Democrats Fighting for Seniors ~ Hey Thats Me !

Seniors Better Listen Up !...
9/25/09

Alliance Seniors Attend Town Hall with Vice President Biden in Maryland, Vice President Joe Biden and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius hosted a town hall meeting with seniors on Wednesday in Silver Spring, MD and officially released the report, Health Insurance Reform and Medicare: Making Medicare Stronger for America's Seniors. The report, mentioned in a recent Friday Alert and available at www.HealthReform.gov, outlines how health insurance reform will help seniors and answers key questions about President Obama's health insurance reform plan. "Vice President Biden today made a clear and convincing case for why Americans of all ages would benefit from health care reform," said Edward F. Coyle, the Executive Director of the Alliance on Wednesday. "We must help seniors separate fact from fiction, so they see how health reform will help them more easily see a doctor, get a prescription filled, and obtain essential preventive screenings for cancer and other diseases." A special guest at Wednesday's event was Alliance member Phil Feaster, a retired truck driver from Fort Washington, MD who spends $700 per month for his eight daily medicines. Feaster is one of 3.4 million retirees who fall into the Medicare "doughnut hole," in which they must pay both their monthly Medicare premiums and full price for their prescriptions.
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Democrats to the Rescue, Once More !

Democrats Act to Prevent Medicare Fee Increase On Thursday, the U.S. House passed a bill that would prevent Medicare premiums from rising sharply for about 11 million seniors. The vote was 406-18. The bill would freeze Medicare Part B premiums for the coming year, rather than risk probable cuts in Social Security checks. Without some sort of intervention by Congress, Medicare was scheduled to announce next month's increased Part B premiums, which are typically deducted from retirees' Social Security checks to help pay for physician services. To learn more, go to http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=cqmidday-000003209910&topic=health.