Medicare is in Dire Danger --  Fight Back!

Tell Pelosi & Feinstein, Hands Off Medicare:
Protect, Improve, and Expand it to Everyone!
Friday, February 13, Meet 10 AM at the Federal Bldg, Missioin & 7th St.
(Cards Presented to Representatives at CARA meeting Feb 12)

Medicare will be 50 years old this July 30. Republicans in the US House of Representatives have threatened Medicare for years.  Now they also control the Senate, and the Republican’s first priority is massive long-term cuts and restructuring for Medicare.  Many Democrats are willing to help them.  We must stop them.

Two actions are underway: (1) between now and July, a card campaign, and (2) on or about July30, rallies around Medicare's 50th Birthday.

(1) The card campaign: In California, a huge card campaign is underway, where Medicare defenders will present legislators with thousands of cards signed by constituents demanding (1) no cuts to Medicare, (2) improve Medicare's benefits, and (3) expand Medicare to cover everyone, which will improve Medicare's finances by having younger, healthier people paying into it, and will provide equal, comprehensive and affordable healthcare for everyone.   

The cards can either be downloaded from the CARA website  and printing them yourself on card stock, or you could get cards by calling 510-663-4086.
Each page contains four nearly identical cards for people to sign, for President Obama, Senators Feinstein and Boxer, and a local Congressman.  When you go to friends, organizations, work, churches etc and have people sign the cards, be sure to get the signed cards back as a single page and return them to CARA!  (Call the above number if you need help getting them back.)  CARA will cut up the single sheets, and has plans to present the cards to each Senator and Congressperson during the mid-February Congressional Recess and later in the Summer.  The San Francisco event will be Friday, the 13th of February.  Stay tuned for more details.

(2) Medicare Birthday Events:  Many California rallies and demonstrations are planned around Medicare's 50th Birthday on or near July 30, 2015.   These rallies are part of a nationwide effort taking place in at least 20 cities across the US. The impetus is clear: Now more than ever, not only do we need to stand up and protect Medicare — we also need to be on the offensive in fighting to improve and expand Medicare so that every person will be covered with a single standard of comprehensive, accessible care, and Medicare's finances will be assured.

There is a national website Medicare Turns 50, where you can see all the Medicare Birthday events and more information, hosted by Donna Smith, of SICKO fame.  For further information on Medicare Birthday events, you can email Donna at   smith4025@comcast.net or call her at 720-256-8373.

What Cuts Are Being Proposed For Medicare?

For years, the top priority of Republicans and some Democrats has been to make major cuts to Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid.  Now that the Republicans control both the House and the Senate, the new Congress will be considering long-term massive cuts and restructuring to the Medicare program, beginning in early 2015.  Based on the Ryan 2015 House of Representatives budget, they plan to:

(1)  Raise the eligibility age from 65 to 67, leaving 65- and 66-year olds trying to buy private insurance at exorbitant rates, leaving Medicare with an even older, sicker, and more expensive patient base, and adding huge expenses to employer and union retiree health plans.

(2)  Raise the number of “high earners” having higher Medicare premiums from 5% to 25% of Medicare recipients, opening the door  to also reducing benefits for higher-income recipients, turning Medicare into a politically-vulnerable welfare program.

(3)  Worst of all, completely restructure Medicare from today's plan, which guarantees as much  health care as we need, into a plan where each person gets "premium assistance," a set amount of money to buy either private insurance or Medicare.  Here's what would happen:

Private insurance plans, with freedom to restrict choice of doctors and tailor benefits to appeal to healthier people, would charge lower premiums than Medicare.

Importantly, the amount of premium assistance Medicare recipients would receive would be set mid-way between the lower premiums of private insurance plans and the higher premiums of Medicare.

This means sicker patients, who need Medicare's wide choice of doctors,  would have to pay part of Medicare's higher premium themselves, and healthier patients would leave Medicare for private plans' cheaper premiums. Having sicker patients would raise Medicare's premiums even more.  Over time, Medicare would go into a death spiral and collapse, with fewer and fewer patients who are sicker and sicker, and being charged higher and higher premiums.

Premium assistance would let legislators limit the amount of Federal money spent per Medicare recipient.   Putting caps on recipients' benefits then opens the door to these legislators' ultimate goal: being able to control and cut the global Medicare budget, just as tens of millions of us are aging into Medicare.