Statement on Failure of Baucus Medicare Bill in Senate, Howard Bedlin, Vice President of Public Policy and Advocacy, National Council on Aging

The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act includes provisions to address serious, long-standing Medicare problems faced by millions of seniors on fixed incomes struggling every day with rapidly rising Medicare, food, and gasoline costs.

Senators who opposed the Baucus bill argued that the improvements for poor seniors were fiscally irresponsible, yet supported increased payments to physicians. However, the physician payment fix would cost Medicare over five times more than the modest improvements for the nation's most vulnerable seniors ($9.2 billion vs. $1.7 billion over 5 years). In addition, increasing payments to doctors would increase Medicare premiums even more.

NCOA supports fixing the physician payment problem, but the needs of poor seniors should not be ignored. In recent letter to the Senate, 42 diverse national organizations agreed: "Helping vulnerable beneficiaries with income below $15,000 is as, or more important than helping doctors with income over $150,000." http://www.ncoa.org/userfiles/file/MedicareLowIncomeSenateLetter.pdf

Senators who opposed helping poor seniors are out of touch with their constituents' view. A recent Harris poll found that 89 percent of Americans (80 percent of Republicans) believe that improving programs to protect poor seniors against rising Medicare costs should be a top priority for Congress this year. http://www.ncoa.org/userfiles/file/NCOAMedicareTopline.pdf

NCOA opposes the Medicare proposal offered by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), which fails to include the provisions in the Baucus bill that would do the most to help seniors in greatest need -- those with incomes below $15,000. We urge Senate leaders to retain the modest yet critical improvements for America's most vulnerable seniors as the Medicare package works it way through the negotiation process.

Founded in 1950, the National Council on Aging (NCOA) has a mission to improve the lives of older Americans. A non-profit organization with 3,700 members, we also have a national network of some 14,000 organizations and leaders that help us in our work. NCOA members include senior centers, area agencies on aging, adult day service centers, faith-based service organizations, senior housing facilities, employment services, consumer groups and leaders from academia, business and labor. Our programs help older people remain healthy and independent, find jobs, increase access to benefits programs, and discover meaningful ways to continue contributing to society.

SOURCE National Council on Aging

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