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Thousands join Nelson for Nebraska AARP Telephone Town Hall
November 21, 2011 – Today, Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson made clear to thousands of Nebraskans that he will continue to oppose proposals to cut Social Security or Medicare benefits, as he took questions and offered his views on the retirement programs during an hour-long telephone town hall meeting.
“No one should be playing politics with your Social Security or Medicare benefits. These programs make a difference in people’s lives and I will fight to protect them,” Senator Nelson told Nebraskans during the telephone town hall meeting this morning.
The town hall was hosted by the Nebraska chapter of the AARP, which invited its members to participate. Nebraska AARP State Director Connie Benjamin moderated the call, as nearly 10,000 Nebraskans listened in and had the opportunity to ask questions directly to Nelson or AARP experts on Social Security and Medicare.In his opening remarks, Nelson quoted President Lyndon Johnson’s speech urging Congress to pass Medicare in 1964, where Johnson citied the rising costs of medical care, the toll those costs can take on senior citizens, and that private insurance is often too expensive for retired people.
“That was true then, and it’s still true today,” Nelson said.
Nelson then explained that he was working for the state of Nebraska’s insurance commissioner in 1966 and worked to help implement the new Medicare program.
“For 45 years, I have heard the special interests say Medicare is a bad idea, and I’ve heard a lot of plans to weaken or dismantle it. But I’ve also seen how successful Medicare has been at providing Nebraskans with the health care they need. And I’ve seen how it – and Social Security – protects the quality of life for seniors during their retirement years,” Nelson said. “As a result, I am passionate about Medicare. I am committed to protecting it from those who want to cut benefits and raise premiums or to privatize Medicare by turning it into a voucher program. That’s a bad idea. Their goal is to end Medicare as we know it.
“My view is much different. I believe that by reducing the cost of delivering benefits, we can continue this valuable program for future generations.”
Nelson pointed to a number of changes, many included in the new health care reform law, to reduce costs in the Medicare Program:
- Shifting Medicare payments to care providers from rewarding volume of care to rewarding quality of care
- Improving the coordination of services to focus on the long-term outcomes for patients
- Eliminating Medicare’s overpayments to Medicare Advantage
- Reducing the number of uninsured people who get emergency room care, which results in $57-billion-a-year in uncompensated care for hospitals and other care providers
- Increasing access to preventive care, screenings and early detection
- Providing incentives and protections for doctors from lawsuits so they can worry less about practicing defensive medicine
Nebraska AARP members on the call were very concerned about the federal budget crisis and what that could mean for cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
“One of the problems we have in Washington these days is that the extreme left and the extreme right are unable to come together to reach some form of consensus. The sensible center doesn’t exist anymore,” Nelson said.
“Something has to be done, but it doesn’t have to involve cutting benefits to Social Security or Medicare. Unfortunately, that’s where some folks in Washington want to start out: cutting benefits. We need to do this with the least amount of harm possible from budget cuts. We need to do this in a way that is sound and not as part of a slashing approach that we could end up with because of a failure of the Super Committee.
“This is not a benefits problem, it is a cost problem. I believe we should not be cutting benefits to seniors. We should be looking for ways to reduce the costs of delivering those benefits.”
Nelson went on to explain the challenges to making responsible budget cuts, and gave the example of road blocks he is currently facing. As chairman of the subcommittee that controls funding for the legislative branch of the federal government, Nelson proposed a 5.2 percent cut to the budget but faces opposition.
“Washington is dysfunctional when it comes to budgeting,” Nelson said. “We have to cut expenditures where we can, but that cannot involve cutting benefits to Medicare beneficiaries. I stand with Nebraska’s seniors over Washington’s bureaucracy.”
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