Sanders hosts health care luncheon for seniors
August 17, 2017 5:57 pm
Excerpt:
BENNINGTON — Health care has been a topic on almost everyone's mind lately, and few are more affected by the implications of that ongoing debate than seniors. Many local seniors and advocacy groups attended a meeting and luncheon hosted by the office of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Thursday to discuss that very topic. The event was hosted by St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Bennington. While Sanders was not able to attend in person, citing a mountain of work on his desk, he did call into the meeting from his office in Burlington, and promised that he would be back in Bennington as soon as possible.
Sanders criticized the efforts of congressional Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which he said would have "thrown 23 million Americans off the insurance they have."
"It would have been cutting Medicaid by $800 billion over a 10 year period," he said, which would have impacted not only people with low income and disabilities, but nursing home care as well. Premiums also would have increased, especially for the elderly, he said. "The question is," he said, "where do we do from here? Because we know that the status quo is not good enough. We know that premiums are too high, co-payments are too high, deductibles are too high, and prescription drug costs are outrageously too high, and that's an issue we're going to stay focused on. So we have got to go forward and improve the health care system that we have. Longer term, in my view, and I don't know whether everybody agrees with me or not, but I believe that the United States has got to join every other major country on Earth in guaranteeing health care to all people as a right."
He said that he would continue pushing for a Medicare-for-all system. "People are living longer, they are getting the health care that they need, they are happier, more secure as a result," he said, "Medicare is working for people 65 and older, we should be able to have it work for all people." He also stressed that improvements need to be made to Department of Veterans Affairs, and assured those in attendance the Social Security is not at risk.
The meeting also featured four guest speakers: Kathryn Van Haste from Sanders' office; John Miner of the Veterans Outreach and Resource Center; Jane Osgatharp, president of the Vermont Alliance for Retired Americans; and Jennifer Plouffe of the Southwestern Vermont Council on Aging.
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