UAW: Health care reform will help seniors

[Omaha Steve]

Conservative opponents of health care reform have been spreading lies that the new health care reform legislation that was recently passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama will somehow hurt seniors. Nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is that health care reform contains significant benefits for senior citizens.


Expansion in Medicare Benefits

* The health care reform law will eliminate the coverage gap in the Medicare Prescription Drug program known as the "donut hole"; it will immediately provide a $250 payment to seniors who fall into this coverage gap, and will gradually phase out the "donut hole"; it also will provide a 50 percent brand-name drug discount to seniors during this phase-out period.

* The health care reform law will provide preventative care at no cost to Medicare beneficiaries.


Extending the Solvency of Medicare

* The health care reform law will crack down on waste, fraud and abuse under Medicare, and will curtail excessive payments to private insurers under the Medicare program.

* These reforms will extend the life of the Medicare Trust Fund by nine years, thereby helping to preserve this important program for seniors.


Early Retiree Reinsurance Program

*The health care reform law will establish a new early retiree reinsurance program that will help pay for part of the costs incurred by employers and Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Associations (VEBAs) in providing health care coverage to early retirees, along with their spouses and dependents. This assistance is designed to encourage employers and VEBAs to continue health care coverage for this vulnerable population.


HEALTH CARE REFORM


GOOD FOR OUR COUNTRY - GOOD FOR SENIORS


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[JuniperLea]

1. I KNEW the unions would be all for this!

It's their game... collective bargaining!

I'm happy to see this... very happy.

I'm sure there's a lot more to come once people actually read through the bill and do their own math.

[monmouth]

2. Two years in a row without COL rise in SS payments prevents many

of us to go without insurance. Food and a roof over my head are a priority. If I get sick, really sick, I die.

[pnorman]

3. K & R!

n/t