Eleanor’s Hope salutes two more amazing leaders featured in Women to Watch: @RepDuckworth and @RepCheri.
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#politics #health care #women's rights #tammy duckworth #cheri bustos #p2 #social security #medicare #retirement #retirement crisis #retirees #seniorsMore you might like
Congresswoman Duckworth Speaks at National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare Rally
Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth spoke at a National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare Rally in Des Plaines, Illinois. Duckworth has made preserving the guaranteed benefits of Social Security and Medicare a top priority as a member of Congress. “We cannot balance the budget by abandoning our commitments to senior citizens and working Americans,” said Duckworth. “We need to focus on how we can cut the $1 billion in Medicare fraud each week, excessive subsidies for oil and gas companies and sizeable tax breaks for large corporations.”
Thank you to Representative Tammy Duckworth for standing up for Social Security and Medicare!
This year marks the 50th anniversaries of Medicare and Medicaid and the 80th anniversary of Social Security. Fifty-seven percent of people on Medicare, 70 percent of adults on Medicaid and 56 percent of Social Security recipients (66 percent of those over 85) are women. Together, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid provide critical health and financial security.
via Huffington Post.
Related Reading:
- Women and Social Security.
- While Social Security is a program that is vitally important to all Americans, it is especially important to the financial security of women. There are a number of reasons why this is so. First of all, women live longer than men.
- Medicare and Women.
- Medicare, combined with Social Security, has improved the economic status of older Americans and younger people with disabilities. Prior to Medicare, one - half of older Americans were uninsured and one - third were living in poverty. Today, with access to health care coverage, the poverty rate for seniors is nine percent.
- Women and the Retirement Savings Gap.
- Older women have significantly lower retirement benefits than men.
I was thrilled to join Congressman Paul Tonko, Max Richtman, President of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, Nashua Community College President Lucille Jordan, and other friends and colleagues today in launching Eleanor’s Hope in New Hampshire. This initiative, led by the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, is central to building awareness and support for women’s economic security in retirement. via Rep. Annie Kuster.
ICYMI.
We recently had a briefing on the Hill and several Members of Congress attended to voice their support for Social Security and Medicare. Some include: Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, Congresswoman Elect Tammy Duckworth, and Congressman Xavier Becerra.
That’s a wrap!
We had a great petition delivery event at Frisbie Senior Center in Des Plaines, Illinois. Representative’s Jan Schakowsky, Bill Foster, and Tammy Duckworth was present to say a few words of support for preserving Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Nope, I’m not kidding. We’ve seen a sharp slowdown in health care costs across the board over the last seven years. This has led the Congressional Budget Office to lower its deficit projections. In fact, the reductions in projected deficits due to this slowdown has been sharper than the reductions that we might have seen as a result of almost any politically plausible cut in benefits. But Robert Samuelson is not happy. He tells readers:
“No one truly grasps why Medicare spending has slowed so abruptly. A detailed CBO study threw cold water on many plausible explanations. What we don’t understand could easily reverse.”
These are significant sums, Kaufman says. Still, when he hears Republican lawmakers denounce Medicare and propose reducing benefits, he becomes livid and cites a statistic he saw on the website of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. Already, he reports, 45 percent of retirees spend more than one-third of their Social Security benefits on health care, from co-pays for care, to premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket fees for services – such as going to the eye doctor, dentist or audiologist – that are not provided. “We should be on the offensive, pushing for something better,” he says. “What we need is a single payer or socialized health care system.”
via Truth-Out.
Related Reading:
New Poll Shows Majorities Do Not Support GOP Proposals for Social Security and Medicare.
- In 2013, Medicare beneficiaries’ average out-of-pocket health care spending was 41 percent of average per capita Social Security income; the share increased with age and was higher for women than men, especially among people ages 85 and over.
- Medicare beneficiaries’ average out-of-pocket health care spending is projected to rise as a share of average per capita Social Security income, from 41 percent in 2013 to 50 percent in 2030.
Related Reading:
We are asking Congress to BOOST Social Security benefits for all working Americans.
If you agree, please sign our petition.
Harwood: Retirement age?
Stivers: We need to come together. I think we need to say, “You give a little, we give a little,” and figure out how to sustain Medicare and Social Security into the future. The other thing on Medicare is we have to bend the cost curve on health care.
via CNBC.
Related Reading:
We have been keeping track of Members of Congress’ statements on wanting to cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and health care in 2018.
You can find the whole project by clicking here.
Seniors went to Capitol Hill earlier this month to tell Congress why their current #SocialSecurity benefits are inadequate. Boost Social Security Now! https://www.ncpssm.org/campaigns/boost-social-security-now/ @RepJohnLarson