FYI from the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare: Older Americans Month: A Good Time to Advocate for Seniors
May is Older Americans Month, and it's a perfect time to urge your members of Congress to boost appropriations for the Older Americans Act (OAA). Advocates are seeking a nine-percent increase for all OAA programs next year, using the slogan "Nine Percent in '09." If Congress provides the full nine percent, the total increase for all programs would be $174 million.
The NCPSSM Foundation website is now up and running. Please take a moment to review the site at
http://www.ncpssmfoundation.org/ and bookmark it for future reference.
As a prelude to Barbara’s participation in a series of Town Hall meetings on Saturday with Senator Bernard Sanders, Vermont Public Radio will air an interview with BBK tomorrow morning at approx. 7:49 am ET. You can listen live by going to
http://www.vpr.net/ and click on “Listen On Line” to the right of the screen. It will also be on the VPR website after it airs and you can download an Mp3 or listen there.
Enjoy the spring this day, tomorrow and the weekend. Laura
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In the pipeline - "Member level" talks (meaning Committee meetings) begin on Medicare Bill
The Importance of the Senate Finance Committee
Editorial response from Barbara Kennelly
Factoid
Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals
Will Medicare become a generational issue?
Proposed cuts to Hospice care
Health care plans from the candidates
Medicare Advantage Plans work for some
"It's a good thing Social security didn't change" says Robert Reich
Social Security calculation "do-over?"
Testimony of Barbara Kennelly before the Social Security Subcommittee of the House Committee on Ways and Means. Please read, it's very good and informative.
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1.
Inside Health Policy
Offsets still controversial
Senate Begins Member-Level Talks On Medicare Bill; Floor Vote Slips To June
The Senate Finance Committee begins member-level talks Tuesday (May 6) on a $15 billion to $19 billion Medicare package, with initial debate focused on the mostly non-controversial “extenders” provisions that include rural boosts in payment to doctors and other providers, a Senate staffer e-mailed stakeholders this morning. The committee will then move on to consider “other Medicare Part A and Part B changes” and finally to beneficiary issues.
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2.
Role of the Senate Finance Committee
Just what makes the Senate Finance Committee so pivotal in the affairs of the nation?
For starters, the panel oversees the budgets of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, which account for 46 percent of federal spending. It also oversees all federal welfare programs and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, among other social and health programs.
If you have health insurance through your employer, rules and laws governing that insurance policy fall under the Committee.
The panel also has jurisdiction over federal revenue and tax code, including billions of dollars the U.S. government spends as a result of issuing government bonds, a form of federal debt; the Internal Revenue Service; customs and all U.S. ports.
Finally, the committee oversees U.S. trade, and is involved in working to open markets to U.S. goods. The panel has jurisdiction over the U.S. International Trade Commission, the panel that gives trade reports to the president and can issue punishments to entities that break national trade rules.
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3.baltimoresun.com
www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/letters/bal-ed.le.letters070may07,0,7663404.story
May 7, 2008
If columnist Jay Hancock really wants to have an honest discussion about our nation's current fiscal mess, let's start with the facts ("Boomers planting a debt bomb," April 30).
American workers and taxpayers who are between 44 and 62 years old (the baby boomers) didn't create our current budget crisis.
President Bush inherited a budget surplus and a Social Security trust fund built up in preparation for baby boomers' retirements.
This divisive "greedy geezer" myth is just that - a myth. American workers, most of them baby boomers, have contributed $2 trillion to the Social Security trust fund in the past two decades, leading to a $190 billion surplus.
Without these baby boomer contributions, our debt picture would be even worse.
So don't blame the boomers or Social Security for the fiscal damage done by this administration.
Barbara B. Kennelly
Washington
The writer is a former member of Congress and current president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.
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4.
Week 1 of rebates: $7.1 billion sent out
Nearly 8 million Americans received tax rebates in the past week. Treasury Department hopes to distribute remaining payments by July.
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5. (Edited)
CQ TODAY
http://www.cq.com/document/display.do?docid=2713078&sourcetype=6
April 29, 2008 – 11:14 a.m.
Senate GOP Picks Fight on Medicaid Bill; Democrats Look for Other Vehicles
By Alex Wayne, CQ Staff
The Medicaid bill (HR 5613) would delay until next April seven regulations the administration has issued or plans to issue this year. Those rules would end federal reimbursement for some Medicaid services, narrow reimbursement for others and end some Medicaid accounting maneuvers used by the states. States complain that the rules would exacerbate their budget problems by shifting more costs to them.
There has long been tension between states and the federal government over Medicaid, a program they fund jointly. The federal government picks up about 57 percent of the costs, and the federal share is estimated at $204 billion in fiscal 2008.
6.
Health Care
Medicare a Key Issue in Generational Divide
by
Julie Rovner
Listen Now[4 min 1 sec]add to playlist
Weekend Edition Sunday, May 4, 2008 · Older and younger voters are split this year as never before. And the future of the massive Medicare health program for the elderly promises to pit generations against each other, even more as retiring baby boomers prepare to swell its ranks.
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7.(Excerpt)
May 1, 2008 Update
U.S. Medicare proposes cuts to hospice wages
Mon Apr 28, 2008 6:47pm EDT
WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Medicare insurance program for the elderly on Monday proposed cutting reimbursement for hospice facility wages.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed eliminating a wage adjustment for hospices that it says is outdated. The proposal would eliminate an automatic adjustment to government reimbursement for wages by 25 percent in fiscal year 2009 and another 50 percent in 2010, the government said.
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8.(Excerpt)
THE HILL
Leavitt buttresses McCain with attack on Clinton, Obama plans
By Jeffrey Young
Posted: 04/29/08 06:08 PM [ET]
Neither Clinton’s nor Obama’s platform calls for everyone to enroll in a single, nationalized healthcare program. Both candidates would largely seek to preserve and strengthen a private health insurance market while subjecting it to more federal oversight and offering premium subsidies to some lower-income people.
The Democrats’ plans would, however, allow people to opt for subsidized coverage through a public plan that would compete with private insurance. In addition, Clinton would permit people to purchase coverage from the system that administers health benefits for federal employees and Obama would create an analogous system to administer private insurance options.
Though the emphasis of McCain’s healthcare platform, unveiled at the University of South Florida, is on market-based ways to reduce costs, the presumptive GOP nominee also proposed providing federal money for state-based, nonprofit “high-risk pools” to cover people who cannot buy private insurance, such as those with pre-existing conditions.
For the rest of the population, McCain wants to replace the income tax exemption for health insurance premiums with a tax credit that can be used to purchase insurance not connected to employment, and by deregulating the insurance market. McCain believes this would help more people to get covered but does not claim it would lead to universal coverage.
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9.(excerpt)
By BRUCE SCHREINER – 1 hour ago
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Health insurer Humana Inc. reported a 12.5 percent rise in its first-quarter profit Monday as growth in its Medicare Advantage and commercial businesses more than offset an expected decline in its stand-alone Medicare prescription drug plans.
The results beat Wall Street expectations, and the company raised full-year earnings-per-share projections.
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10.
NPR-Marketplace
Audio Link (No transcript available)
It's good Social Security didn't change
When the economy and the stock market were humming right along, a lot of people thought it might be a good idea to invest Social Security funds in the market. But commentator Robert Reich says we're lucky we didn't.
MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "marketplace.publicradio.org" claiming to be Marketplace - Robert Reich - http://marketplace.publicradio.org/collections/coll_display.php?coll_id=20102
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11. (Excerpt)
baltimoresun.com April 25
About-face on benefits could turn into boon
Eileen Ambrose
A couple of months ago, this column discussed a do-over option for retirees who regretted taking Social Security early and locking themselves into smaller benefit checks for life.
This option requires that you withdraw your original application for benefits and repay all the money you have received. You can then reapply to get a bigger monthly check based on your current age. But some of you interested in this were told by local Social Security representatives that such an option doesn't exist.
Well, it does.
Granted, it's a strategy rarely used, and it's not for everyone. Yet, as word spreads, Social Security needs to make sure its staff is aware of this, because more and more retirees are going to ask for it. Many healthy retirees who are now, say, 70 can easily see themselves living another 20 or 25 years, and they might view their decision years ago to take early benefits as a financial mistake.
On paper, it's not supposed to make any difference if you take benefits at the earliest possible age, 62, or at your full retirement age or as late as age 70.
You get smaller benefits if you take them early, but you have more years to collect checks. Wait, and your checks are bigger but you get fewer of them.
If you think a do-over is for you, contact Social Security. The Social Security representative might not be familiar with this option or give you wrong information. Social Security spokesman John Johnston explains that this is such an unusual request that even staffers with decades of experience have never come across it.
Basically, you must fill out Form 521 to request that your original application for Social Security benefits be withdrawn.
If your request is approved, you will then be required to repay all the Social Security benefits you've received to date without iinterest. If your husband or wife gets spousal benefits based on your work record, those benefits must be repaid, too.
Still, repaying years of benefits can add up to quite a sum, more than many retirees might have. And it's a gamble.
"If you pay back $50,000 and you die three months later, that $50,000 is lost forever," says Social Security's Johnston.
Rothenhoefer has one warning for those who try this. Almost as soon as he withdrew his original application, his benefits stopped. Medicare and prescription drug premiums that had usually been taken out of his check couldn't be paid, and he got notices demanding payment.
To maximize your benefits using this strategy, you should reapply for benefits at age 70, says Mary Jane Yarrington, who writes a column on Social Security for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.
One reason is that for every year you wait beyond your full retirement age to take benefits, you get a 7.5 percent or 8 percent increase in annual benefits up to age 70. Once you're no longer building up this credit for waiting, there's no financial incentive not to take benefits, she says.For now, retirees don't seem to be lining up to repay benefits. But if the wealthy end up abusing this option, Congress and a new administration can always restrict the practice when they get around to shoring up Social Security.
eileen.ambrose@baltsun.com
Copyright © 2008,
The Baltimore Sun
12.Excerpt)
May 5, 2008
States Look to Rein In Private Medicare Plans
By ROBERT PEAR
WASHINGTON — State officials say they will soon ask Congress for more power to regulate the marketing of private Medicare insurance plans to older Americans because they are still receiving complaints of high-pressure sales tactics that have led some beneficiaries to sign up for unsuitable policies.
Of the 44 million Medicare beneficiaries, 25 million are now enrolled in some type of private plan — either a Medicare Advantage plan, which provides a wide range of health services, or a free-standing prescription drug plan, which covers just medicines.
In the draft of a report prepared by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, state officials say they have received large numbers of complaints but, in most cases, cannot provide direct assistance to beneficiaries or hold insurers accountable. In the report, the state officials propose setting common standards for marketing the private plans, which could then be enforced by states that adopt them.
“The current federal regulatory framework does not adequately protect consumers from marketing and sales abuses,” and consumers are often left to fend for themselves in “a bifurcated regulatory system,” the draft report says.
Congress will soon have an opportunity to tighten regulation of private plans, as part of a bill setting Medicare payment rates for doctors and other health care providers. Unless Congress acts, doctors face a 10 percent cut in Medicare fees on July 1.
In the draft report, state officials say that generous federal payments to private Medicare Advantage plans — set by law — have created a “tremendous incentive” for insurers to maximize sales by aggressive marketing.
Medicare pays private plans 13 percent more, on average, than it would spend for the same beneficiaries in the traditional Medicare program. The report says insurers often encourage agents to sell these products by paying larger commissions and bonuses than agents would receive for selling other health insurance products.
“State insurance regulators and consumer groups feel very strongly that these financial incentives have resulted in significant agent misconduct ranging from unsuitable sales to outright fraudulent activity,” the draft report says.
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Statement of Barbara B. Kennelly, President and CEO,
National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare
Testimony before the Subcommittee on Social Security
of the House Committee on Ways and Means
May 6, 2008
Chairman McNulty and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to testify today about the impact of a national employment verification system on the Social Security Administration’s ability to serve retirees, people with disabilities, and workers of all ages. As a former Member of this Committee, I am delighted to appear before you on behalf of the millions of senior citizens who are members and supporters of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.
Mr. Chairman, America’s seniors are very concerned about the negative consequences of several proposals before you today that would assign new immigration-related workloads to an already overburdened Social Security Administration (SSA). These proposals would divert SSA from its central mission of serving its own beneficiaries and would ask it instead to create a national employment verification system, using SSA databases and employees, to confirm the employment status of every American worker. As the President and CEO of an organization that has worked tirelessly to enhance the financial resources of the Social Security Administration, I am deeply troubled by the effect this new, mandatory workload would have on the agency’s ability to continue providing services to its core beneficiaries – the American workers who contribute their Social Security payroll taxes year after year to this program and who have earned a right to collect Social Security benefits in a timely manner.
I cannot say strongly enough what a serious disservice would be done to America’s seniors, people with disabilities, and workers of all ages if Social Security were required to carry the burden of the enormous, costly and unrelated workload imposed by these immigration-related bills. The National Committee was dismayed to learn that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the cost to SSA of the major immigration proposal would be more than $1 billion – nearly 10 percent of the agency’s administrative budget – in just the first year of implementation. Over 10 years, the plan would cost over $9 billion. Even though the authors of these bills have the highest expectations that sufficient appropriations will be provided to cover these costs, recent experience with Medicare Part D leads us to believe that SSA would not be provided with sufficient resources to handle this massive new workload.
As you are well aware, the Social Security Administration is already facing several significant challenges, chief among them a disability claims adjudication crisis. Disability cases are piling up and needy people are waiting years to receive their benefits. While SSA is working hard to slow the growth of these backlogged cases and to reduce waiting times at the initial stages of the disability process, the number of applications continues to increase and pending cases at the initial level remain stubbornly above 500,000. At the hearing level, over 750,000 people are currently awaiting a decision by an administrative law judge. As of February 2008, the average wait for a decision by an adjudicator was over 500 days. Conditions are likely to get worse before they get better. With the Baby Boom generation just moving through its most disability-prone years, SSA will surely be devoting much of its scarce resources to the disability claims process for some time to come.
At the same time that SSA is straining under the increasing workload of disability cases, the agency is coping with increased strains on its current customer services. The disability backlog challenge has diverted precious resources away from other important workloads and threatened the quality of service SSA provides. Already phones calls from people needing assistance from SSA are going unanswered; lines at local Social Security offices are increasing; and, as many of you know, some local offices are being closed. These are all services central to SSA customer service, and they are all suffering from a significant lack of resources.
While facing these demands on current services, the front edge of the Baby Boom generation is just beginning to move into its retirement years. In January, Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, the nation's first Baby Boomer, applied for Social Security retirement benefits. While she made her application through an online procedure which SSA hopes to continue to test and streamline, she will be followed by nearly 80 million additional Boomers who will also expect swift and accurate processing of their retirement claims.
The American people have come to expect a high level of service from their Social Security Administration. SSA has been a model among both public and private institutions in the efficient administration of a very large and vital program. Every month, the Social Security Administration delivers Social Security retirement, survivor and disability benefits on time and in the correct amounts to 50 million people – one in every six Americans. At the same time, the agency collects and records information on the annual earnings of more than 165 million current workers – nearly ninety-six percent of the American workforce. Year-in and year-out, SSA administers the bedrock retirement, life insurance and disability insurance plans of nearly every American. All of this is accomplished at the unmatched administrative cost of less than one percent. This is a remarkable record that millions of Americans – especially America’s seniors – have come to rely upon.
Older Americans aren’t the only ones who have benefited from Social Security’s steadfast focus on paying benefits with speed and accuracy. On October 3, 2001, only three weeks after the horrible events of September 11th, Social Security made its first payments to the survivors of those killed on that day. Today over 850 widowed spouses and almost 2,400 children of people killed in the attacks receive earned Social Security benefits. Similarly, after Hurricane Katrina, the Social Security Administration made a committed effort to seek out Social Security beneficiaries so that their payments could be continued. SSA employees were at evacuation centers and other shelters to make sure that those people who no longer had mailboxes or banks could receive their Social Security benefits on time.
SSA’s administrative budget has been severely underfunded for some time. For many years, the agency has been deprived of the funding needed to keep up with its increased workloads. From fiscal year 2000 to 2007, the President requested over $3 billion less than the Commissioner of Social Security had requested to run the agency, and the Congress appropriated $1 billion less than the President’s request. These reductions were occurring at the same time the agency was being asked to administer portions of the new Medicare prescription drug program and take on the homeland security pilot program. I need not remind you that SSA has also suffered severe reductions in staffing over many decades.
In fiscal year 2008, the funding picture for SSA improved somewhat. For that fiscal year, Congress appropriated $150 million more than the President had requested. SSA has made good use of the money by hiring more Administrative Law Judges, but SSA’s funding concerns continue. While the FY 2009 budget resolutions in both the House and Senate have made room for an additional $240 million for SSA, the appropriations process is not yet complete. Competition for limited resources remains intense, and appropriations for essential services continue to be subjected to threats of a Presidential veto.
Some supporters of the legislation before the Subcommittee have suggested that, if SSA receives additional funding to develop a national employment verification system, the agency’s overall computer systems would be improved. Nothing could be further from reality. As past experience demonstrates, new electronic processes take years to develop, test, and refine. They divert resources and employees away from other pressing workloads. People familiar with SSA’s current efforts to reform the disability process will recognize the many “developing” processes that begin with the letter “E” – eDib and eCAT and many more. I am very concerned that “E-Verify” would turn out to be a much larger, complex and costly project than any of its authors can currently envision. While SSA employees have continued to have a “can do” attitude in the face of many hurdles, they may be unable to overcome this new obstacle placed in their path.
A large portion of the workload and cost produced by this legislation would result from one provision. Under the proposal, in any case where personal or work status information provided by the employer failed to match that in SSA’s databases, a “non-confirmation” notice would be sent out. The employee would be required to correct any inaccurate information within a brief period of time or be terminated by his employer. Thus, in order to keep his job, a legitimate worker would have to contact SSA or the Department of Homeland Security to correct the mismatch. Experts project that this proposal would result in a deluge of phone calls and visits to Social Security field offices around the country. The National Committee is extremely concerned that this new demand on customer services would swamp other crucial SSA activities and severely impair the agency’s ability to provide adequate services to its core beneficiaries.
The National Committee is not taking a position on the underlying goals of any of the immigration bills before the Congress. However, we believe it would be a significant mistake to require SSA to take on the burden of verifying the work status of every American for immigration-related purposes. Given the limited resources that SSA currently has, or is likely to have in the future, to carry out its obligations to America’s seniors and people with disabilities, we believe it would be unwise to encumber the Social Security Administration with these costly and unrelated responsibilities.
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SENIOR JOURNAL
http://www.seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Politics/2008/8-05-07-NewSenateBill.htm
New Senate Bill Aims to Help Senior Citizens, Aging Baby Boomers Stay in Workforce
Retirement trends could create a U.S. labor shortage of 4.8 million workers in 10 years
May 7, 2008 - Although many of today's senior citizens find it is tough to find employment it may get a little easier is a new Senate bill passes. The bi-partisan bill has been introduced in the Senate to prevent projected dramatic declines in the workforce following the retirement of the baby boomers. It will provide incentives and eliminate barriers for older Americans wishing to stay in the workforce longer, and encourage employers to recruit and retain older workers.
The “Incentives for Older Workers Act” (Senate Bill 2933) was introduced in April by Senators Gordon H. Smith (R-OR), Herb Kohl (D-WI), and Kent Conrad (D-ND). Smith is Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging and Kohl is Chairman.
“A colossal demographic shift is on the horizon,” said Senator Smith. “Retiring baby boomers will cause significant gaps in our workforce if we do not incentivize them to work longer. We need to ensure the door stays open for those willing and able to remain an active part of the workforce during their golden years.”
“With the retirement wave upon us, we must encourage employers to adopt policies now to attract and retain older workers,” said Senator Kohl.
“Our commonsense policy creates a win-win situation for both older workers and the companies that employ them.”
“This legislation confronts the changing face of retirement. The divide between working and retirement is no longer the bright line it once was. Many workers stay on the job longer, not just because they have to but also because their employers want them to stay,” Senator Conrad said. “What we offer in the Incentives for Older Workers Act would make sure older employees who want to cut back their work schedules won't lose pension benefits as a result.”
A 2007 Conference Board study reports that current retirement trends could create a U.S. labor shortage of 4.8 million workers in 10 years.
The “Incentives for Older Workers Act” works to reduce this decline by:
● Removing penalties in certain pension plans for workers who phase into retirement by receiving a lower salary while working reduced hours.
● Allowing seniors to earn delayed retirement credits for Social Security purposes for an additional two years until age 72, instead of age 70.
● Reducing the amount of Social Security benefits lost to seniors who claim benefits before reaching normal retirement age and while they continue working.
● Forming a National Resource Center on Aging and the Workforce within the Department of Labor to collect, organize and disseminate older worker information;
● Changing how Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) annuities are calculated by correcting a glitch that results in a disproportionate reduction in benefits for certain employees who phase into retirement by working part-time.
● Requiring states to include older worker representatives on the state and local workforce investment boards and set aside five percent of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) funds to assist older individuals.
● Expanding eligibility of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) to include older workers.
● Clarifying that certain defined benefit pension plans can define normal retirement age under their plans as the earlier of (1) the attainment of a specified age, or (2) attainment of 30 or more years of service.