Did you miss Your Morning Read today?
Sign up now – for free – and receive up to date information on the news each day.
See more posts like this on Tumblr
#politics #health care #donald trump #budget #trump #trumpcare #republicans #democrats #social security #SSDI #medicare #healthcare #older americans #elderly #p2More you might like
President Trump released an FY 2019 budget today proposing deep spending reductions for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), and myriad other federal programs that help older Americans, the poor, and people with disabilities.
Here are some of the highlights (or lowlights) of the President’s proposed FY 2019 budget that impact society’s most vulnerable:
- Some $500 billion in Medicare spending reductions over ten years, most of which would affect providers and suppliers, but could potentially impact beneficiaries, too.
- $1.4 trillion in cuts to Medicaid (which covers long-term care for millions of seniors) through restructuring the program.
- Some $700 billion in spending reductions from “repealing and replacing Obamacare.”
- $64 million in cuts to Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).
- Reduces the Social Security Administration’s request for administrative funding by $90 million from FY 2017 levels, which would further exacerbate SSA’s customer service issues.
- Defunds the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps low income seniors pay their heating bills.
Read more about President Trump’s
budget by clicking here.
via twitter.
Related Reading:
Trump 2019 Budget Shortchanges Seniors, Poor, Disabled.
- President Trump released an FY 2019 budget today proposing deep spending reductions for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), and myriad other federal programs that help older Americans, the poor, and people with disabilities.
Did you miss Behind the Headlines this week?
We discussed:
- President Trump’s budget and it’s impact on seniors, Social Security Disability Insurance, and Medicaid.
- Medicare Advantage and it’s troubles in Florida.
- Mick Mulvaney and his attacks on SSDI.
You can watch it here.
We roundly reject Trump’s 2019 budget. After signing off on tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations, the president proposes to cut Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security Disability Insurance – and myriad other programs that help older Americans.
Read more from our response by clicking here.
May is Older Americans Month, but the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans are putting a serious damper on the celebration. Yes, candidate Trump promised not to touch Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
But his administration has been actively undermining those pledges. Budget Director Mick Mulvaney — who once called Social Security a Ponzi scheme — questioned the legitimacy of Social Security Disability Insurance — and wouldn’t promise a Presidential veto of legislation to privatize Medicare (a pet project of House Speaker Paul Ryan).
President Trump champions the GOP’s American Health Care Act, which guts
Medicaid, undermines the solvency of Medicare, and allows insurers to
charge older Americans up to five times as much as people in their 20s.
More on this issue here via The Hill.
President Trump’s budget hurts seniors. From cuts to Social Security and Medicare to vital services, his 2020 budget will devastate older Americans.
Read more about it by clicking here.
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.
Mulvaney, who supports Social Security and Medicare reforms, told CNBC ‘we’re working on’ persuading Trump to embrace entitlement reform, including changes to Social Security Disability Insurance.
The Democratic majority taking power in the U.S. House this week is cause for cautious optimism among older Americans. The incoming majority can function as a firewall against harmful cuts to Social Security and Medicare, which fiscal hawks have been threatening. But our allies in the House can also do more. The champions of Social Security and Medicare elected in November have an opportunity to expand both programs for the benefit of tens of millions of older Americans.
This can be achieved by working across the aisle to enact legislation that helps, rather than hurts, seniors. Committee oversight in the new Congress will also be crucial. Advocates for seniors’ financial and health security will seize the gavel in key House committees, including House Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor. They will be able to highlight legislation to boost Social Security and Medicare — and to hold the Trump administration’s feet to the fire where these programs are concerned.
Read more from this op-ed by clicking here.
- 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.
