Issue Position: AARP

Issue Position

Social Security: How would you protect Social Security for today's seniors and strengthen it for future generations?

Social Security should be strengthened and expanded, not reduced or privatized. And, the reduction of benefits includes shrinking the number of Social Security offices to limit access to services.

Hopefully, we have put the idea of chained CPI (Consumer Price Index) behind us. Social Security must keep up with inflation, since seniors on fixed incomes have no options in their budgets to deal with increased cost of necessities.

Some retirees are not eligible for Social Security retirement benefits because they have participated in pension plans that skirt the requirement to contribute. For example, teachers in some states get their teacher retirement--which is inadequate, but they do not participate in Social Security. The social safety net cannot catch you if you don't contribute. This is also a double whammy for the unemployed. They lose income during their productive years, and ultimately reduce their retirement benefits due to reduced contributions.

The most effective change to ensure the viability of the Social Security system is to remove the cap on eligible earnings. All earned income should have Social Security contributions deducted. The earnings cap makes Social Security a regressive tax that exacerbates the income gap.

Finally, disability verification should be stiffened. Lawyers make entire careers out of filing disability claims. I would never deny benefits to someone, who met the criteria to receive them. But, the sieve is very porous, and many people simply go on disability rather than retraining to do a different job that they would be able to perform.

Medicare: How would you put Medicare on stronger financial ground and protect today's seniors and future retirees from rising health costs?

One important change to improve Medicare would be to negotiate prescription prices in the same way the government does for TRICARE. This would drastically reduce the cost of drugs. Seniors would also benefit if closing the "donut hole" were accelerated.

Vision and dental care is not available with some Part D, supplemental policies based on the county you reside in. The older you are the more likely you are to need glasses and dentures, and these issues have nothing to do with which side of the county line you live on.

There needs to be more transparency in actions and language. Seniors have been left with staggering bills after they were hospitalized for "observation." We need to stop playing games; what does it mean to be in-patient, out-patient, and observed. To be wise consumers of medical services, those services and their ramifications must be explained before decisions are made. In a free market a list of fees would be readily available.

Costs will also be contained by more aggressive enforcement of medical providers who game the system by billing Medicare for thousands of procedures. There is a problem with reduced compensation causing doctors to drop Medicare service, but we must also monitor their billing.

Financial Security: How would you help Americans save so they can secure their future and live independently as they age?

Financial security starts long before retirement. Millennials, who are struggling to pay off college loans, do not have enough income to make ends meet. They are moving back home to cut down on rent, and cannot save for retirement. Americans, working for the current minimum wage, fall below the poverty line. They do not have disposable income; every penny is spent. Raising the minimum wage would take the financial pressure off them and allow them to put money aside.

Retirement vehicles, like 401k IRAs, Roth IRAs and 457s, should be offered and managed through temp agencies for their clients. Today a lot of service and manufacturing jobs are "temp-to-hire," with emphasis on the temp- and often to-hire not materializing. This leaves employees in a frustrating contract limbo with no advocacy and few benefits. They have no employee retirement plans because they actually work for the temp agency.

There should also be better consumer protection regulations and policies for personal retirement plans and annuities. They should be more transparent, so people without an MBA can make comparisons of products and rates.

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