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Florida Alliance for Retired Americans                                                   CONTACT:

12773 W Forest Hill Blvd, Suite 211                                     Tony Fransetta, President

Wellington, FL  33414                                                                        561-792-8799 or

FLORIDA ALLIANCE FOR RETIRED AMERICANS URGES CONGRESS TO USE MEDICARE PROGRAM AS THE PUBLIC OPTION IN HEALTH CARE REFORM

TAMPA – The board of directors of the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans has approved a resolution urging Congress to use an expanded Medicare program as the “public plan” in national health care reform legislation.

Given that Congress is now considering including a public health insurance plan as part of national health care reform legislation, it is important the public plan be as economical and efficient as possible. Health care costs are increasing at an unsustainable rate and are constraining economic recovery.

Creating a new public plan that would provide essentially the same health care services as Medicare does would waste tax dollars because a new administrative and reimbursement structure would have to be created for the new “public option” program.

Tony Fransetta, the president of the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, which as 230,000 members in Florida, states that,  “The Medicare program enjoys broad public support, is available everywhere, has low administrative costs, and is an example of a very successful government health care program.”

The resolution adopted today states that:

·        Employers and the public should be able to “buy into” Medicare as an alternative to purchasing private health insurance.

·        The Medicare Payment Advisory commission should be specifically charged with developing provider reimbursement methods that strengthen reimbursement for necessary and beneficial medical procedures.

·        The Medicare program should be substantially strengthened, particularly to promote preventive health practices and to prevent, detect and prosecute fraud.

The Florida Alliance for Retired Americans is a thriving statewide activist retiree organization – over 200,000 strong, and over three million nationally.  We aim to influence government on retiree legislative and political issues at the federal, state and local levels. Our mission is to ensure social and economic justice and full civil rights for all citizens, so they may enjoy lives of dignity, personal and family fulfillment and security.  The Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, formerly known as the Florida State Council of Senior Citizens was founded in 1963; President Lyndon Johnson said, “Without the National Council of Senior Citizens there would have been no Medicare.”

www.flara.org                                  FloridaARA@aol.com                   www.retiredamericans.org

FL Consumer Group’s Prescription for Health Reform: We Cannot Afford Inaction

The Florida Public Interest Research Group is a consumer watchdog based in Tallahassee that traces its roots back to the “Unsafe at Any Speed” days of Ralph Nader, in the 1970s. Today, the biggest consumer issue of all is health care access.

As part of our continuing series of Q & As on health care reform, we’ve asked Florida PIRG for its perspective on the health reform plan contemplated in Washington.

Richard Polangin is Florida PIRG’s health care policy coordinator. As a former legislative analyst and bill drafter, he has 20 years of experience looking at documents like the 1,000-page House health bill. Polangin had this to say about the document:

On Call: What do you see in the House health care draft that’s good for Floridians?

Polangin: Several things:

• The House bill fosters competition among private plans to drive costs down.
• It will give people the option to buy into a public plan with an essential benefits package that includes preventive services, mental health services, oral heath and vision for children. It will cap out-of pocket costs.
• Private plans will no longer be able to deny coverage to persons with health problems.
• If we like our current plan, we can keep it. If we don’t like what we have, or if we don’t have coverage, we will always have good alternatives to choose from as health insurance companies will be competing more effectively with each other and with a high quality, affordable public plan.
• People will be able to change jobs and keep their coverage.
• The bill reduces costs by permitting the federal government to negotiate for drug prices in Medicare.

If we don’t act now, health care costs will only continue to rise. People are struggling to pay health care costs and make ends meets. Now is the time to fix the system so we have quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

On Call: Any red flags in the bill? What are they?

Polangin: The Congressional Budget Office has recently released a report that indicates the House legislation does not significantly reduce the growth of health spending. Reducing the “cost curve” is crucial to ensuring that the legislation does not add to the federal budget deficit and serves to make health care affordable in the future.

It will be important to make sure that this legislation contains significant cost control — have a group of independent health care experts make recommendations that Congress approves, for example, using comparative medical research to educate consumers and providers.

Medicare should be able to use comparative data to decide on the best treatments, and be able to reduce payments to high-cost hospitals and to inefficient physicians. This could reduce unnecessary tests and procedures. Containing costs is essential if we hope to get our economy going again.

On Call: So how can we afford what’s in the bill? Who pays?

Polangin: We can’t afford not to have health care reform now.
Health care premiums are expected to double in the next 8 years which is going to dramatically increase the number of uninsured and eat a much bigger portion of middle class incomes. We have to drive down costs and we have a historic opportunity to do that primarily by creating a public plan that can compete with the private market.
The bill requires everyone to pay, both individuals and businesses. This keeps our employer sponsored health care system in place and makes it the responsibility of everyone to share in the costs.
It’s important to note that the American Medical Association has announced support for this legislation. The AMA has historically opposed significant health care reform proposals and they opposed the creation of Medicare in the 1960’s.
The challenge will be to ensure that the legislation does not add to the federal deficit and to ensure that is slows the persistent increase in health costs.

(On Call: Where do you see battle lines being drawn? Who’s going to fight this?

Polangin: We expect some business lobbies like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Businesses to be opposed to the bill’s requirement that employers either provide coverage or pay an assessment.
Health insurance companies are also expected to be opposed because they fear that the public plan will be unfair competition.
We expect individuals who believe in small government and an individual’s right to go without health care coverage to also be opposed to the proposals.