Issue Position: Protecting Nevada's Seniors

Issue Position

As the Representative of the fastest growing seniors population in the country, Congresswoman Berkley is fighting to preserve Social Security and Medicare. The costs of prescription drugs are skyrocketing. One of her top priorities is lowering the cost of prescription drugs and including prescription drugs under Medicare. Representative Berkley opposed the Administration's Medicare prescription drug plan because it privatizes Medicare, does nothing to lower prescription drugs costs, limits seniors' choices and provides billions of taxpayer dollars in giveaways to HMOs and pharmaceutical companies.

Congresswoman Berkley supports a plan that is affordable and guaranteed under Medicare, without huge gaps in coverage. To help lower prescription medication prices for all seniors, Representative Berkley has cosponsored legislation that would allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to harness the purchasing power of 40 million beneficiaries to negotiate lower drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries. Shelley also backs efforts that would allow consumers and pharmacists to reimport FDA-approved drugs from other countries. Drug importation will lower drug prices not only for seniors, but for all Americans.

For 70 years, Social Security has been the safety net for America's seniors. Congresswoman Berkley is continuing to fight to protect every penny of the Social Security Trust Fund for future generations. Shelley believes that privatizing Social Security is a risky scheme that could put millions of seniors in jeopardy of losing Social Security benefits and she is strongly opposed to such efforts to privatize Social Security.

Congresswoman Berkley is committed to:

Lowering the cost of prescription drugs

+ Supports a plan that would create a guaranteed, affordable benefit under the traditional Medicare program. This bill does not force seniors into HMOs and does not limit seniors' choices.

+ Voted for legislation that would allow consumers and pharmacists to import safe, FDA-approved drugs from other countries.

+ Cosponsored legislation that would allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to lower prescription drug prices.

Protecting Medicare and Social Security

+ Voted against privatizing Social Security and Medicare.

+ Fought against efforts to raid the Social Security and Medicare Trust funds.

Improving seniors' health care

+ Sponsored the Osteoporosis Education and Prevention Act that would create a national campaign to increase bone health awareness as well as create an osteoporosis prevention demonstration program.

+ Cosponsored a bill to require that health insurance plans cover breast, prostate and colorectal cancer screenings.

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