Can you afford Medicare and Social Security Cuts? Tell Congress No!

Senior Citizens League

Dear Conservatives,

How much of your Social Security benefit do you spend for healthcare costs? If you have average benefits (about $1,100 per month), you probably spend about one-third of it on monthly Medicare premiums and out-of-pocket costs. But if you are in poor health, you probably spend more — much more.

According to a new Healthcare Cost Senior Survey conducted last month by The Senior Citizens League (TSCL), 27% of respondents said they are spending up to $599 a month on healthcare costs. That's 54% of an average Social Security benefit!

Consider this comment from the hundreds that we recently received: 

"Even with Medicare and supplemental insurance, using a drug plan that mails the medicine, and paying directly for things that insurance doesn't cover, it takes nearly three-quarters of my Social Security after paying $450 per month for room and board." — J.C., Kernersville, NC

Will your retirement income be enough to cover your healthcare costs over the length of your retirement? Over the past ten years cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) increased benefits 31%, but Medicare Part B premiums alone rose 154%!

Consider this comment from another survey participant:
"$630 per month is taken out of our $702 pension check for health care. Last year was the first time in our 51 years of marriage that we had to ask for assistance from our State Home Energy Assistance program. We always were able to manage on our own before our insurance doubled. Never took any money from welfare or Medicaid."– E.W., Mastic, NY

Or this grim story:
"I spent 6 months in a nursing home and exhausted all my Medicare (covered benefits), some of my secondary insurance benefits, and paid out-of-pocket for some of my care. I am still looking for ways to get relief from the remainder of the doctor bills I am receiving since I got home 2 or 3 weeks ago. My husband is still at this facility, has used all his Medicare (covered benefits), all his secondary insurance, and was just told he has to find some place else to go. Every thing I have seen so far, will cost us everything we have. His dialysis alone costs about $10,000 a month. Knowing all of this, I am trying to spend as little as possible for food, and maintenance of the house." - E.D. Parkville, MD

As much as you already spend to cover your healthcare costs, and as rapidly as those costs are escalating, major deficit cutting plans would make you pay even more for your Medicare benefits. And that’s not all. A consensus is building among deficit negotiators on a proposal that would cut the COLAs you depend on to meet rising costs. We are only a few days away from learning the details of what the Congressional Deficit Reduction "super committee's" plan contains for seniors.

ON THE TABLE:

• Higher Medicare premiums: You may be required to pay a bigger share of the Medicare Part B premium. Today, seniors with incomes below $85,000 currently pay 25% of the Medicare cost and the federal government pays 75%. The proposal would make you pay 35% of the Medicare premium. If this were to go into effect immediately, most seniors would pay a premium of $139.90 per month in 2012 instead of $99.90.
• Limits on Medigap supplements: You probably pay dearly for your Medicare supplement premiums. But they protect you from costly deductibles and co-insurance not covered by Medicare. Deficit cutters from both sides of the aisle would limit what the plans could cover in the future. These include a 30% premium surcharge for new enrollees, a new $550 deductible, and coverage that would be limited on the next $5,000 in costs to 50%. That could add as much as $3,050 in new out-of-pocket costs, and that doesn't include the higher premiums!
• Increasing Medicare Eligibility Age: Social Security's age for full retirement benefits is gradually rising from 65 to 67. Deficit cutters would increase the Medicare eligibility age in like manner, leaving seniors 65 and 66 to pay for their own coverage at an age when health insurance can be extremely costly.
• Lower Social Security benefits: The proposal would change the calculation of the annual COLA by switching to a more slowly-growing "chained" consumer price index. If this proposal were to go into effect immediately, seniors would get a COLA of about 2.7% in 2012 instead of the 3.6% they are scheduled to receive under current law. Over time the loss of Social Security benefits compounds, and for millions of retirees could well exceed tens of thousands of dollars in Social Security income.

Can you afford cuts like this? Nobody can!

Please contact your Members of Congress and tell them:

• NO increases to what you pay for your Medicare benefits!
• NO to higher premiums, surcharges, AND big government restrictions on what Medicare supplements can cover.
• NO to COLA cuts. Seniors need a COLA that keeps up with healthcare cuts — not to be driven into poverty!

Contact your Members of Congress:
http://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/8854/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8155

To stay informed of action Congress is taking and changes that might affect your benefit, sign up to receiveTSCL's Social Security & Medicare Advisor: 
http://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/8854/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=6308

Forward this email to friends!

Sincerely,

Larry Hyland
Board Chairman