Tag Archives for Medicaid

GOP Vice Presidential Candidate Shifts Debate on Medicare, Medicaid

August 17, 2012 

            With election day just a little over three month away the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, got temporarily knocked off message with his selection of Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wisconsin) as his vice presidential running mate.   Before his pick, Romney went after the sitting Democratic President with charges that he failed to bring the nation out of the greatest economic crisis since the great Depression.  President had not brought employment to the millions of America’s unemployed.

            With Ryan on board the debate now has shifted to how his Budget plan (passed twice in the Republican controlled House) would reconfigure the 77 year old Social Security program along with Medicare and Medicaid.  Democrats expressed glee with Obama’s economic performance now being taken off the front page of nation’s

             Newspapers to focus on Medicare and Medicaid.  GOP strategists are working hard to figure out ways to bring a calm to swing states, like Florida, with a large number of voter baby boomers and senior, who vote.

            Democratic critics are zeroing in on Ryan’s Medicare plan, one that would eliminate the current system where every beneficiary would get the same set of benefits, paid by collected taxes, to one that would give each person a fixed amount of money.

             Ryan’s plan would allow those age 54 or younger who retire to be given the government payment to be used to either purchase insurance from the private sector from an approved list or from a government-run program similar to Medicare. People would pay more out-of-pocket if they wanted to purchase a more comprehensive health plan.  The federal government would regulate the participating private insurance industry, also providing more financial assistance to poor and sick.  The program’s eligibility age would increase from 65 to 67 by 2034.

             Finally, Ryan would put the nation’s Medicaid program, that provides health care to the poor and disabled, on the chopping block.  Under Ryan’s plan, funding would be cut by a third and the remaining federal funds would be funneled to the states as a block grant to be used at the state’s discretion.

 Attack Internet Video Highlights GOP Proposed Medicare Cuts

             The Obama campaign moved swiftly to capitalize on the uproar over Ryan’s controversial budget plan of fixing Medicare and Medicaid.  At the beginning of this week the campaign released a new Internet video accusing GOP’s Romney and Ryan of seeking to destroy the nation’s Medicare and Medicaid programs.

             This recently released campaign video, entitled “What do Floridians think about the Romney-Ryan plan to end Medicare as we know it,” ties Romney firmly to his vice president’s prescription of reforming two of the nation’s domestic policy programs, a plan that has recently become a lightening rod, attracting political controversy.  

            To date over 76,479 viewers have watched the Obama campaign video on YouTube, attack the GOP Presidential contender and his running mate. Throughout the one :minute and 42 second video, five older Floridian residents expressed their concerns about the Romny/Ryan’s politically-charged proposal to make draconian cuts to Medicare.

           “It doesn’t make sense to cut Medicare,” says one older woman, who then says, “If we cut it now, what’s going to happen to our middle class?”  Another woman chimes in, “Medicare is a boom for senior citizens who without that would choose between food and going to a doctor.” 

             Not a bad internet video to put a negative spin on Romney and Ryan in Florida, a key swing state where the Republican candidate will shortly visit and the site for the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, on August 27, 2012.   

             Republicans are attempting to soften negative attacks being lobbed at the Romney camp by attacking President Obama on his huge cuts to Medicare, amounting to $716 billion, that included in his enacted 2010 Affordable Care Act.  They allege that the President used the cut funds from Medicare to finance his health care reform package.  Democrats have pointed out the hypocrisy of this political charge by noting that Ryan had included $700 billion in Medicare cuts in his own budget plan, many of which can be found in Obamacare, the President’s landmark legislation reforming the nation’s health care system.  

 Romney Distances Himself from Partner’s Medicare Budget Fixes

             Two days ago, Mitt Romney, appearing on “CBS This Morning, Romney moved to separate himself from Ryan’s controversially-charged reforms to completely overhaul  Medicare and Medicaid by saying that “Congressman Ryan has joined my campaign, and his campaign is my campaign now, ” noting that “We’re exactly on the same page.”

             At the Wednesday CBS News interview, when Romney was asked about Ryan’s proposed Medicare cuts, he suggested that the Wisconsin Republican Congressman would support his plan which would not include huge Medicare cuts.  “The president’s cuts of $716 billion to Medicare, those cuts are going to be restored if I become president and Paul Ryan becomes vice president,” pledged the GOP Presidential Candidate, in his first solo interview on “CBS This Morning,” since he selected Ryan as his vice presidential running mate.

             “My commitment is, if I become president, I’m going to restore that $716 billion to the Medicare trust fund so that current seniors can know that trust fund is not being raided and we’re going to make sure – and get Medicare on track to be solvent long-term on a permanent basis,” added Romney.

 Domestic Programs Touching Everyone’s Life

                  “With fewer jobs offering pensions and people struggling to save for retirement, Social Security will be even more important for younger generations,” notes AARP President Rob Romasco, noting that more than one in three working households age 21 to 64 has no individual savings set aside for retirement.  His comment was released last with the polling findings from a 2012 Voter Survey.

             Among the findings, 59 percent of Americans polled fear that the negative effects of the economic downturn on their retirement savings will force them to rely more heavily on Social Security and Medicare — programs they are concerned that elected officials aren’t doing enough to protect. 

           The AARP survey of voters age 50 plus also found that six in ten plan to rely on Social Security and Medicare even more due to the recent economic downturn. The same survey found that the respondents’ top financial worry is prices rising faster than their income, and the overwhelming majority (91 percent) agree that the next President and Congress need to strengthen Social Security so that it is able to provide retirement security for future generations

         “Last year, while politicians in Washington discussed changes like reducing the COLA as part of a backroom budget deal, AARP fought to protect Social Security. One thing we’ve heard consistently from our members and all older Americans is that keeping up with inflation is one of Social Security’s most important features,” he continued.

            “It’s these voices – the voices of Americans who have paid into the program – that politicians should be listening to when they consider its future,” says AARP CEO A. Barry Rand, noting that his aging group has launched “You’ve Earned a Say,” an initiative (www.earnedasay.org) to ensure that voters have factual information about the Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid policy debates inside the Washington Beltway, and platform to speak out about how any proposed changes would effect them personally.

            Romney’s selection of Ryan as his vice-presidential running mate has now put Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid on the voter’s radar screen.  

             Now is the time for aging baby boomer and senior voters to send a blunt message to the sitting President, his opponents Romney and Ryan, especially those Congressional candidates that you will meet at public events in the OceanState, or even at your door step when they come to personally ask for your vote. That is, political gridlock is no longer acceptable to you and that the nation’s domestic policy issues must be solved through bipartisan efforts.”

             Meaningful legislative fixes, often derailed by “no-compromise” lawmakers should not longer be sent to Capitol Hill.      

             A Final Note…End the nastiness of this political campaign by educating yourself about the issues.  AARP’s “You’ve Earned a Say” will be in evidence McCoy Stadium Sunday (Aug. 19th) when the PawSox play Buffalo in a 1:05 p.m. game. Following the game, the aging group will have a booth as part of the PawSox Fan Appreciation Day. People attending the event can fill out a “You’ve Earned a Say” questionnaire that measures their opinions and concerns on the future of Medicare and Social Security.

             Herb Weiss is a Pawtucket-based freelance writer who covers aging, health care and medical issues.  He can be reached at hweissri@aol.com.

Rhode Islanders Will Benefit for Long-Term Care Improvements

Published in Pawtucket times on April 5, 2004

An AARP membership application just arrived last week, inviting me to join the nation’s largest senior advocacy group.

AARP’s invitation to join clearly announces my major milestone in my life, when my June birthday officially pushes me into my 50s.

Celebrating my 50th birthday is no problem for me on a personal level, especially with my philosophy that, as with wine, one gets better with age.

But, as a writer on health care and aging issues, I see problems as to how I might access needed home and community-based services or nursing hoe care in my later years, especially if the state does not fix its problematic long-term care deliverly system.

The graying of Rhode Island’s population is taxing the state’s existing long-term care delivery system and will continue to do so for years to come. In response, state policymakers have taken a Band-Aid approach in trying to fix the fragmented system.

Already the Ocean State’s senior population, ages 60 and over, comprises more than 18 percent of the state’s total population. Gov. Don Carcieri and state lawmakers should be very concerned that Rhode Island’s population continues to age at the same time its long-term care delivery system needs an immediate overhaul.

Everyone knows it is extremely difficult for caregivers and seniors to negative the Ocean State’s long-term care system. Just ask any aging baby boomer (persons born between 1946 and 1964), and many will say that it is extremely difficult to find the needed programs and services to k eep mom and dad at home.

Today, many adult children who are juggling careers and raising children are also shouldering additional caregiving responsibilities to their olde parents. Even if their parents have been able to put a little money aside for their retirement, their children see their inheritance quickly being whittled down by thousands of dollars a month, all spent on costly pharmaceuticals and long-term care services.

Money can buy you anything in life, including home and community-based care and nursing home services.  Staying independent at home is still difficult for may moderate-income Ocean State seniors who cannot pay or find providers , especially with the Department of Elderly Affair’s (DEA) co-pay program not being fully-funded.

DEA’s co-pay program aids more that 1,500 frail seniors who do not qualify for the state’s Medicaid program, but who require ongoing services to remain in their homes. This funding helps pay for certified nursing assistants, who assist seniors with bathing, meals, shopping, laundry and light house keeping. DEA’s co-pay program slso provides subsidies for adult day care.

Last October, DEA’s freeze on new admissions to its co-pay program left more than 200 frail seniors on a waiting list for home and community based services.

While Gov. Carcieri recently gave an additional $ 200,000 in funding to DEA’s co-pay program in his 2005 budget, senior advocates have warned this amount is not enough. It is estimated this additional funding will serve 60 to 80 seniors out of the 200 persons currently on the waiting list.

Meanwhile, DEA has even put a freeze on new admissions to its respite program, which enables caregivers to take a break from the grueling physical and psychological demands of taking care of a frail elderly family resident.  This freeze will continue for the rest of this fiscal year, and nobody is sure how long the freeze for this initiative will last.

Hugh Hall, chair of the R.I. Health Care Association, tells All About Seniors that nursing homes will also be especially hit hard as state funding continues to diminish at the same time as  the cost of services and regulatory requirements increases.

“The state’s budget crisis is causing the governor to not meet a commitment in restructuring an antiquated Medicaid reimbursement system that pays for the care provided to 75 percent of the 10,000 frail residents in nursing homes,” said Hall.

This year, Carcieri, citing budgetary constraints, did not keep his promise to move forward with Part Two of the Medicaid reimbursement restricting, said Hall.

“This will have serious effects on the financial viability and quality of care provided in more than 70 small nursing homes throughout the state,” he said.

The huge budget deficient will continue to force Carcieri’s and state lawmakers hacking of many worthy programs and services previously funded in the state budget.  However, the state’s 2005 budget must adequately fund DEA’s co-pay and respite initiatives that keep frail seniors at home in their communities through the use of less costly home and community-based services.

The state must also keep its promise to adequately fund the state’s nursing homes for providing the needed medical care to those who are too sick to stay at home.

Hopefully, in 15 years, when I reach my next milestone – turning 65 – the state policy makers will have hammered out a much improved long-term care delivery system.

A commitment by Carcieri and state lawmakers to fix today’s fragmented long-term care delivery system will have long-range consequences, ultimately beneiting aging baby boomers, their children, and their children’s children.

Indeed, all future generations in this state will ultimately benefit from sound long-term care policy.

Aging Advocates Call for Override of Governor’s Veto

Published in Pawtucket Times on July 14, 2003

The General Assembly is poised to override  Gov. Don Carcieri’s veto Tuesday.

The political rhetoric has intensified as the governor picks apart the 2004 budget, which was recently passed by the Democratic-controlled legislature, forcing Democratic Majority Leader William J. Murphy and Senate President William V. Irons to explain how they shaped the budget.

Carcieri has called the General Assembly’s 2004 budget flawed because lawmakers have “missed opportunities” to stop the legislature’s habit of deficit spending.

The governor’s media blitz, beginning last week, is intended to build support for his efforts to defeat the legislature’s attempt to override his veto. Carcieri has called for the elimination of subsidies for greyhound kennel owners [also supported by this writer] and the reining in public-employee personnel costs.

Carcieri also opposes the spending of $ 52 million in federal Medicaid expenditure relief funds and the one percent restaurant sales tax.

When the dust settles after Tuesday’s legislative session to override Carcieri’s veto, aging advocates hope for an override. The 2004 budget crafted by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly puts increased state funding into senior programs and services.  Both provider groups and senior advocacy groups expressed disappointment when Carcieri’s budget proposal did not allocate funding for new aging-related initiatives. Moreover, his fiscal blueprint for state spending made cuts to existing senior programs and services.

“Once again, senior advocates have looked to the General Assembly to provide essential programs and services for the state’s growing senior population,” says Susan Sweet, a long-time aging advocate and consultant to nonprofit groups who also serves as a consumer representative to the state’s Long-Term Care Coordinating Council.

“We have not been disappointed,” Sweet said, in reference to the passage of the General Assembly’s 2004 budget.  “It’s sad that the Carcieri administration does not recognize the improvements the General Assembly has made to the budget and the lives of older Rhode Islander.”

Joan Crawley, executive director of Pawtucket’s Leon Mathieu Senior Center, added, “Although I can appreciate Carcieri’s frustration with trying to balance the state budget, as a senior advocate, I applaud the legislators for making the very difficult decision to fund legislative grants on behalf of the state’s  senior centers,” she said.

“At the Pawtucket town meeting, gubernatorial candidate Carcieri assured us that seniors would be a top priority of his administration should he be elected governor. He even distributed a brochure outlining his senior initiatives. So far, he has failed to address any of those initiatives in is budget, Crawley says.

So, what’s in the General Assembly’s 2004 budget that will improve the quality of life of Rhode Island seniors?

The budget will allocate new state funds totaling $ 300,000 to pay for nursing facility care of legal immigrant Rhode Island seniors who are not eligible for Medicaid.

The budget will also allocate $ 50,000 to support the efforts of the Ocean State Adult Immunization Coalition to get the word out about the importance of seniors getting influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations.

Meanwhile, lawmakers have allocated state monies for community grants. Initially, senior centers (in Carcieri’s budget ) were targeted with a 10 precent cut. To the relief of senior center providers, lawmakers passed the 2004 budget with no cuts

As previously reported to All About Seniors, an 18-month study by B.D.O. Seidman, a consulting firm hired by the state Department of Human Services, found Rhode Island was underpaying its nursing facilities in excess of $ 30 million annually.

It seems that the Rhode Island General Assembly agrees with the report’s assessment, because lawmakers made a partial allocation of new Medicaid dollars to overhaul the state’s ailing Medicaid system.

With passage of the budget, nursing facilities will receive a total of $ 18.8 million in state and federal dollars – a three-year phase-in will bring the total federal and state dollars up to $ 30 million.

Finally, the recently passed 2004 state budget has allocated $ 50,000 to provide dental services to nursing facility residents.

The 2003 budget that was supposed to expire June 30 stays in effect until Carcieri signs the 2004 budget into law. Until that time, new programs, policies, or program appropriations will be effectively put on hold.

An override of Carcieri’s veto will result in many new senior programs and services being funded in the 2004 state budget.

If the popular Republican governor is able to rally is troops – both Republican lawmakers and Carcieri Democrats – to support his veto, then lawmakers must begin their efforts to hammer out another budget.

….

As noted in last week’s All About Seniors column, not one dime in state funding was allocated in the state’s 2004 budget to beef up the state Department of Health’s regulatory oversight. Providers, aging advocates, and even state officials have called for new state dollars to fill one full-time surveyor position (a nurse) to ensure that assisted living residences across Rhode Island are inspected on a timelier basis.

The General Assembly has put laws on the books to protect frail Rhode Island seniors who received assisted-living services. Yet, Carcieri and lawmakers have failed to allocate the necessary funding in the 2004 state budget to allow Health Department regulators to comply with    their legislative oversight duties to inspect the state’s 72 assisted-living facilities and 155 assisted-living bed in nursing facilities on a timely basis.

That’s not all.  According to the state’s Department of Health, another seven assisted-living projects are expected to be up and running over the next 18 months.

Meanwhile, at Tuesday’s veto override, lawmakers will also take up legislative issues were not addressed in their haste to adjourn two weeks ago.  Maybe the state Health Department’s urgent need for more funding to adequately perform its oversight duties of assisted-living facilities will be acted on by lawmakers in both chambers.

Carcieri can become the white knight and save the day. He can choose to move forward and fix this policy flaw by either using contingency funds in his office budget or to take administrative action to hire one more full-time assisted living inspector.

Acting decisively to fix tis identified policy glitch is sound public policy that will ultimately protect the health and well-being of 1,700 assisted-living residents. Even with Carcieri’s calls for balancing the budget, taxpayers especially seniors won’t oppose allocated tax dollars to protect older Rhode Islander.