decisions dictated by the Board will essentially lead to a form of health care rationing.

Experience

I served as a member of the Elder Affairs committee during my tenure in the State Senate. That Committee was responsible for reviewing and acting on all of the legislation regarding senior citizens.

My service on this committee allowed me to play an active role in many of the issues important to Senior Citizens and also educated me on many of the challenges facing our elderly population.

Over the years, I helped pass a number of laws that provided funding for the Commonwealth's Home Care Program, protected seniors in public housing, and created stronger penalties to prevent financial exploitation. I helped pass legislation to make prescription drugs more affordable and require nursing homes to institute a "bed hold" policy for seniors.

As a result of my efforts, I was proud to be named Senator of the Year by the Massachusetts Silver Haired Legislature.

Source