MAINE SENIOR REPORT
May 2008
An Information Service of the
Maine Council of Senior Citizens –
Alliance for Retired Americans
PLEASE FORWARD TO YOUR SENIOR FRIENDS
– The information in our Senior Reports is
of importance to 42 million seniors. You can
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DON'T FORGET! MONTHLY MEETINGS EVERY
3RD TUESDAY OF THE MONTH
9:30 AM 71 State Street, Augusta (MSEA/SEIU
building)
NEXT MEETING - Tuesday, May 20, 2008
REMINDER: MCSC/ARA due are due in
January for 2008. The dues are $12 a
calendar year for individuals.
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FROM THE DESK OF THE MCSC/ARA PRESIDENT
John Carr
Early in the
month we started work on a “Senior Bill of
Rights.” The purpose is be able to tell
seniors what the Maine Council of Senior
Citizens/ARA supports and is working for in
a variety of policy areas. We feel this is
particularly important to move ahead on and
complete in the near future since this is an
election year. It will also enable us to
more effectively question candidates at
local, state and federal levels to help
determine whom we will support.
Below is a
very early sort of a first draft. We seek
and welcome your suggestions both on areas
of policy and legislation to include and
specific descriptions of what we should
include in each area. You can send them to
our Director Neena Quirion at
nquirion@roadrunner.com or plan to
attend our monthly meeting where we will be
discussing this another other actions.
In addition,
the US Senate is currently crafting a
Medicare bill for a vote that is likely to
take place in the next few weeks. The bill
is primarily designed to increase payments
to doctors. Senate action should to be
completed by June 30, 2008. In Maine
Senators Snowe and Collins need to be
contacted. (See article on HOW TO CONTACT
below)
An outline of
major points about this issue is below and
can be used when you talk to the senators or
others.
John Carr
President
Maine Council
of Senior Citizens/ARA
MAINE’S
SENIOR BILL OF RIGHTS
SOCIAL SECURITY
MCSC/ARA will
encourage all elected officials, Federal &
State, to resist any attempts to privatize
Social Security and to make sure that the
financial structure is secure for
generations to come.
MEDICARE
Since 1965
Medicare has been a significant part of our
health care system, providing health care
insurance for over 43 million Americans. Any
proposal to privatize Medicare will be
opposed and MCSC/ARA will lobby for the
repeal of Medicare Part D to be replaced by
a low cost prescription drug benefit.
MEDICAID
MaineCare
(Medicaid in Maine) serves close to 300,000
Maine citizens and is continuously under
attack from those who would take away
MaineCare benefits in order to stop
government from helping its citizens. MCSC/ARA
will continue its opposition to any lowering
of any MaineCare benefits
LOW COST PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
MSCS/ARA will
continue its lobbying efforts to allow
negotiations between the federal government
and the pharmaceutical companies over prices
for prescription drugs. Also we will work to
allow registered pharmacy and prescription
drug wholesalers to purchase their drug
supplies anywhere in the world that has been
approved by the Food and Drug
Administration.
OLDER AMERICANS MUST BE READY
TO STAY CONNECTED AS NATION GOES TO DIGITAL
TV
SENIOR CITIZENS MOST VULNERABLE LIVE ALONE,
IN REMOTE AREAS, LOW INCOME, NON-ENGLISH
SPEAKERS
By Josefina G.
Carbonell, Administration on Aging
May 12, 2008 -
Television as we know it is about to
change. On February 17, 2009, full-power
television broadcasting will change from
analog to 100% digital, bringing with it a
host of benefits. If you use “rabbit ears”
or a rooftop antenna with an analog
television, your television will not work
after this transition date without taking
some action. Older persons, especially
those who live alone, who are in rural or
remote locations, who are low income, or who
are non-English speakers, are more likely to
be affected by this change - but with
advanced planning, no one needs to be left
in the dark.
A Federal law
enacted in 2006 requires all television
stations to switch their analog signals to
digital by February 17, 2009. The
transition will provide important benefits
including a clearer picture, more channels,
freed-up airwaves for emergency first
responders and wireless service providers.
Many individuals rely on their televisions
for news, entertainment or information
during times of emergency. To ensure that
your televisions will work with the digital
signal after February 17, 2009, you will
need to take the following steps.
First, determine if the transition will
affect your household.
● If your
televisions are connected to cable,
satellite or other pay services, then your
sets will continue to work after the
transition. Call your pay TV service
provider if you have any questions about how
your service might be affected by the
digital transition.
●
Televisions with digital tuners that are
already built into the set will also
continue to work. If you do not know
whether your TV has a built-in digital
tuner, check the owner’s manual or the
manufacturers Web site.
● Analog
televisions using an antenna to receive
over-the-air broadcasts will not receive
programs after February 17, 2009, but there
are options and assistance available for
consumers.
To continue to
receive programs after the transition, you
may select one of three options below:
1. Buy a
new device available in certain stores
called a TV “converter box” that will plug
into your existing analog TV
(see
below on how get a free coupon to get a box)
2. Buy a TV with a digital tuner
3. Connect
your existing analog TV to cable, satellite
or other pay service.
A converter box connects to your existing
analog television and will keep your TV
working after February 17, 2009.
The federal government is offering U.S.
households up to two $40 coupons to help pay
for the cost of certified TV converter
boxes.
The TV
Converter Box Coupon Program, run by the
U.S. Department of Commerce’s National
Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA), will mail coupons to
those households requesting them.
Converter
boxes are expected to cost between $40 and
$70. To apply for your coupon call
1-888-388-2009 or go online at
www.DTV2009.gov . Or write PO Box 2000,
Portland, OR 97208; apply by fax at
1-877-DTV-4ME2 (1-877-388-4632). Deaf or
hearing impaired consumers may call
1-877-530-2634 (TTY/English) and
1-866-495-1161 (TTY/Spanish).
Please help us by suggesting changes,
additions, major subject areas etc. E-mail
Maine Council of Senior Citizens/ARA
Director Neena Quirion at
nquirion@roadrunner.com
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SENATE MEDICARE FIX BILL
Improving Medicare for Beneficiaries, Beyond
a Doctor Fix – May 12, 2008
Action is
needed now. Contact key Senate leaders and
urge them to include in the bill provisions
that help seniors afford their premiums and
lower their share of costs. The bill must
help seniors, not just providers.
SEE CONTACT BOX BELOW TO REACH ANY MEMBER OF
THE MAINE DELEGATION EASILY
Our nation has
fundamentally failed to provide
disadvantaged, vulnerable beneficiaries with
the critical assistance they need. With
Medicare premiums doubling since 2000, and
the proposed physician payment fix
increasing premiums even more, something
must be done this year for beneficiaries who
can least afford these significant
increases.
YOUR PERSONAL POLITICAL CONTACT TABLE
There is no
more effective way to make your voice heard
and have an influence on your town, state
and nation than to personally contact
the elected officials at the appropriate
level. In the case of Congress you can do
this most effectively by a personal
telephone call to one of the congressional
delegation Maine offices. They
receive thousands of e-mails daily
but not many personal office calls.
If you call one of the Maine offices
they keep a log of who called and a summary
of what they said. This “grassroots voice”
can be effective since they know that it is
personal and not a mass organization
flooding their e-mail.
You can save this article on your computer
for reference. Also you can go to:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials/
Where you will
find elected officials, including the
president, members of Congress, governors,
state legislators, local officials, and more
in an easy to search format for the entire
United States.
The above site
(at the left of the home page) also
allows you to enter your zip, click “State”
or “Federal” and it will bring up a list of
all of your specific elected
officials (President and Congress) or
(Governor, Maine Senator, Maine
Representative). It allows you to either
e-mail or send them a “printed” letter
all at once. (Note: the hand delivered,
printed letter costs $8.95).
You can also
sign up at this site to track your Senator’s
and Representative's votes by e-mail
Each week
(that Congress is in session) you will
receive:
• Key votes by
your two Senators and U.S. Representative.
• Links to
send e-mail to your members of Congress
using pre-addressed forms.
• Upcoming
votes for your review and a chance to offer
e-mail input before they vote.
Use this weekly vote monitor to track the
decisions made by your elected officials on
key issues.
You can also
use the resources of this site to find all
kinds of information related to the state
elections, listings of candidates, links to
the Maine State web site, and much more.
LETTERS TO CONGRESS
Amazingly
enough when a person uses the site to write
the President or a member of the
Congressional Delegation they are asked
permission to make the contents only of
their letter public. You can use the site to
search/read almost 2,000 letters to Senator
Collins alone on a variety of subjects. The
town or residence of the sender is given but
not the person’s name or address. For
instance Senator Collins got the following
letter on NAFTA.
April 22, 2008
NAFTA has
been a disaster for everyone except
corporate CEO's. First our jobs migrated
across the Mexican border--not our pay or
benefits, just our jobs. The pay and
benefits were funneled into the CEO's
pockets; underpaid Mexican peons worked in "maquiladora"
factories right out of the darkest days of
the Industrial Revolution. Meanwhile, much
of Mexico's agriculture-based economy has
gone down the tubes--and Mexicans pour over
the border, looking for work on almost any
terms. All NAFTA has done is to turn much of
North America into a "Jungle" of cheap-labor
exploitation. NAFTA should be repealed.
Portland, ME
To read the letters (and possibly pick up
some facts or ideas for your own letters)
you just click on “Your Letters to Leaders”
in a box on the left hand side of the home
page.
MAINE MEDIA
Finally, you
can use the site to send an e-mail to any
media in any state, including Maine. Just
click on “Media Guide” on the left hand side
of the page and you will get hot links to
newspapers, radio and television with staff
names. You can write the business and/or
direct your letter to a specific staff
person such as the editorial page editor.
SENATOR MCCAIN EVADES THE TRUTH
ABOUT HIS SOCIAL SECURITY PLAN
The following
statement was issued May 14 by Edward F.
Coyle, Executive Director of the Alliance
for Retired Americans
“Senator John
McCain did the American people a great
disservice this morning with his confusing,
muddled comments about Social Security
privatization.
“Appearing
today on Live with Regis and Kelly, Senator
McCain tried to hide the truth: he wants to
throw our hard-earned Social Security
benefits onto the roulette wheel of the
stock market. For the bankers on Wall
Street, this would mean big reward as they
skim service fees and profits off these
private accounts. For seniors already
struggling with rising gas and grocery
prices, it would mean even more risk and
uncertainty in these difficult times.
“Not only did Senator McCain support
privatized Social Security in a March 3
interview with the Wall Street Journal, but
in 2006 he voted to shift Social
Security’s annual surpluses into a reserve
account that would be converted into private
accounts. [S. Con. Res., Vote
#68, 3/16/06]. Earlier in his Senate
career, McCain voted twice to replace Social
Security’s guaranteed benefits with income
from risk-based private investments. [S.
Con. Res., Vote #56, 4/1/98; S. Con. Res.,
Vote #77, 4/1/98]
McCAIN WANTS TO PRIVATIZE SOCIAL SECURITY
McCain Voted
for Bush’s 2006 Social Security
Privatization Plan. In
2006, McCain voted for the Social Security
Reserve Fund. The proposal would shift
Social Security’s annual surpluses into a
reserve account that would be converted into
risky private accounts. [SCR 83, Vote #68,
3/16/06; SCR 83, Vote #68, 3/16/06]
In 2000 McCain
Wanted to Divert Social Security Money to
Private Accounts. The Wall
Street Journal reported that “[a]
centerpiece of a McCain presidential bid in
2000 was a plan to divert a portion of
Social Security payroll taxes to fund
private accounts, much as President Bush
proposed unsuccessfully.” The plan would put
workers’ retirement money into the risky
market and reduce the amount of Social
Security payments they would receive from
the government. The plan would undermine the
Social Security system. [Wall Street
Journal, 3/3/08]
McCain STILL
Proposes Privatizing Social Security—Despite
What His Website Says.
McCain told the Wall Street Journal he still
backs a system of private retirement
accounts that he supported in 2000 and
President Bush pushed unsuccessfully. The
Journal reported he “disowned” details of a
proposal on his 2008 campaign website that
says he would “supplement” the existing
Social Security system with personally
managed accounts. But when asked about the
position change he denied it and promised to
change the website to reflect his true
position. “I’m totally in favor of personal
savings accounts… As part of Social Security
reform, I believe that private savings
accounts are a part of it—along the lines
that President Bush proposed,” McCain told
the Journal.[Wall Street Journal, 3/3/08;
Campaign Website, accessed 3/3/08]
McCain Might
Raise the Retirement Age and Reduce
Cost-of-Living Adjustments.
“[T]he McCain campaign says the candidate
intends to keep Social Security solvent by
reducing the growth in benefits over the
coming decades to match projected growth in
payroll tax revenues. Among the options are
extending the retirement age to 68 and
reducing cost-of-living adjustments, but the
campaign hasn’t made any final decisions.
‘You can’t keep promises made to retirees,’
said Mr. Holtz-Eakin, McCain’s chief
economic aide.” [Wall Street Journal,
3/3/08]
McCain
Supported Deep Cuts That Put Social Security
Benefits at Risk. In 2005,
McCain supported a Social Security plan that
would require deep benefit cuts or a massive
increase in debt. That same year, McCain
voted against prioritizing Social Security
solvency over tax cuts for the wealthy. [SCR
18, Vote #49, 3/15/05; S. Amdt. 144 to SCR
18, Vote #47, 3/15/05]
McCain Voted
to Use Social Security Money to Pay Off
National Debt. In 2003,
McCain voted to use Social Security funds to
pay off federal debt. [HJR 51, Vote #201,
5/23/03]
McCain Voted
Against Protecting Social Security Solvency
with a Strategic Reserve.
In 2001, McCain opposed reducing tax cuts
for the wealthy to create a strategic
reserve for Social Security. In the same
year, McCain voted against a proposal to
create “lockboxes” to protect Social
Security and Medicare. [H.R. 1836, Senate
RPC, Vote #145, 5/22/01; S. Amdt. 29, Vote
#22, 3/13/01]
McCain Voted
to Replace Social Security with Risk-Based
Investments. In 1998,
McCain voted twice to replace Social
Security’s guaranteed benefits with income
from risk-based private investments. [SCR
86, Vote #56, 4/1/98; SCR 86, Vote #77,
4/1/98]
The battle of
American workers and working families who
see disaster ahead in a McCain presidency
has already begun. Seniors need to realize
that McCain has a long and proven voting
record of voting against seniors as well on
a wide range of issues in addition to Social
Security.
MUST FILE TO GET A STIMULUS CHECK
In 2008, up
to 20 million Americans who rely primarily
on Social Security income qualify for an
economic stimulus rebate check from the
federal government.
Generally,
people need more than $3,000 in 2007 income
to qualify for a stimulus rebate.
Even
seniors who do not earn income through
current employment can qualify for a
stimulus check, if their Social Security
benefits, Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits,
and railroad retirement benefits equal at
least $3,000 annually.
In most
cases, seniors will receive an economic
stimulus check ranging from $300 to $600.
Those who
qualify for a stimulus check will receive
one by the end of 2008, if they file by
October 15, 2008.
No rebate checks will be issued after 2008.
The
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)
program provides help to low- and
moderateincome
taxpayers.
Call 1-800-906-9887 for assistance.
The nearest
free tax preparation locations are available
by calling the IRS at 1-800-829-
1040.
BUSH MEDICAID RULES BLOCKED BY
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE BILL
COMMITTEE ALSO INCLUDES $275 MILLION
FOR FDA, BLOCKS SCHIP DIRECTIVE
Senator
Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), Chairman, Senate
Appropriations Committee has predicted, “We
will roll back Medicaid regulations that our
nation’s governors believe will disrupt
coverage for vulnerable citizens.” He points
out, “The Medicaid legislation passed the
House 349-62.”
May 16, 2008 - The Senate Appropriations
Committee on Thursday approved a $193
billion supplemental war
appropriations bill that includes a
provision to block for one year seven new
Medicaid regulations proposed by the Bush
administration, CongressDaily
reports.
The
legislation, which has three parts -- war
spending, policy conditions for the funds
and domestic spending -- also includes $275
million for FDA.
Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said
that he hopes to move the bill to the floor
on Monday, May 19,
Medicaid is
one of those government services that most
of us think we will never need. Yet,
millions of senior citizens and their
families have grasped for it as the last
hope for access to costly long-term care, as
their savings disappear. It is also the
last chance for many of the uninsured at the
bottom of the economic ladder to receive
medical attention. The program, however, is
in crisis as the Bush administration tries
to move billions of dollars of cost to the
states.
New federal
Medicaid regulations scheduled to take
effect this year would shift billions of
dollars in costs to the states
and could lead to a reduction in services,
governors said during the winter meeting of
the National Governors Association in
Washington, D.C., the New York Times
reports.
The states,
however, are already crumbling under the
burden of ever-higher healthcare costs, a
poor economy and their own budget woes. In
Iowa the governor reducing costs, including
capping rate increases for long-term care.
One rule would
place new limits on Medicaid payments to
hospitals and nursing homes operated by
state and local governments. State
governments are concerned that the rule
could "eliminate federal contributions for a
whole category of public spending on health
care for the poor -- specifically, spending
by autonomous units of local government,"
the Times reports.
A third rule
would limit coverage of rehabilitation
services for people with disabilities,
including those with mental illnesses.
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Editor’s Note: We are working to
expand our mailing list and encourage
forwarding this news report to others. You
can remove your name/address from our list
by sending name and “newsletter delete” to
the Maine Council of Senior Citizens – send
an e-mail to MCSC Director Neena Quirion at
MCSCARA@MSEASEIU.ORG
Ed Schlick
Editor