Author Archives for Herb Weiss

Congressional Contenders Give Tips to Keep Social Security and Medicare Afloat

Published June 1, 2012, Pawtucket Times

         When the creation of Social Security was debated by Congress in the 1930’s, this newly legislation was referred to as ‘socialism’ one of the many charges leveled against the program.  In 1935 this program became law.

          Over the program’s 77 years of existence, critics have continued to take political “pop at Social Security, now the nation’s largest domestic program.  Some have even charged that the program discriminated against the poor and middle class by redistributing wealth to the wealthy.  Others have even claimed that beneficiaries were getting the short end of the stick by receiving a low rate of return from their investment when compared to what they might have gotten through private retirement accounts. Over the last decade, some have even called Social Security a legalized Ponzi scheme where the money collected from payroll taxes of young workers is used to pay retirement benefits of older works who retire and file to collect Social Security, with the younger generation always picking up the tab for those ahead of them.    

          Even with the criticism leveled at the nation’s Social Security Program, aging baby boomers who are now reaching the eligible retirement age of 65 at a rate of 10,000 a day, and many of the 56 million beneficiaries receiving their monthly Social Security check, will tell you that their monthly check might mean the difference between their ability to pay their bills or sliding into poverty.\

An Ailing Social Security Programs

          With Congress and Presidential elections looming, the Social Security Trustees’ annual report was released on April 23, 2012.  The 242 page report detailed the fragile financial health of the Medicare and Social Security Trust Fund, this was not the news politicians wanted to hear as the November elections approach.  

         The nation’s media outlets churned out thousands of articles, ultimately picked up by television and cable news, reporting that the combined assets of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, and Disability Trust will be exhausted in 2033, three years sooner than projected last year. Meanwhile, the Program’s Disability Trust Fund will be exhausted in 2016, two years earlier than last year’s estimate.  

        The Trustee’s 2012 Report also predicted that the Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance Trust Funds) would be exhausted by 2024, forcing the program to only cover about 87 percent of anticipated Part A Medicare expenses.    

         With the release of the 2012 Social Security Trustee Report, press releases were being generated by Administration officials and Congressional Democrats and Republicans to quickly score their political points.

          Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, one of the seven Social Security Trustees, called the recently released assessment of America’s most popular benefit program “somewhat more pessimistic than last year’s report,” warning of “the importance of building a consensus on reforms that will put these programs on a sounder financial footing.” 

         Another Social Security Trustee, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, noted that President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, had “added another 8 years to the life of Medicare”. She estimated that these reforms would save the Medicare program more than $200 billion by 2016 while lowering costs for those who have traditional Medicare by nearly $60 billion.             

          In a press release, Republican Congressman John Fleming, a medical doctor who is a member of the GOP Doctors Caucus, countered the HHS Secretary’s assessment of the effectiveness of President Obama’s health care law.  “The idea that Obamacare will save Medicare would be laughable if the health care of millions of seniors was not at stake,” he said, alleging that the President used Medicare savings to foot some of the bill for Obamacare. 

 Keeping Social Security and Medicare Solvent      

         With the backdrop of a Congressional election that can either tilt the Senate to the Republicans or continue that party’s rule of the House, orRhode Islandpolitical candidates in Congressional District 1 gear up for a political fight.   Who can go to inside the Beltway to fix an Ailing Social Security System?

       When asked to comment on the recently released 2012 Social Security Trustee’s Report, Congressman David Cicilline, representingRhode Island’s Congressional District 1 that covers northern and easternRhode Island, acknowledges the accuracy of the report’s projection that full benefits can be paid to Social Security recipients for the next two decades.  However, “we have work to do to make sure that it, along with Medicare, will be their for all future generations of Americans,” he says.

         According to the Democratic Congressman, recent studies suggest that there is no need to fundamentally revamp these programs to strengthen them and ensure their sustainability.  “Modest changes, such as lifting or eliminating the $110,100 wage cap, which would affect only the top 6% wealthiest wage earners, would be enough to keep Social Security solvent for decades to come”, he says, stressing that he has already cosponsored legislation to accomplish just that.

          Working with the other side of the aisle, Congressman Cicilline has joined his GOP colleagues to support legislation that would allow the federal government to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies on behalf of Medicare helping to lower the cost of prescription drugs for seniors. 

           As the Congressional elections draw near, Congressman Cicilline warns that some of the Tea-Party backed Republicans in Congress are proposing radical plans that would end the Medicare guarantee, privatize Social Security, or raise the retirement age. “Instead of playing politics with these important programs, we need to commit to protect and strengthen both Social Security and Medicare now and for all future generations,” he says.

            Anthony Gemma, Democratic challenger to Congressman Cicilline, has read the 2012 Social Security Trustees’ Report, too. He gives his prescription for fixing the impending insolvency in Social Security and Medicare.  “The only reasonable way to reverse this trend is to drive more money into the Trust Fund,” he tells the Pawtucket Times. 

          Gemma, who ran for this Congressional seat in 2010, had initially called for the privatization of Social Security but changed his mind after researching the issue.  Today, he calls for the creation of more jobs to fixAmerica’s ailing Social Security Program and Medicare to keep those programs solvent.  He boasts that he is the only candidate for the Congressional District 1 seat that has a plan to create jobs — one that presumes and will succeed in spite of gridlock in Congress. “Its general model is applicable to all 50 states,” he says, predicting the creation of 10,000 new jobs in theOceanStatein five years.  “New jobs equal new cash flow into the Trust Fund,” he says.

            Like Congressman Cicilline, Gemma also calls for raising the $110,100 wage cap. “to increase funding of the Trust Fund, we must raise this cap,” he says.

         “Social Security was created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the centerpiece of his New Deal.  Then as now, Social Security is a reflection of Democratic Party values,” adds Gemma. In his last race for Congress in 2010, Gemma claims he was the only candidate who put forth a plan to increase COLAs for Social Security recipients.  “As a member of Congress, I shall take a back seat to no one as a defender of Social Security – not just for current recipients, but also for their children and grandchildren, and for theirs.”

             On his website, Republican challenger and political newcomer Brendan Doherty  states he will commit his congressional vote to opposing any attempts to privatize Social Security or Medicare, that he will work in a bipartisan fashion to protect these programs. He will consider the recommendations set forth in theSimpson-Bowles Commission on Fiscal Responsibility, and believes that the key to fixing Medicare is addressing health care reform in a way that results in lower costs to the overall health care system.

          Ensuring the longevity of Social Security and Medicare, Doherty pledges he will root out the inefficiency, waste, and fraud in the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income Programs (SSDI).  With limited checks and balances for theses programs, some “may game the system at the expense of those who are truly in need,” he says. 

           As to ensuring the survival of Medicare, Doherty looks to using global health care reform to contain spiraling health care costs and rooting out Medicare fraud by the sharing of information, stiffer sentences, and increasing the number of investigators to find and prosecute those financially abusing the program.

          Doherty has put one fix on the table not offered by either of his Democratic challengers. On March 9, 2012, on Channel 12 Newsmakers, the Republican candidate came out in support of Social Security reform and said he favored establishing a “cut-off point” for future beneficiaries. “Let’s come up with a cut-off point, like 1960 or 1959,” he said. “Those people would only… It would take them another couple of weeks to get that benefit and then it’s just graduated. So it would be a few weeks, by birth date. So, when you say ‘10 years out,’ it could affect people 10 years out.”

        Doherty’s leaning to embrace Simpson-Bowles Commission-like recommendations to keep Social Security a float would be opposed by Democrats including groups like Strengthen Social Security a coalition of 300 state-level and national groups, representing unions, health care and senior groups.  The Washington-based coalition charges that this plan would “end Social Security as we know it” by reducing COLAs, raising the retirement age to 69 and earliest eligibility to 64, and even ending the link between benefits and earnings.

 Wait and See…

             Fixing Social Security is a high priority for aging baby boomers and seniors and will be a key domestic issue to be discussed by Congressional candidates looking for votes to put them into office inWashington,DCnext November.   According to an AARP survey, taken in January 2012, of respondents age 50 and over, Social Security and Medicare ranked three out of 13 issues, with job growth and rising health care costs being number one and two respectively.

          AARP Rhode Island, the Ocean State’s Rhode Island’s largest aging advocacy group, is gearing up to gather grassroots feedback from “Outside the Beltway” to bring to Congress as the lawmakers begin their debates as to how to bolster the solvency of Social Security.  

             “’You’ve Earned a Say’ is giving the American people a strong and visible voice in the Social Security and Medicare discussion,” says AARP Rhode Island State Director Kathleen S. Connell. “We are reaching out to our 130,000Rhode Islandmembers and nationally to nearly 40 million members. In June, we will advance the discussion by giving everyone access to clear, non-partisan explanations of all the options that are on the table.

             “AARP is exercising its power to move this critical discussion from behind closed doors in Washingtonout into mainstream America,” Connell added. “People who have paid into Social Security represent a large part of the population. They and those who are working and paying into the fund today deserve – indeed, have earned – a say in how we chart the future.”  

            As noted, while both Democratic and Republican candidates in the upcoming Congressional District 1 campaign seek common solutions to strengthening Social Security and Medicare, there are philosophical differences.  When the dust settles, whoever wins represents our interest in the upcoming, historic debates.  Partisan bickering may well be silenced by educated voters, those who take the time to understand the issues and demand both the Democratic and Republican Parties work together on their behalf.  It is as simple as that…

           Herb Weiss is a Pawtucket-based freelance writer who covers aging, health care and medical care issues.  His Commentaries appear in two Rhode Island Daily’s The Pawtucket Times and the Woonsocket Call.

The Best of…AARP Report Sheds Light on the Needs of Older Disabled Persons

Published May 26, 2012, Pawtucket Times   

           AARP, a Washington, DC-based aging advocacy group, generates a new report to provide direction to the nation’s policy makers as to how to keep America’s age 50 and over disabled population independent and in  control of their daily lives. 

           According to the latest AARP study, lack of affordable services, a fragmented delivery system and the caregiver’s limited knowledge of the delivery system, are barriers that keep age 50 and over Americans with disabilities from living active and independent lives. 

           The AARP report, “Beyond 50 2003: A Report to the Nation on Independent Living and Disability,” incorporates data obtained from the first ever national survey of Americans age 50+ with disabilities, documenting the gap between what they say, need, and what is available to them. 

           “Long-term independence for persons with disabilities is an increasingly achievable social goal, AARP Policy and Strategy Director John Rother says in a written statement released with this report.  “But it will require time and the collective creativity of the public and private sectors,” he added. 

           “Meanwhile, even minor changes can lead – at least in the short-term – to important life-style improvements for those with disabilities today,“ Rother said.  On the other hand, long-term improvements will require fundamental policy changes.

           “As the influx of Boomers enters their 50’s and 60’s, they will bring their attitudes of competitive consumerism to health care delivery, and will demand greater choice and control of available services,” explained Rother.   “The good news is that there is time to prepare for those demands, he said.  “Along with improvements in medicine and health, we are seeing some declines in disability.  New technologies are also extending Americans’ years of independence.”

           According to the AARP report, 46 percent of the over 50 respondents with disabilities (including nearly 60 percent of those between the ages of 50 and 64) believe that having more control over decisions about services and the help they need would bring a major improvement in the quality of their lives.   However, they report that their greatest fear is loss of independence and mobility.

           The AARP report, the third in a series of comprehensive studies on the status of Americans over age 50, found that 51percent of older persons with disabilities are managing independently; 49 percent are not receiving any regular help with daily activities, such as cooking, bathing and shopping.  More than half of those with disabilities (53 percent) tell researchers that they were unable to do something they needed or wanted to do in the past month – quite often basic tasks such as household chores or exercise.

           Most (88 percent) of the assistance the older disabled persons reported receiving is volunteer assistance from family or other informal caregivers.  Sixty one percent strongly prefer this type of assistance with everyday tasks, while only one out of three uses any community-based service. 

            The AARP report found that independence, for older disabled persons, can be easily enhanced by using assistive equipment (such as walkers and wheelchairs) and new technologies that are now more widely available.  However, caregiver assistance with daily activities will take more time and resources.   The researchers estimate that as many as three million persons over age 50 with disabilities (almost 25 percent) need more assistance than they receive now with daily activities. 

           Furthermore, the report said that persons 50 and older with disabilities place inadequate health insurance on the top of their list of issues that are not being adequately addressed. Specifically, Medicare coverage still does not pay for prescription drugs and assistive equipment is not covered by some health insurance.

           Adds Rhode Island AARP Director Kathleen Connell, many of the issues addressed in the newly released AARP report are not just about today’s persons with disabilities, but about all of us, who if we live long lives (and longevity is increasing) are likely to face disability.

           “This is about long-term independence and not long term care, which refers not just to what we need during the most vulnerable and frailest stages of our disability, as ‘long term care’ suggests, but to what we want during what, in most cases, is a longer, more functional stage of disability,” Connell tells All About Seniors.

           While minor fixes would make a difference, other improvements will require longer-term fundamental changes and more public dollars.  Based on the “Beyond 50” findings, AARP has outlined a number of policy changes for making critical long-term improvements:

  • Older persons with disabilities must be insured against the high costs of accessing long-term supportive services.  Ways must be found to share the risk of these unpredictable costs more widely among public and private sources. 
  • Public funding for long-term supportive services needs to be reoriented toward more options for home and community-based care. The nation also must provide more options for “consumer-direction” in publicly funded programs.
  •  Communities need to be made more physically accessible for more people with disabilities.
  •  Information and services need to be more navigable for those who are trying to learn more about available long-term services and whether or not they are eligible.
  •  America’s health care system must adjust its focus to enhance functioning and health-related quality of life, not just provide acute and curative care.

             The “Beyond 50” report found that people with disabilities 50 and older give their community poor grades (between C+ and B- in their efforts of making it possible for them to live independently. In many communities, the researchers say, that public transportation is oftentimes rated poorly.

          The researchers say that the troubling findings reveal that the nation is ill-prepared to meet the calls of age 50 and over persons with disabilities for more control and independence in the lives.    

           AARP’s report is a wake up call for state and national policy makers who will be charged with making sound policy decisions for a grayingAmericawith disabilities.  If policy makers heed the recommendations of AARP’s report, systemic changes may well give dignity to millions of older persons with disabilities who only want to remain independent and control of their daily lives.  Just like the rest of us.

           Herb Weiss is a Pawtucket-based writer covering aging, health care and medical issues.  The article was published in May 2003 in the Pawtucket Times.  His articles also appear in state and national publications. He can be reached at hweissri@aol.com.

Sleep Apnea is Hazardous to Your Health and Well Being

Published May 25, 2012, Pawtucket Times

In 2003, Rehoboth resident Art Warner got strong messages from his surrounding environment about his health, both during the day and at night.

At that time Warner discovered he had great difficulty staying awake at his job, oftentimes falling asleep right at his desk.  Coupled with his sleepiness during work hours and his wife’s constant elbowing in the middle of the night to wake him up because of his loud snoring, a very tired Warner became extremely frustrated.  His worried wife would regularly watch as he stopped breathing during his sleep as he snored.  The overweight, middle aged man was finally forced to recognize the he had a health condition that could not be ignored.

After an examination from Warner’s primary care physician, he signed him up for a sleep lab study, which surprisingly revealed to the patient “sleep apnea.”  This serious sleep disorder caused hundreds of short stops of breathing each night, which kept Warner, a public relations executive, from getting a good night’s sleep..

Ultimately, it was a medical treatment prescribed after the sleep lab study that would finally allow Warner to get the sleep he needed and stop his snoring. No longer falling asleep at his desk, or getting sleepy behind the wheel while driving his car, instead   a good night’s quality sleep has resulted in Warner living “a totally different life,” because he feels rested.. With this newly-found lifestyle, he has more energy to workout at the gym, and even stay up past midnight.

Very Observable Symptoms

According to the Sleep Apnea Association, 12 million Americans [including Warner] have sleep apnea, a common medical chronic condition in which the person has one or more pauses in breathing, or shallow breathing when asleep   The Washington, D.C-based group estimates that another ten million people may remain undiagnosed.

Dr. Michael A. Pomerantz, a pulmonary specialist who reads sleep lab studies for Rhode Island-based Coastal Medical, reports that untreated sleep apnea is associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, obesity, diabetes, in addition to traffic accidents caused by falling asleep at the wheel. “Those are all pretty good reasons to be evaluated,” he says.

Snoring, night time awakening and day time sleepiness are three prominent symptoms of having sleep apnea, adds Pomerantz.  Frequently, a bed partner may observe heavy snoring or long pauses (lasting at least 10 seconds) in breathing during their companion’s sleep, causing the sleeper to wake up periodically throughout the night, states Pomerantz.

According to the medical literature, the typical sleep apnea male patient is over age 40, obese, and familial.  Smoking and alcohol also increase the risk of this medical condition.  Dr. Pomerantz, who has practiced his medical specialty for over two decades, adds that 50 percent of sleep apnea patients also complain of early morning headaches.

Diagnosing and Effectively Treating Sleep Apnea

        If sleep apnea is suspected, an over night visit at a sleep lab is considered to be the best diagnostic test to this serious medical condition, notes Dr. Pomerantz, who has  successfully completed his sleep board certification .  Among other things, the patient is hooked up to equipment by wires which monitor the level of sleep, in addition to the airflow to determine if the sleeper is breathing or not, the deepness of sleep, oxygen levels, chest wall movement, and pulse rate, he says.

For treating milder cases of sleep apnea, Dr. Pomerantz recommends simple ‘life style’ changes and treatments such as shedding weight, avoiding alcohol, sleeping on your side or abdomen, or keeping nasal passages open at night by using prescribed medications.  A dental device can also move a jaw forward to make breathing easier.

In moderate to severe cases, a C-PAP, or “continuous positive airway pressure” machine can deliver an increased air pressure through a mask covering the nose or mouth.  The air pressure generated by this machine is somewhat greater than that of the surrounding air, just enough to keep the person’s upper airway passages open, preventing the apnea and snoring.

“Compliance with sleep apnea is not always great,” Pomerantz, says, because patients may feel discomfort with the C-PAP machines. “For some patient it’s only a matter of getting use to it and finding a more comfortable mask,” he says, because their masks may feel overly confining or obstructive.

New Studies Link Sleep Apnea to Cancer

In addition to those  research studies associating  sleep apnea with increased risks of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, depression and early death, the New York Times recently reported that two new research studies presented at the American Thoracic Society conference this week have discovered that this chronic condition  has been linked to an increased risk of cancer in humans.

According to the paper, in one study Spanish researchers followed thousands of patients at sleep clinics, finding that those patients with the most severe forms of sleep apnea had a 65 percent greater risk of developing cancer of any kind.  Meanwhile, lead researcher Dr. Javier Nieto, chair of the Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, says that his study of 1,500 government workers studied over 22 years showed nearly five times higher incidence of cancer deaths in patients with severe sleep apnea to those without the disorder, a result that echoes previous findings in animal studies.

A Personal Note…

Clearly research studies show that not being treated for sleep apnea or using your C-PAP machine, if diagnosed with this chronic disorder, is hazardous to your health and well-being…

As one afflicted with sleep apnea, this writer has experienced it all – from “denial” about the severity of my snoring to finally being sent by my partner to the couch for my very loud snoring that shook the walls of our house. Co-workers teased me about  falling asleep at noon time meetings or towards the end of my workday. Even with these severe symptoms, I denied having this medical problem for years until the urging of a  friend who had a severe case of sleep apnea nudged me to “get it checked out” .  With my ultimate diagnosis and finally the treatment with a C-PAP machine, my snoring has virtually ceased, and I now wake up refreshed and well-rested.  One of my few regrets in life was losing years of “deep” sleep because I chose not to see my physician to address my sleep apnea.

For more information about sleep apnea, visit the American Sleep Apnea Association’s website, www.sleepapnea.org. If you have sleep apnea symptoms, visit your physician.

Herb Weiss is a Pawtucket-based freelance writer covering medical, healthcare and aging issues.  His Commentaries are published in two Rhode Island Daily’s The Pawtucket Times and Woonsocket Call.