Issue Position: Seniors

Issue Position

Medicare Improvements

Congresswoman Nita Lowey stands by our region's seniors and against policies that jeopardize the benefits they have earned through a lifetime of hard work.

Congresswoman Lowey voted for the most significant package of Medicare improvements that have become law in recent years, including:

Extending the life of the Medicare trust fund;

Providing free preventive care and annual wellness exams;

Eliminating the Medicare Part D "donut hole;"

Providing bonus payments to doctors for treating Medicare beneficiaries; and

Reducing fraud to save precious resources and ensure that seniors receive the care they deserve.

Congresswoman Lowey also voted for a bipartisan measure signed into law by the President in 12015 that repeals the flawed Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula, ensuring that physicians are reimbursed fairly for treating Medicare patients and that patients will continue to have access to their doctors.

Stopping Bad Budget for Seniors

Congresswoman Lowey opposed the 2016 Republican budget, which would:

Provide tax breaks to special interests at the expense of seniors;

End Medicare as we know it and convert the guaranteed benefit into a voucher program;

Undermine low-income seniors' access to long-term care;

Reduce services for older Americans; and

Roll back efforts that make prescription drugs more affordable.

Protecting Retirement Benefits and Social Security

Senior citizens in Westchester and Rockland Counties earned Social Security and Medicare benefits from a lifetime of hard work, and Congresswoman Lowey is working to ensure those benefits are protected.

Congresswoman Lowey has been a tireless advocate for protecting Social Security and employee pensions, including:

Strongly opposing efforts to privatize Social Security;

Supporting the 2015 cost-of-living increase that provides an additional $26 per month for the average retiree in Westchester and Rockland counties;

Voting to shield Social Security from cuts in deficit reduction proposals;

Leading the efforts to ensure family caregivers and women who are widows or divorced are treated fairly; and

Protecting Social Security benefits from unfair taxation.

Providing Caretakers with Earnings Credits

Caregivers are often torn by the impossible choice of taking care of a family member or earning less for themselves and their family. Lowey believes that caretakers' retirement security should not be financially punished for providing needed care for loved ones.

That is why Lowey introduced the Social Security Caregiver Credit Act that would create a credit that would be added to earnings to calculate future benefits. The credit is progressive and varies on an income-based sliding scale, and phases out when the caregiver makes more than the average national earnings. The amount credited would be used by the Social Security Administration to calculate future benefits.

Preventing Scams against Vulnerable Seniors

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