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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 22, 2009

 

WASHINGTON—AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond released this statement following the beginning of markup of health care reform legislation in the Senate Finance Committee:

“AARP applauds the work of Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) and the Senate Finance Committee as they continue to shape and strengthen health care reform legislation. This is an important step towards helping the millions of Americans who face spiraling health care costs and lack access to quality, affordable health care. We urge the Senate Finance Committee to strengthen and move this bill forward in order to enact comprehensive health reform this year to control skyrocketing costs, improve quality and give all Americans access to affordable, quality coverage.

“The legislation under debate includes several key health reform provisions that AARP has been fighting for, including prohibiting insurers from discriminating based on health status or pre-existing conditions, strengthening Medicare by improving quality of care and cutting out fraud and abuse and substantially filling the so-called ‘doughnut hole’ for prescription drugs.”

In a letter sent to Chairman Baucus (available here), AARP articulated pieces of the legislation it supports, amendments to the legislation it hopes are adopted and some provisions it is working to strike from the package. Specifically, AARP supports amendments which include:

* Placing a 2-1 limit on age rating;
* Ensuring that insurance premiums cannot exceed 10 percent of income; and
* Closing the doughnut hole for prescription drug coverage.

However, AARP is working to tackle omissions that must be addressed as this legislation moves forward, including:

* Inadequate subsidies, which could impact the ability of millions of Americans to afford coverage;
* No provisions to help low-income Medicare enrollees; and
* Insufficient provisions to expand access to and strengthen home and community-based services (HCBS) to help people live independently.


LeaMond added, “As the debate over health care reform continues, AARP will continue to work with Congress to ensure that any reform legislation makes coverage available and affordable for more Americans and improves quality of care. We urge the Senate Finance Committee continue their hard work and make health care reform a reality.”