shAARP Talk: Observations from AARP

Marketwatch: U.S. House Fails To Override Children's Insurance Veto

Bill Novelli, chief executive of AARP, echoed Reid's comments.

"In a time when health care is at the top of the national agenda, a small group of lawmakers have actually voted to add to the 47 million Americans living without health insurance," he said. "No child deserves that."

Associated Press: McCain Rules Out Independent Bid

''The problem with health care in America is not the quality, it's the cost,'' he told a crowded auditorium of mostly students and employees. ''More and more Americans are without insurance because they can't afford it. So our job, in my view, is to make it affordable and available, not to have a big government single-payer system.''

Chicago Tribune: This senior class grayer, and still hungry to learn

Call it the graying of community colleges. With more free time on their hands, more retirees, many in their 70s or older, are finding their way back to the classroom. Community colleges are creating or expanding special programs to meet their needs, offering courses on everything from the Crusades to square dancing.

I’m not prone to quoting directly from the hymnal, but today AAEP CEO Bill Novelli called this one right – “Disgraceful.”

This was his comment after the House failed to override the President’s veto of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and I can’t disagree. Millions of children have the opportunity to have health insurance and today their opportunity was denied.

Shameful.

New poll out of Florida today, with AARP members (both Democrats and Republicans) saying that they are likely to change their vote on key issues like health and financial security. What’s really interesting is that voters say they don’t know enough about candidate positions on these issues to make a choice. Sounds like voters are waiting for the candidates to talk about these issues before they are going to make any decisions.

Politico: Tobacco companies win in SCHIP fight

In addition to the television ad campaign it is running with the AMA, AARP’s lobbying effort will also include office visits to lawmakers, forums in targeted states and direct mail and e-mail pushes, said the group’s spokesman, Drew Nannis.

“To give people in Medicare access to doctors and to protect premiums, Congress should stop subsidizing private insurance companies in Medicare with excess payments,” Nannis said.

Associated Press: Social Security Only Going Up 2.3 Pct.

David Sloane, director of government relations for AARP, which represents people 50 and older, said the cost-of-living adjustment is critical because so many depend on Social Security for most of their retirement income.

Associated Press: Digital TV Switch Needs More Awareness

But Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said in prepared testimony that the agency is devoting significant resources to ensure a smooth transition and has been actively promoting consumer awareness.

In the last several months, he said agency staff have attended 30 conferences sponsored by various advocacy groups, such as the AARP and National Council of La Raza. They have also reached out to various elderly organizations, minority, non-English and rural communities and people with disabilities as well as through various media outlets, he added.

Associated Press: WH hopefuls prep big spending plans

The top candidates on both sides of the 2008 presidential contest have shown their eagerness to spend tax dollars. But their priorities reflect widely differing views of the role of government in addressing complex problems.

A fresh CNN poll calls it – 61 percent of Americans want Congress to override President Bush’s veto of SCHIP. We’ll see what happens, as the vote is scheduled for tomorrow.

The Kasier Family Foundation has put together a nifty online tool to compare the candidates positions on health care.

I expect this to be one of many of these to be coming down the pipeline, so we'll keep you posted as they come online.

As Ray mentioned below, AP is reporting that the Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) is 2.3 percent for next year. While an increase is important to help people keep up on the cost of basics, this is not enough to keep up with the ever expanding cost of health care. Medicare premiums are going up 3.1 percent next year, so where are folks on a fixed income supposed to find the other one percent? If you’re still working, this might not be a big deal. But for someone on a fixed income, it can’t be easy.

Associated Press: Smaller Social Security COLA in January

A coalition named Divided We Fail has been pressing to make entitlement reform a major issue in the presidential campaign, hoping to force candidates in both parties to address the need for changes in entitlement programs.

"We want to get all of the candidates on the record and we want to let voters make up their own minds," said Jim Dau, an official with AARP, an advocacy group for people 50 and older.

Washington Post: The Unforgotten Man

A conservative case can be made for something like Clinton's proposal. It is a case for reducing the supply of government by reducing demand for it, and doing so by giving people ownership of enlarged private assets as a basis for their security. It is a case for raising the nation's deplorable saving rate and simultaneously encouraging the nation's economic literacy and temperance by giving more people a stake in equities markets.

USA Today: California health reform gets sticky

Health reform efforts in California have become increasingly divisive, possibly jeopardizing major health legislation this year and highlighting the difficulties other state or national reform efforts may face.

Washington Post: Helping Workers Where it Hurts

Car wrecks in the labor market do not take the form of unemployment. In the United States most displaced workers usually find new work reasonably quickly. Rather, the car wreck that threatens U.S. workers consists of wage loss, not job loss.

Iowa’s Republican caucus goers want to hear from the Republican candidates on health and financial security issues. This comes from an AARP poll released today in IA that shows one of every three GOP caucus goers in IA is an AARP member or Divided We Fail volunteer.

So far Sen. Sam Brownback, Sen. John McCain, and former Gov. Mike Huckabee have all said they will attend. Where are the rest of the candidates? It’s a good question, so ask ‘em.

To collect Social Security that is… Yesterday, the first Baby Boomer filed for Social Security. Behind Kathleen Casey-Kirschling are the over 80 million Americans who will retire in the next 20 plus years. Knowing this is coming, it seems like a great time to start looking at the ways to make sure that Social Security is around for the next generation.

Real solutions will involve answering difficult questions and making tradeoffs. So what’s the benefit in this? Making sure your kids will have something they can rely on when they need it.

It has arrived! Widely reported and discussed in the blogosphere – Congressional Republicans have said they are developing a health care plan. This is progress. With everyone agreeing that the current system is no longer working, we are finally starting to move in the right direction.

We’ll keep you posted. It’s clear that whatever solution we come up with have to include the innovations from all parts of current patchwork system, public and private, as well things that people can do to improve their health. It is going to take ideas from all sides to get something done.

Associated Press: AARP Pushes for More 401(k) Offerings

More employers need to automatically enroll their workers in 401(k) savings plans in order to avoid a coming retirement crisis, AARP officials said Monday.

New York Times: A Health Care Bargain

Here, the politicians seem to have agreed to ignore the central question: Should American citizenship bring with it the right to have financial access to medical care?

Washington Post: What You Can Expect in Your 2008 Health Insurance Package

Financial incentives to stay well, including reduced premiums or extra cash in a health savings account for those who, for example, complete a personal health risk assessment or join a smoking cessation program.

Politico: Baby bonds would pay bipartisan dividends

But with some pundits denouncing the proposal as some hyperliberal expansion of the welfare state, it’s worth noting that this idea has been simmering for some time in both Democratic and Republican policy circles.

Wall Street Journal: Affordable Senior Housing: A Waiting Game

Just how challenging it can be to find affordable housing was made plain in a January report from the AARP and the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging. The groups found that on average a senior has to wait more than 13 months for space in government-subsidized housing for those with low incomes.

Chicago Tribune: Find remedies for benefit cuts

Among this year's winners of AARP's Best Employers for Workers Over 50 awards, 31 of the 50 companies on the list offer retiree health benefits. That's a significantly higher rate than the Kaiser study found, but it still means a good chunk of these "best" workplaces for older workers are not providing health benefits to retirees.

Wall Street Journal: A Proposal to Strengthen Retirement Security for All

My principal goal in introducing the proposal is to strengthen the retirement security of all Americans.

Washington Post: A Market Makeover For Health Insurance

As the United States prepares for the next great debate on its ailing health-care system, support is growing for a shift from the traditional employer-based financing to publicly subsidized individual health insurance.