President Obama’s health care proposal really works for South Carolina’s senior citizens. With improvements to Medicare and better preventative services, health care reform will help seniors stay healthy and will work for all Americans. Here’s a list of just some of the ways that health care reform will work for you:

1. It Will Protect Your Choice of Doctor — Health care reform will prevent a scheduled 20 percent cut in Medicare payment rates next year, ensuring that doctors will continue to serve seniors and seniors can continue seeing their preferred doctors.

2. It Keeps You Healthy By Making Preventative Services Affordable — Health care reform will eliminate co-payments and deductibles for preventative services in Medicare. Currently, over 70 percent of costs and deaths in the United States result from chronic diseases, many of which can be prevented or controlled.

3. Lowers Your Prescription Drug Costs — Health care reform will significantly reduce and ultimately eliminate the troublesome Part D doughnut hole so that seniors will now get the medications they need without breaking the bank or going without other necessities. Additionally, the government will be able to negotiate on behalf of Medicare for lower prescription drug prices.

4. Supports Early Retiree Coverage — Health care reform will provide financial assistance to employer health plans that cover early retirees, bringing down health costs and premiums by as much as $1,200 per family, per year for some plans.

5. Removes Obstacles to Changing Your Part D Plan — Health care reform will allow Part D enrollees to make a mid-year change in their enrollment if their current plan unexpectedly makes a change that results in higher cost for a drug they take.

6. Significantly Lowers Cost for Struggling Seniors — Health care reform will expand the Medicare Part D low-income subsidy, which will dramatically help struggling seniors afford their health care costs.

7. Brings Savings to Medicare — By eliminating wasteful overpayments to private plans under Medicare and by creating new incentives for coordinated, high quality care across the health care spectrum, health care reform will extend Medicare’s Trust Fund solvency and improve Medicare for generations to come.

Health care can’t wait. Senior citizens can’t wait. Health care reform must be accomplished now. Congress has to hear from us during the month of August. Tell them South Carolina’s senior citizens want quality, affordable health care reform that works for all of us.



Gerald Meadows

President of the Southeast Council of Retired Americans

Newberry