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Senior Citizen Politics
Senior Citizen Issues Getting Top Billing in
Democratic Campaigns
AARP wants lower drug prices, Canada
drug imports,
Social Security reform
 October 10, 2006 – The "hot" issues in this
November election appear to include several that are critical to senior
citizens. A review of campaign activities by KaiserNet.org finds
Democrats pushing for lower drug prices in Medicare through direct price
negotiations with pharmaceutical companies, funding for stem cell
research and greater access to healthcare. AARP says it wants lower drug
prices through pressure on drug companies, legal reimportation of drugs
from Canada and a bipartisan commission to study Social Security reform.
 Democratic Congressional Candidates Promise
'Focused Change' on Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit, Other Issues
Democratic congressional candidates "promise
carefully focused change" -- such as legislation that would allow the
federal government to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies
for discounts on medications under the Medicare prescription benefit and
would promote stem cell research -- in the event that they take control
of Congress after the midterm elections in November, the
New York Times
reports.
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Social Security Private Accounts Not Likely to be
Supported in this Election
AARP survey finds
strong opposition among those 42 and older
October 4, 2006 – One thing voters will not be
hearing about this election are the Social Security private investment
accounts that were so strongly promoted by President Bush and supported
by Republicans in Congress. That boat has sunk. Initially, the idea was
interesting to many younger voters but the most recent polls show 71
percent of Americans age 42 and older - the most likely voters - now
oppose the idea.
Read
more...
Medicare Drug Plan Doughnut Hole Becoming Election Issue in Florida
Race
 October 2, 2006 – With Congressional elections just
weeks away, the Medicare prescription drug program is emerging as an
issue, at least in some areas. The complaints so far are focused on the
infamous "doughnut hole," where coverage stops but monthly premiums do
not. Attention, so far, is focused on a congressional district in
Florida, where about 25 percent of the voters are senior citizens,
according to KaiserNet.org.
Read
more...
Boomers, Seniors Ready to Vote and High Drug Prices
an Issue says AARP Survey
Senior drug prices
climbing at 6.3% a year, generics basically flat
September 19, 2006 – A survey of senior citizens
and baby boomers (age 42 and over) has found 74 percent saying the price
of drugs will be a "voting issue" in the up-coming elections. It also
found 60 percent of those 60 and over saying they always vote. This
voter survey was released yesterday by AARP, as it also released the
latest survey of drug prices showing the most commonly used medications
for older adults rose an average of 6.3 percent in the 12 months ending
with June.
Read
more...
Don't Vote Campaign, Voter Information Site Launched
by AARP
September 19, 2006 - As part of an ongoing voter
education campaign, AARP today unveiled its "Don't Vote" initiative,
which tells voters "Don't vote . . . until you know where the candidates
stand on the issues." The campaign has its own Website where voters can select their respective state
and receive information on state and national races, find their
district, and register to vote.
Read more...
Read more
on
Politics for Senior Citizens |
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However, Republican candidates "warn ... that a
Democratic takeover of Congress would mean wrenching ideological change:
higher taxes; big new spending; maybe even impeachment," according to
the Times.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said
that a Democratic Congress would promote "true openness in the debate,"
which might "make some of these issues too hot for the president and too
hard for many Republicans to vote against."
Thomas Mann, a
Brookings
Institution scholar, said that Democratic candidates are
"appropriately wary of both high expectations for what they can achieve,
as well as the risk of some of their members running off in directions
that would be harmful to their long-term interests in winning back the
White House and holding the Democratic majority."
Stan Collender, a budget analyst, said that the
next congressional sessions will result in an "utter stalemate"
regardless of which party controls Congress because lawmakers cannot
reach an agreement "on what to do or how to get it done" (Toner, New
York Times, 10/8).
Campaign Strategy
Democratic candidates in Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina,
Tennessee and Virginia "are testing different mixes of candidates,
messages and outreach methods" in an effort to "break the GOP's lock on
culturally conservative voters," the
Washington Post
reports.
For example, Democratic candidates have focused on
issues such as Medicare and Medicaid reform and expanded access to
health insurance in culturally conservative areas.
Rep.
Mike Ross
(D-Ark.) said, "In conservative to moderate districts, swing voters
first want to know where you are on their values. Once they get past
that, they will listen to you on everything else" (Murray, Washington
Post, 10/9).
In related news, the
AFL-CIO
has announced plans for a $40 million nationwide voter registration
drive that will "focus on pocketbook issues like employment, health care
and pensions" (Greenhouse,
New York Times,
10/8).
Opinion Pieces
● Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen (D),
New York Times:
"Time is too short for a comprehensive agenda, so I suggest we
concentrate on a single issue: health care," Bredesen writes in a letter
to the editor of the Times. Democratic candidates should "hold out clear
and believable hope to nearly 50 million uninsured Americans and many
more insured but worried ones," Bredesen writes, adding, "Surely my
party -- the party of Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, of
Social Security and Medicare -- still has in it the vigor to offer
another plainspoken, big vision for America" (Bredesen, New York Times,
10/8).
● Gary Andres,
Washington Times:
A
Dutko Worldwide
poll of 800 registered voters conducted from Sept. 19 through Sept. 24
finds that 10% of voters believe that health care is "the single most
important issue for Congress to address this year," Andres, vice chair
of research and policy for Dutko, writes in a Washington Times opinion
piece.
More voters said that Iraq (16%), terrorism (13%),
immigration (12%) or the economy (11%) was the most important issue,
according to Andres.
"Democratic leaders spent more time talking about
the economy, health care and the war in Iraq," as "Republicans in
Washington, including President Bush, have discussed immigration and
terrorism a great deal," Andres writes.
He concludes, "Self-identified partisan voters
closely reflect the views they hear from their leaders in Washington.
And as long as political elites continue to 'prime these partisan pumps'
-- as some social scientists call it -- deep divisions over the
preferred congressional agenda will likely continue" (Andres, Washington
Times, 10/9).
Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Will Remain
Focus of AARP, CEO Novelli Says
AARP CEO
Bill Novelli on Wednesday said his group will continue to push for
changes to the Medicare prescription drug benefit,
McClatchy-Tribune
Business News/Palm Beach Post reports.
In an interview, Novelli said of the benefit, "We
felt year one was good, but we never said it was a perfect plan."
Novelli cited a recent
Kaiser Family
Foundation
survey
finding that about 80% of seniors were satisfied with the benefit, and
nearly 50% were saving money as a result of it.
Novelli said AARP will lobby for lower drug prices
and increased eligibility for the government's low-income subsidy. He
also said the federal government should pressure drug companies to lower
prices for the drug benefit.
In addition, Novelli added that AARP will:
● Push for legalizing the reimportation of
prescription drugs from Canada and other countries;
● Support a non-judicial review of medical
malpractice cases so patients' cases can be handled sooner; and
● Support creation of a bipartisan commission to
study how to reform Social Security.
Social Security is "a lot easier to save than
Medicare," Novelli said (Galewitz, McClatchy-Tribune Business News/Palm
Beach Post, 10/5).
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