For seniors, the importance of organizing grows more apparent every day.
The economic stimulus plan put forward by President Obama has great potential for us, if the final version is as good as the proposal:
* Cobra: People who retire before they are eligible for Medicare might be able to extend the health care that they had when employed right up to age 65.
* Jobs: The Senior Community Service Employment Program might get $120 million for jobs
* Nutrition: The Senior Nutrition programs might get $200 million
* Medicaid: States might get $87 million to improve Medicaid
* Social Security: The final version may have $4.2 billion for a one-time additional SSI payment (an average of $450 for an individual and $630 for a couple).
* Prevention and Wellness Fund: Obama proposed $3 billion to fight preventable chronic diseases, including $50 million for injury prevention.
* Health Information Technology: The Senate version might have $5 billion to jumpstart efforts to computerize health records to cut costs and reduce medical errors.
* Research: There could be $3.5 billion to conduct biomedical research in areas such as cancer, Alzheimer's, heart disease and stem cells, and to improve NIH facilities.
The Alliance for Retired Americans, older Americans' best lobby in Washington, will be pushing for these things and more during their legislative conference in the middle of June. Contact them at www.retiredamericans.org or call 1-888-373-6497
At
the state level, several retirees, including Texas Alliance for Retired Americans
President Annie Banks, attended the Texas AFL-CIO legislative conference January
12-14 in Austin. They reminded the union leaders that retirees are with them
in every fight.
One important issue in the State Legislature
is the so-called "Voter-I.D." bill that was pushed through the Texas
Senate on the first day. It would make it harder for thousands of older Texans
to exercise their right to vote. Texas unions are opposing it vigorously.
Email to webmaster (Gene Lantz) Back to home page Back to organizations