shAARP Talk: Observations from AARP

ShAARP Session invited Senators Baucus and Grassley - the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, the Committee in charge of Medicare in the Senate - to guest blog. Below you'll see each of them explain their respective bills to you. Now you have the chance to respond to them with your thoughts and concerns.

The following statements from Senators Baucus and Grassley regarding their competing Medicare bills are
unedited and do not reflect AARP's position.

If Congress doesn't act, the physicians who treat Medicare patients will face a 10.6 percent pay cut, effective July 1. Such a dramatic cut would very likely hurt older Americans' access to their doctors. A big number of doctors might stop dealing with Medicare altogether.

The Republican bill prevents the cut and gives a small payment increase to keep doctors serving Medicare patients. The physician payments are the same as in the Democratic leaders' bill. Neither bill is more generous than the other to doctors.

The Republican bill has several other Medicare improvements. It increases payments to doctors who report quality data to the government to help link payments with quality. It promotes value-based purchasing, e-prescribing to reduce medication errors, and electronic health records. It includes responsible proposals to preserve Medicare access in rural areas, including much-needed payment improvements for rural hospitals and home health care. It returns the ownership of oxygen equipment to the supplier, not the beneficiary, so the beneficiary doesn't have to get the equipment serviced. It cracks down on abusive sales tactics by Medicare Advantage plans and makes plan quality information available to beneficiaries for comparison shopping. It improves cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation, renal care, diabetes prevention, and outpatient therapy. It extends programs to help low-income seniors and families.

Unlike the Democratic leaders' bill, the Republican bill does not:
* cut payments for power wheelchairs;
* reduce payments for oxygen;
* make large, unwarranted cuts to Medicare Advantage, altering policy decisions designed to maximize patient choice;
* eliminate the fund that Congress specifically created to help avert future physician cuts; or
* expand eligibility for low-income Medicare programs, which although well-intentioned, would increase long-term entitlement spending and expand coverage under an already fiscally challenged program.

Maybe most important, the President will sign the Republican bill. The President would veto the Democratic leaders' bill. Meanwhile, the Democratic leaders walked away from bipartisan negotiations and put a timely outcome of this effort in jeopardy. The Republican bill does everything Medicare beneficiaries need to protect their access to
doctors and prevent a physician revolt. There's nothing in it that Democratic leaders would find objectionable if they put aside their political lens and looked at it as Medicare beneficiaries and taxpayers.

The following statements from Senators Baucus and Grassley regarding their competing Medicare bills are unedited and do not reflect AARP's position.

The laws governing Medicare have a big influence on seniors’ access to health care, and on the quality of the care they receive. As Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, I’ve introduced the “Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008” to update Medicare laws and make the program work better for every single American senior. It’s the best bill Congress can pass for seniors this year.

The Baucus bill starts by helping more low-income seniors get help with their Medicare premiums. It has incentives for more primary care doctors to take Medicare patients. It allows for more preventive care in Medicare, to keep seniors healthier, and lowers co-payments for mental health services. It provides more money to rural hospitals, ambulance services, and other facilities to make sure seniors get quality care no matter where they live. It cracks down on shady marketers selling seniors on private plans they don’t need or want. And it makes sure local pharmacists get paid promptly for dispensing medicines under the drug benefit, to keep affordable medications available everywhere.

The Baucus bill is responsible, too, paying for these improvements with smart savings found elsewhere in Medicare. It’s important for you to know that these savings in no way endanger any senior’s access to health coverage, health care, or medical equipment. Rather, savings come from strengthening the rules applied to private fee-for-service plans – which are paid 17 percent more than the amount paid to other Medicare providers – and by reducing overpayments to wheelchair and oxygen providers, who sometimes receive more than 1000 percent of the cost of the equipment they supply. In most cases, these changes will even reduce seniors’ out-of-pocket co-payments while also saving taxpayer dollars.

The President threatens to veto this bill, but I believe Congress should do the very best it can for seniors, and pass the Medicare bill that does the most for all who use the program. The Baucus bill goes the extra mile – particularly for rural and low-income seniors – while giving doctors a decent payment increase that won’t explode costs or inflate premiums. And the Baucus bill saves money in Medicare without endangering anyone’s access to care. I’ll work with other Senators and even the White House to get a good bill signed into law. But the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act is the right start to make Medicare better for every American senior.

This is intriguing.

Reuters had a story yesterday on the potential positive effects that whole body vibration training (WBV) may have on older folks. What is WBV, do you ask? It merely involves standing on platform that sends mild vibratory impulses through the feet and into the rest of the body.

Exercise therapy without having to exercise? Sounds like a win-win to me. They say this strategy could be particularly useful for older women:

In 1 study of 28 postmenopausal women, for example, researchers found that WBV appeared to increase bone density in the hip. The 8-month training regimen required the women to stand on a WBV platform, in a squat position, for six 1-minute cycles, 3 times per week.

Another small study of postmenopausal women found that over one year, WBV training seemed to inhibit bone loss in the spine and hip area.

In the meantime, this like an interesting new form of therapy that folks could potentially benefit from - although the idea of a platform as your exercise machine does seem a bit silly. "Going to the platform to work out, honey!"

It's Friday the 13th! My father insists that this is his lucky day, but so far mine seems to be living up to the legend of back luck! I'll spare you details.

Did you know there's a phobia for Friday the 13th? Paraskevidekatriaphobia! Who knew!? USA Today explores some of the myths around this unlucky day. Any stories you'd like to share? Care to debunk the myth?

Alexis Leondis of Bloomberg reports that a growing number of seniors are using reverse mortgages to pay for things they might never be able to afford on their own. Leondis describes reverse mortgages this way:

Reverse mortgages are for people aged at least 62. The loans, which lenders charge fees equal to as much as 6 percent of a home's value, allow borrowers to use their home equity to get cash tax free. After the borrowers die, or move, the lenders are repaid when the house is sold.

Like every other personal financial decision, the question of whether or not a taking out reverse mortgage is the right decision is a deeply personal and circumstantial one. The AARP Foundation’s Reverse Mortgage Education Project has many tools folks can use to find out if a reverse mortgage is appropriate to their particular circumstance.

Full confession: I love “weird” news. I check Yahoo! Odd News daily, sometimes hourly (shh! don't tell my boss!). I came across these two tidbits: protesting nuns and French spiderman.

Now, there are a lot of causes I’m passionate about – access to health care and financial security chief among them – but I don’t know that I’d chain myself up, much less scale a skyscraper. Signing a pledge is more my style. What about you – what’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done to support an issue you care about?

Bill Novelli, AARP's CEO, sounds off on today's Medicare vote:

“Eight in ten older Americans are concerned about their health care bills; even more are worried about what those bills will be in the coming years. It’s unfortunate that some senators voted to block debate on real, positive changes to our health care system.”

To see what else he had to say click here.

Yesterday we said we’d let you know if your senator voted to Keep Medicare Fair for you, and today we’re posting the record of their votes. Click here to see how your senator voted.

Feel free to sound off here, or give your senator a call and let them know how you’re feeling.

I must have health on the mind lately (healthy drinks, health care, etc.) because when I was skimming the news this morning I found a story about these ladies who tap dance! They started tapping as a little light exercise once a week and now they're practically Vegas showgirls!

Check out this video of the Hot Flash Hoofers (I didn't make it up!) in action:

The World Health Organization has new data out on the health of its 193 member states. First, the good news: for the first time life expectancy in the U.S. has passed 78 years. This means that children born in 2006 are expected to live longer than ever. Now the bad: according to this story by AP writer Mike Stobbe, “the United States continues to lag behind about 30 other countries in estimated life span.” Hmmm … it would probably help if all Americans had access to health care, like some of our longer-living European friends. (We’re working on it. In the meantime, do yourself a favor and take your health into your own hands by checking out some healthy living tips.)

Because there is such a pressing need to end the gridlock here in Washington, we've been taking the issues directly to the people. This is why you've likely noticed a surge in political ads including the huge Divided We Fail ad campaign that has been going on nation-wide. The politicians are just not getting things done and the American people are the ones left in the lurch. By bringing our message to the people we can work together to make some real progress here.

Speaking of getting the word out, yesterday the blogosphere picked up on the presumptive 2008 nominees sparring over Social Security. While there has been a lot of posturing, little if anything has actually gotten done to this point. However, this lively debate is a step in the right direction. Regardless of what you personally believe the best way of protecting Social Security may be, a vibrant public dialogue between our leaders is clearly a necessary step in the process.

Many of your have heard about our effort to Keep Medicare Fair. With premiums skyrocketing over the last decade, AARP is working to make sure inaction in Congress doesn't add up to big jumps in your health care bills.

Congress has been listening to you and to us, and they're getting somewhere. Tomorrow, the Senate is scheduled to vote on a Medicare bill that AARP gave a thumbs up to earlier this week (link to article or press release). That bill keeps premium increases reasonable, improves help for low-income people in Medicare and creates a national system for electronic prescriptions to help lower the chance of a mix-ups with your drugs.

Thursday's vote won't decide whether or not the bill passes, but it will decide if the Senate can continue to work on this particular bill. They need 60 votes to keep moving forward with this bill to keep Medicare fair for you. If we don't get 60 votes, we're starting all over, and creeping closer and closer to the June 30 deadline for a Medicare bill.

SHAARPSession is going to watch Thursday's vote, and we'll report the results right here, so you'll know right away how your senators voted. In the meantime, visit KeepMedicareFair.org and call or e-mail your senators. Let them know they need to Keep Medicare Fair.

And if you have a story to share about your rising health care bills, sound off in the comments. We want to hear from you.

Cranberries are making an appearance everywhere nowadays…I was browsing YouTube and even Richard Simmons digs their tangy juice. I did some research and found out they are good for more than just urinary tract health (thanks for the tip, mom). Some recent studies are showing that cranberry juice increases the “good” cholesterol in your body almost the same way red wine does!

So while Congress works on Medicare– sip on some cranberry juice and say cheers to your heart!

Sex appeal and stylishness aren't only for twenty somethings. Need proof? Look no further than the extremely popular Sex And The City girls. Here are some women who are not afraid to be on the cutting edge of fashion regardless of what their age is. In that same vein, AARP wants to show off just how beautiful life after 50 can be and the search for 50+ real people models is on.

Since there is so much appeal in the 50+ crowd it shouldn't be too surprising to know that many older Americans aren't afraid to stay a little frisky. Fox News' Health Blog answers a reader's question on an active sex life after 65 and notes that staying sexually active is definitely the norm. Just more proof that you're only as old as you feel.

Have you seen this ad for the Alliance for Climate Protection yet? Pretty striking, right? Left and right working together for the greater good of all…sounds vaguely familiar. Who does Al Gore think he is?!

OK, OK – Divided We Fail doesn’t actually own the idea on encouraging bi-partisan solutions to the problems facing Americans. I guess great minds really do think alike that if we’re going to accomplish anything, we’re going to have to work together. What are you waiting for? Go ahead, get involved already!

Well it was looking dicey for a while, but the legislation designed to prevent cuts to Medicare patients doctors' rates has been changed to ensure that patients won't be stuck paying the tab. While the legislation was starting to look like it would leave patients to foot the bill through increased premiums, recent changes will protect Medicare recipients while still preventing a cut in doctors' rates. This is a real win and good news for the millions of Americans who rely on Medicare.

Meanwhile, the need to protect Social Security is only growing and there has been little effort by the government to do anything about it. The 2008 Presidential hopefuls butted heads on Social Security yesterday as covered by Bonney Kapp of Fox News Embed Producers' Blog. Though Social Security has been debated widely, so far that debate has only paid lip-service to the problems facing the program. Let's look to these two politicians to put those word into action.

Despite belly aching by opponents, age doesn’t appear to play much of a role in John McCain's bid for the Presidency. In her article, Angela Delli Santi of Associated Press describes why In her AP article, Angela Delli Santi describes why age will not impact the election bids of McCain and other older politicians. It’s nice to know that these arguments aren’t holding water with voters even though it seems to be the topic du jour.

Meanwhile, the presumptive nominees for the 2008 race seem to be willing to engage each other on the real problems facing the nation rather than superficial issues such as age. This weekend, McCain and Obama tussled over the best way to cure what ails the American economy in The New York Times political blog, The Caucus. We’ll give this one some time before we dive in with our opinions.