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Letters from FamiliesUSA, Medicare Rights
Center indicate importance of SCHIP support,
ending costly Medicare Advantage plans that
have only benefited plan administrators, not
seniors...Seniors have opportunity to
influence legislative outcome
By Daniel Hines
Publisher
America’s Seniors at
www.TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com
The battle lines for a major step towards a proving ground of
the differing philosophies about medical
care for Americans are being drawn as
progressive groups across the country side
with an expansion of the State Children’s
Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to provide
necessary coverage to an increased number of
America’s children, the cost to be paid from
savings of cuts to the costly Medicare
Advantage program.
On the other side is President George W. Bush, who as he
enters his lame-duck stretch has discovered
the threat of the veto, a device he says he
will use if the expanded coverage is enacted
by Congress. He is joined by many
Republican Congressmen and Senators who
echo the President’s claims that such
expanded coverage is nothing more than a
‘first step’ towards ‘socialized medicine’.
Others opposing the expanded coverage are
the nursing home administrators who claim
that they need the extra funding of Medicare
Advantage that has profited them in the past
to provide necessary services for the
elderly entrusted to their care, attempting
to set up a battle of one generation against
another.
The facts are obvious. The opponents of the SCHIP extension
and the financing plan are engaged in
classic misdirection. The outcome of this
battle will have both short- and long-term
impact for better or worse upon our
children, while should the Bush challenge
withstand an override, there will be no
benefit at all to America’s seniors.
Americans have traditionally been a nation in which
intergenerational expressions of support
have been effected to the benefit of all.
That is why
www.TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com endorses
the efforts of FamiliesUSA and the
Medicare
Rights Center, leading advocacy groups for
the values of family, respect for the
elderly, and belief that the promise of our
children merits support and vision, to
enlist Americans across the nation to let
Senators and Congressmen know that even
should President Bush veto the SCHIP
legislation, it is imperative that our
elected officials have the political courage
and moral vision to do the right thing—enact
SCHIP over the veto, and to let those who
would set one generation—we as
seniors—against another—our nation’s
children, who represent our future—that they
shall fail, and that we shall reclaim our
role in providing oversight of and
participation in the American process.
With that in mind, we reprint the letters we received from
FamiliesUSA, and from the Medicare Rights
Center, with directions on how you can
become a part of this important grassroots
effort:
|
Dear Daniel,
August in
Washington usually means heat,
humidity, and empty hallways in
Congress.
This year is a
little different. Behind the
scenes something is happening.
As Congress and
much of the country take time
off to enjoy well-deserved
vacation days, we are inching
closer to the September 30
expiration date of the State
Children's Health Insurance
Program (SCHIP).
Before it left
town, Congress voted to renew
the program and provide health
coverage for millions of
children who would otherwise go
without it.
Unbelievably, and
to the surprise of some leading
Republicans in the Senate, the
President pledged to veto the
bipartisan plan to provide
health care for America's
children.
To send a message
to the President and to
Congress, we have teamed up with
SEIU to circulate a petition. Please
take a moment to sign the
petition. After you have
signed it please send it to your
friends, colleagues, and family.
Most people
thought the veto threat was bad
enough. But late in the day on
Friday, the President made it
even worse. The Administration
decreed brand new restrictions
to clamp down even further and
cut more children from SCHIP.
Over the years,
the SCHIP program has allowed
states to design a system that
works best for the children in
their state. The President wants
to change that. His new
restrictions will force states
to cut children from moderate
income families who currently
depend on SCHIP for their health
care. This move will add
children to the ranks of the
uninsured.
Congress must
rise in opposition to this plan.
Please sign the
petition to send a message to
Congress and the President that
this will not stand.
Click here.
President Bush
and his allies in Congress must
get the message: There are some
issues that rise above partisan
politics. At the top of that
list is health care for our
children.
Thank you,
Jeff Gordon
Field Director
|
Dear Daniel,
This is an exciting time for
Medicare advocates!
After years of virtually nothing
being done in Congress on
Medicare, we now have a chance
to get some important
improvements passed.
You can help by persuading your
senators to support the Medicare
improvements passed by the U. S.
House of Representatives at the
end of July in a bill called the
“Children’s Health and Medicare
Improvement Act.” The Senate’s
version of this bill to
reauthorize and expand the
children’s health insurance
program (due to expire Sept. 30)
doesn’t mention Medicare at all.
Please contact your senators as
soon as possible
and ask them to support adding
the Medicare provisions in the
House legislation to the final
bill. Please ask your friends
and colleagues to do so as well.
In addition, we’d like to ask
you to send a letter to your
local newspaper, about the need
to make these Medicare changes.
To make that task easier, I am
attaching a model letter you can
use. You can also adopt this
letter to send to your
senator. If you are affiliated
with a state or local
organization, it would help if
you could sign the letter on
behalf of the group and have the
group ask its members to call
their senators.
We have only a little time to
get this done
– the children’s health
insurance program runs out of
money September 30th.
The “Children’s Health and
Medicare Protection Act” is the
best opportunity we have had to
improve Medicare in years
Al. A. Mendlovitz
Coordinator Consumer Action
Board
Medicare Rights Center
Letter to the editor draft:
To the editor:
Millions of children depend on
the federal health insurance
program which runs out of money
at the end of September. But
recent stories about how much –
or how little – Congress and the
President want to spend to
continue coverage overlook what
legislation passed by the U. S.
House of Representatives
renewing the program would also
do to improve Medicare, the
nation’s treasured health
insurance program for older
Americans and people with
disabilities.
First, taxpayers would no longer
overpay private insurance
companies that contract with the
government to provide health
coverage to people with
Medicare. These companies get an
average of 12 percent more per
member than what it costs the
government-run Medicare program
to care for them.
Instead of padding the profits
of insurance companies, that
money is better spent on
providing health care for
children, and older and disabled
Americans in Medicare.
The House bill does that by also
helping people whose incomes are
too low to afford Medicare’s
out-of-pocket expenses. Income
and assets limits to qualify for
subsidized monthly premiums for
medical and drug coverage would
be expanded so that more
low-income people with Medicare
would be eligible.
Unfortunately, the Senate’s bill
extending children’s health
coverage doesn’t even mention
Medicare. I don’t understand
why. When senators
[insert name] and
[insert name] go back to
work after their August break,
they should not ignore the
important changes in Medicare
their counterparts in the House
approved.
America is a country rich enough
and decent enough to provide
health coverage not only for its
children but also for their
grandparents.
Sincerely,
|
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