Will Ask Members Tough Questions About Plans to Raise the Medicare Eligibility Age and End Guaranteed Health Benefits
Washington, DC – This week, as Senators and Members of Congress return to their home districts, members of the Alliance for Retired Americans are using a variety of tactics to tell their elected representatives that they DO NOT support taking health care from millions of Americans.
Alliance retirees will hold small group meetings with 21 more elected officials this week, bringing to more than 100 the number held since December. They are leading or co-sponsoring events happening in ten cities on Saturday, February 25 and joining dozens of others.
North Carolina Alliance members at the office of Sen. Richard Burr
The events are in response to House Speaker Paul Ryan saying recently that legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — as well as cut Medicare and Medicaid — will be introduced as soon as Congress returns to Washington next week.
“No one should have to choose between paying for insurance or medicine and paying for groceries or keeping a roof over their head,” said Richard Fiesta, Executive Director of the Alliance. “We won’t stand by quietly and let the Republican leadership cut Medicaid, dismantle Medicare and replace it with a voucher system and repeal the ACA without a replacement plan that provides affordable coverage for all.”
Alliance members are sharing their health care stories and demanding answers to these questions:
• Speaker Ryan is planning to include Medicare changes – including premium support, which will end Medicare’s guaranteed benefits — in his ACA repeal and replace bill. Where do you stand on guaranteed benefits?
• Do you support raising the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67? If so, how are you going to ensure that people younger than 67 can get affordable coverage that provides the same benefits as they would have had under Medicare?
• Millions of seniors rely on Medicaid to pay for nursing home care. Do you support cutting Medicaid funding to states? What will happen to older Americans who need long-term care at home or in a nursing home?
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Press Coverage:
Alliance members in Southern Illinois say “Hands Off Obamacare”
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