AARP Online Community: AARPVA

AARPVA

AARP Member

Offline

My Badges

Create The Good

Background

Name: AARP

Location:
Richmond, Virginia
United States

My Websites:
www.aarp.org/v****

My Bookmarks (2)

My Comments (2)

About Me

AARP Virginia continues to make a difference for Virginians 50+ and their families across the Commonwealth. Through the combined efforts of a network of volunteers and state office staff, AARP works to improve health care, financial security, consumer protection and help protect those vulnerable members of our population. AARP Virginia accomplishes its goals through meetings with state officials, working with other concerned organizations and forming coalitions with other groups. From our Richmond office, AARP Virginia?s 11-member staff works with the volunteers and other organizations to hold events and activities in every corner of the Commonwealth. AARP volunteers in Virginia serve as community coordinators, events, staff, tax aid counselors, driver safety instructors, chapter leaders and volunteer advocates. They are involved in their communities and are the personification of AARP's motto of "to serve, not to be served." More than 1 million Virginians are AARP members. We invite you to explore the AARP Virginia website for the latest information and to post your comments to the news stories, the journal and photo album sections. For more information on AARP Virginia and how to get involved call our toll-free number at 1-866-542-8164.

More About Me

My Photos (788)

Percil-group-IMG_0043.JPG

All My Photos

My Videos (1)

Champ at the Shad Planking

Length: 0:08

All My Videos

My Journals (50)

Virginians With Health Care Problems Welcome Reform Effort

AARP Endorses Affordable Health Care for America Act

Virginians with health care problems welcome reform

RICHMOND—For Katherine Jackson, the announcement that AARP supports the Affordable Health Care for America Act was welcome news.

Jackson was among several AARP members who watched via video conference as AARP’s national leadership announced its endorsement of the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962) and the accompanying Medicare physician payment fix (H.R. 3961).

“As members of the House gear up for this historic vote, they will hear from older Americans like Katherine Jackson,” said AARP Virginia State Director Bill Kallio.

Jackson, 58, of Chesterfield lost her health coverage when electronics retailer Circuit City went bankrupt. She has been without insurance since February because bankrupt employers are not required to offer COBRA benefits to employees. With a pre-existing condition and chronic health conditions, Jackson can’t find affordable coverage. She has postponed surgery due to her lack of health insurance. She welcomes health care reform.

“Stuff like this happens in other countries, not here,” said Jackson, one of more than a million AARP members in Virginia. In Virginia, 155,133 people between the ages of 50 and 64 lack health insurance. Of the total uninsured in the age group, 67.5 percent worked in 2007.

AARP’s support of the House proposals follows nearly two years of work with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to craft a health care reform plan that meets the needs of AARP’s nearly 40 million members and all older Americans. Among those needs are reforms that strictly curb insurance companies’ discrimination against older Americans and Medicare improvements that strengthen benefits while protecting the program for future generations. Medicare provides health care coverage for 996,000 Virginians. Nearly 81 percent of them are over age 65.

“We cannot continue to let insurers price older Americans out of the market, just as we cannot stand idle while millions of seniors are forced to choose between their groceries and their prescriptions,” Kallio said. “AARP is proud to endorse the Affordable Health Care for America Act and the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act, and we urge members of the House to pass this critical package in the coming days to help fix our broken health care system.”

Today’s endorsement marks the first time in this legislative battle that AARP has put its full weight behind a comprehensive health care reform package. In the coming days, AARP will be educating its members about the health care reform package through its publications, paid advertising and more than five million calls and e-mails to its grassroots activists.

The Affordable Health Care for America Act and the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act contain critical components AARP has been fighting for on behalf of its members and all older Americans to improve health care for them and their families. They include:

--Protecting and strengthening Medicare for today’s seniors and future generations of retirees;

--Ensuring seniors can see the doctor of their choice or find a doctor if they need one by improving Medicare’s payments to doctors;

--Lowering drug costs for seniors by closing the Medicare Part D “doughnut hole”;

--Taking steps to reduce waste, fraud, abuse and inefficiency in the Medicare program;

--Requiring Medicare and insurance companies to provide for important preventive services like screenings for diabetes, cancer and osteoporosis free of charge;

--Preventing insurers from denying affordable coverage to anyone because of their age or health;

--Limiting how much your insurance company can make you pay out-of-pocket;

--Providing affordable health insurance options for those who don’t have insurance; and

--Providing benefits to help seniors and people with disabilities live in their own homes and communities.

“We started this debate more than two years ago with the twin goals of making coverage affordable to our younger members and protecting Medicare for seniors,” Kallio said. “We can say with confidence that the Affordable Health Care for America Act it meets those goals with improved benefits for people in Medicare and needed health insurance market reforms to help ensure every American can purchase affordable health coverage.”

AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that helps people 50+ have independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to them and society as a whole. AARP does not endorse candidates for public office or make contributions to either political campaigns or candidates. We produce AARP The Magazine, the definitive voice for 50+ Americans and the world's largest-circulation magazine with over 35.5 million readers; AARP Bulletin, the go-to news source for AARP's nearly 40 million members and Americans 50+; AARP Segunda Juventud, the only bilingual U.S. publication dedicated exclusively to the 50+ Hispanic community; and our website, AARP.org. AARP Foundation is an affiliated charity that provides security, protection, and empowerment to older persons in need with support from thousands of volunteers, donors, and sponsors. We have staffed offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Added: November 6, 2009
Views: 41 | Comments: 1 | Bookmarks: 0

All My Journals

Comments (2)