AARP has a message for the Catfood Commission II.
In August, Congress passed legislation creating a bipartisan "supercommittee" tasked with finding ways to reduce the nation's deficit by $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years. Medicare and Social Security benefits might be targeted. Cuts to Medicare and Social Security benefits could: dramatically increase health care costs for seniors and future retirees; threaten seniors' access to doctors and hospitals; and reduce the benefit checks seniors rely on to pay their bills.[...]
AARP believes Washington needs to understand that Medicare and Social Security are crucial to protecting the middle class. Before making cuts that could harm seniors or future retirees, the supercommittee needs to get the facts:
- half of those age 65 and older have an annual income of less than $20,000 per year; and
- half of all Medicare beneficiaries spend about $3,100 annually out of pocket for their health care.
With dwindling pensions, dramatic losses in retirement savings, declining home values and rising health care costs, Social Security is the one guaranteed source of income that many people can rely on, and Medicare is vital for seniors to get the health care they need.
While the plan proposed by President Obama isn't heavy on benefits cuts, the cuts it does include could still hurt seniors and their families. And the persistence of both the chained CPI for Social Security and Medicare eligibility age hike as discussion points means that they can still float up in the Catfood Commission II's proposal, potentially even being offered up by Democrats in exchange for tax increases.
AARP is right to stay vigilant in the fight to protect these key programs.