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AARPFL

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St. Petersburg, Tallahassee, Miramar, Florida
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AARP

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www.aarp.org/fl
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My Journals (27)

Figuring out health reform: Health Exchange, public option

Here are three questions we're hearing from members about health reform:

Question: I hear a lot of talk about a “Health Exchange” and a “public option.” How would these things affect my health care – and our country’s future?

The Health Exchange (also called a Health Benefit Gateway in some Senate versions) is part of the health-care proposals now before Congress. Some observers think it’s the most important element of health-reform proposals.

The concept is to use the power of a competitive marketplace to help you find more affordable coverage and to control the spiraling costs of health care.

The Health Exchange would be a central clearinghouse where people who currently can’t find insurance – because their employer doesn’t offer health benefits, because they are uninsurable because of pre-existing conditions, or because it just costs too much – could get access to good-quality, affordable health coverage.

Some six out of 10 U.S. workers get coverage through their employers. Under both House and Senate proposals, you could buy insurance through the Health Exchange (whether public or private insurance) only if you don’t get insurance through your employer, Medicare, Medicaid, TriCare or through a federal workers’ health benefits plan.

But what about the rest of us? Some 73 percent of people who shop for private health coverage say the plans they find are too expensive for them to afford.

Both House and Senate versions of health-reform legislation try to address this problem through a Health Exchange or similar mechanism. People without workplace health benefits could seek health coverage through standardized health-coverage plans offered through a Health Exchange. Coverage and prices would be clearly spelled out, encouraging insurers to compete on price and quality of service.

Under current House and Senate proposals, insurers would have to meet tough quality standards as well. Insurers wouldn’t be able to deny you coverage if you had a pre-existing condition, or drop you if your care became expensive, or refuse to renew your policy. In fact, these same rules would apply to all health insurance, not just Health Exchange policies – which eliminates one reason why insurers shun these customers today and try to “cherry-pick” people with the lowest risk.

The idea is that insurers would have to compete more effectively on price, service and coverage.

There is broad bipartisan agreement that any health-care reform package has to cover more of the uninsured, and there has been broad bipartisan agreement that a Health Exchange may help encourage competition. Massachusetts already has a similar program, signed into law by former Gov. and former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Everyone is affected by the rising number of uninsured. Experts say the high number of uninsured people in America – much higher than in any other developed nation, even though America spends twice as much on health care per capita than the average developed nation – is a symptom of a sick health coverage system.

As more and more people find health coverage unaffordable, more or and more costs are shifted to those who still have insurance. This drives up our health premiums – the average family pays about $1,100 per year in health costs to subsidize the care of the uninsured – which drives more and more people to do without coverage, which drives up families’ costs even more. It’s been called a “death spiral.” Except for a period in the mid-1990s, health costs have risen faster than overall inflation for the last 40 years. More than any other factor, this fact is what makes our current health system unsustainable.

Question: OK, what would a “public option” do? And why is it so controversial?

First, it’s important to note that debate on this issue is still unfolding in Congress.

But here is what the current discussions focus on:

As currently proposed, a public option would compete for customers, side by side with private insurers in the Health Exchange. Consumers would be able to decide which option they wanted to buy.

Some advocates of health reform insist that the only way to make insurers compete on price is to create a public organization that would sell insurance through the Exchange. Since this entity wouldn’t have to make a profit, it could offer lower costs on health coverage.

Many critics of this option say that private insurers wouldn’t be able to compete with a public option, and would eventually be driven out of the insurance market.

However, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office disagrees. The CBO says that after 10 years of reform, the number of people covered by private employer-sponsored coverage would actually grow. (See Page 1 of the attached table on this report.)

Question: Would health reform really help reduce the number of uninsured?

Most observers think it would. You could choose not to buy any coverage through the Exchange – but those with no qualified coverage, either through their employer or through the Exchange, would pay extra taxes to help cover their costs when they become ill. The concept is to stop the uninsured from driving up everyone else’s costs. The Congressional Budget Office projects that current health-reform plans would cut the number of uninsured drastically. The CBO says at least 94 percent of Americans would have health coverage by 2019, up from 81 percent today.

AARP has not taken a position on the public option. AARP’s all-volunteer, unpaid Board of Directors set policy for the Association. The Board has said that it could support a health-reform bill with a public option if it encouraged market competition, held costs down and ensured choice. Equally, AARP could support a health-reform plan with no public option if the overall plan met these tests.

AARP’s bottom line is clear: We will fight for our members and their families to ensure that seniors get the Medicare benefits they have earned, and that Medicare will be strong for those who need it when they grow older.

No American, regardless of health or medical history, should be denied health care based on their age or pre-existing conditions.

Protecting your health care should not take a back seat to insurance-company profits.

And no one – not the insurance companies and not the government – should get between you and your doctor.

AARP is urging Democrats and Republicans to work together to fix what’s broken and preserve what’s right about our health-care system this year.

Added: September 10, 2009
Views: 107 | Comments: 0 | Bookmarks: 0

AARP Reacts to Presidential Address

September 10, 2009

AARP Reacts to Presidential Address

WASHINGTON—AARP CEO Barry Rand released this statement following President Barack Obama’s address to Congress:

“Over the last several weeks, the health care debate shifted from a conversation to a shouting match, and legitimate concerns about how we fix our health care system were drowned out by myths and mischaracterizations. It’s time to get back to the goal of fixing our system so everyone has quality, dependable health care they can afford. We are optimistic that tonight’s address will help move us toward an agreement on these important issues.

“At AARP, we’re fighting for reforms that protect and expand benefits for people in Medicare, prevent discrimination based on age or health, and ensure no one—not an insurance company or a government bureaucrat—can come between you and your doctor. We need to close the dreaded gap in Medicare drug coverage that forces many to stop taking the medicines that keep them healthy. And we need to ensure that older Americans can buy and keep affordable health coverage.

“AARP will fight on behalf of our 40 million members to ensure health care reform works for them by making coverage available and affordable and by improving the quality of care they receive.

“We applaud the president’s effort to keep health care reform moving forward. Tonight, he laid out thoughtful goals for health care reform. We share many of those goals and we will continue to work for our members and their families to ensure health care reform meets their needs.”

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 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.

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Added: September 10, 2009
Views: 99 | Comments: 0 | Bookmarks: 0

AARP: Five Florida Winners In Best Employers For Workers Over 50

AARP: SARASOTA INSURER AMONG FIVE FLORIDA WINNERS IN BEST EMPLOYERS FOR WORKERS OVER 50 AWARDS

Applications Set Nine-year Record; New Hospital-Health Care Honor Established

Washington, DC – FCCI Insurance Group, based in Sarasota, Fla., has been named by AARP to its 2009 list of Best Employers for Workers 50 and Over.

FCCI Insurance Group joins five other Florida-based honorees announced today by AARP CEO Barry Rand.

Honorees returning to the list include: Lee Memorial Health System, Brevard Public Schools, Central Florida Health Alliance and the Lee County Electric Cooperative.

More than 200 employers applied for Best Employers honors, the highest total in the nine year history of the program designed to highlight exemplary policies toward aged 50 and over workers.

“AARP Florida congratulates FCCI for its outstanding attention to the needs of senior workers and its efforts to provide cost-effective insurance solutions for Florida businesses struggling with a difficult economic and property-insurance environment,” said Lori Parham, AARP Florida State Director.

For the first time this year, AARP has established a separate “honor roll” for hospitals and health care Best Employers. AARP chose to set up a separate category to spotlight efforts by health-care employers to find creative solutions to the challenges of staffing in our health-care industry. AARP has expressed concern, both in Florida and nationally, about looming shortages of nurses, primary-care physicians and other health professionals in coming years.

Any U.S.-based employer with at least 50 employees is eligible to apply for the Best Employers award. Candidates are vetted to ensure that practices meet the needs of mature workers. Key areas of consideration include: recruiting practices, opportunities for training, education and career development; workplace accommodations; alternative work options, such as flexible scheduling, job sharing, and phased retirement; employee health and retirement benefits and retiree work opportunities

AARP The Magazine will feature the 2009 Best Employers in its November-December issue, available in homes Sept. 24. On that date, the article can be found at www.aarpmagazine.org

For more information on the 2009 Best Employers, please go to www.aarp.org/bestemployers

Background on each employer’s workforce practices and a description of the selection process is available on request.

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 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.

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Added: September 9, 2009
Views: 196 | Comments: 0 | Bookmarks: 0

AARP Florida: Glad Florida GOP supports seniors, but...

AARP Florida State Director Lori Parham sent a letter Thursday to Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer, thanking him for statements committing Florida Republican to better health care for seniors.

However, Parham raised questions about some of the figures Greer cited in an email to Floridians about health-care reform. For example, Greer said that current health-reform proposals would cut more than $500 billion from Medicare and hurt care provided to seniors.

"You seem to have omitted the $311.8 billion that would be plowed back into Medicare to pay doctors more to provide health coverage, close the infamous Medicare Part D coverage gap or “doughnut hole,” and eliminate copayments and deductibles for preventive screenings for prostate cancer, osteoporosis and other diseases affecting older people," Parham wrote in part.

"The real savings to Medicare total approximately $227 billion over 10 years, or about 3 percent of all Medicare spending. These savings come exclusively from reducing payments to Medicare providers and creating efficiencies – there are no reductions targeting Medicare beneficiaries."

"Your e-mail also doesn’t mention that health-reform bills would extend Medicare’s solvency by five years – a critical issue for older Floridians. Many of our members are concerned that Medicare’s trustees report that the program will begin paying out more than it brings in by 2017. "

"We were surprised to hear that Florida Republicans, known for strong fiscal conservatism, believe Medicare’s future costs cannot be reduced by 3 percent over 10 years without grievously hurting older Americans. This program will expend about $7.1 trillion over this period. Surely it would be possible to achieve some efficiencies, wring out some waste and encourage some cost savings by providers without hurting beneficiaries."

Parham closed by thanking Greer for his strong stance committing the state Republican Party to support of better health care for seniors. "Floridians age 50+ have waited many decades for Washington to come to grips with this very complex, difficult issue. Now we are on the cusp of action. Floridians of all generations need their leaders to put aside their differences and work together to achieve common-sense solutions for health reform."

Added: September 3, 2009
Views: 121 | Comments: 0 | Bookmarks: 0

AARP Florida is now Tweeting. Follow us on Twitter

AARP Florida is now Tweeting. Follow us on Twitter as we reveal critical information to the 50+ audience. Perhaps the most direct connection to AARP, expect up-to-the-minute updates and continuous communication. Now, AARP has never been closer. Find us at http://twitter.com/aarpflorida.

Added: September 1, 2009
Views: 101 | Comments: 1 | Bookmarks: 0

From AARP: How would health reform affect your Medicare?

FIGURING OUT HEALTH REFORM 2:

A message from AARP Florida State Director Lori Parham:

Are you for or against health-care reform – or are you still trying to figure it out? Wherever you stand on health reform, many of you are telling AARP that this issue is just plain hard to understand. So many numbers, ideas and claims are floating around, it’s hard to get a grip on this complicated issue.

In this report, I’ll share two questions we’ve been hearing lately, followed by our analysis. We won’t just tell you what we think – we’ll cite the best research we can find. We’ve also listed other questions and answers on a special AARP web site. Our goal is to fill in parts of the health-reform picture you may have not yet seen.

To share your thoughts on health reform, pro or con, please call 1-866-AARP-449. To learn more about the issue, please go towww.aarp.org/fl . To share your story of how our health system is affecting you, please go to www.healthactionnow.org .

Question: I’ve heard that the House health-reform bill (HR 3200) calls for cutting Medicare by $532 billion. Does that mean my benefits would be cut? Will I be better off, worse off, or unaffected by health care reform as a Medicare beneficiary?

Let’s deal with your Medicare benefits first. If you’re among the three out of four older Floridians on traditional Medicare, you would gain new benefits under health-reform legislation without losing any that you currently have.

For example, pending health-reform bills would gradually close the Medicare Part D “doughnut hole” prescription drug benefit – a big gain for 312,000 older Floridians who fall into the “doughnut hole” coverage gap every year.

Health-care reform also would save most beneficiaries money on drug costs over time. This is no small matter for older Floridians. By 2019, if today’s health laws don’t change, the upper limit of the infamous Medicare Part D “doughnut hole” could grow from $4,500 today to $5,700.

Other provisions would eliminate Medicare co-payments and deductibles for screenings for diabetes, prostate cancer and osteoporosis, and pay doctors more to provide your care. Improving preventive care could be vital for you. Four in five Florida men will face concerns about prostate health by age 80. Half of all post-menopausal women in America will suffer an osteoporosis-related bone fracture during their lives. Having Medicare fully cover screenings for these conditions is a small change that will yield huge benefits for many seniors, perhaps including you.

Now let’s look at what changes to Medicare really mean, and who would be affected.

First, note that the $532 billion in Medicare changes would take place over 10 years. The math seems simple – $53.2 billion per year, right? – but actually savings would vary from year to year. By the way, Medicare (government-run health care for Americans age 65+) is expected to cost about $422 billion in 2009 alone and $797 billion per year by 2019.

In all, the changes to Medicare represent about 7 percent of Medicare spending over 10 years. But saying Medicare would be “cut” by $532 billion isn’t really accurate.

More than $300 billion of the $532-billion figure would actually be plowed back into Medicare to improve some benefits, such as closing the Medicare Part D “doughnut hole,” paying your doctor more, and improving preventive care.

The real net reductions to Medicare total about $234 billion over 10 years. This would be about 3.2 percent of Medicare’s cost between 2010 and 2019. These figures come from the Congressional Budget Office, incidentally.

AARP analysts have looked hard at the changes proposed for Medicare. They clearly impact insurance companies, some health-care providers and those selling medical equipment. For some providers, such as doctors, payments would go up. Right now, your doctor is scheduled to take a 21-percent cut in Medicare reimbursements in 2010. This legislation would cancel this planned reduction and instead pay doctors more over the next 10 years. In all, doctors could expect to see $245 billion in additional payments from Medicare over 10 years if health-care reform legislation is adopted.

But for most Floridians, health-reform bills propose no cuts at all to your Medicare benefits.

Question: What kind of insurers and health providers would see lower Medicare reimbursements, and how would that affect me?

One big example involves Medicare Advantage insurance plans. Medicare pays these plans to provide care to Medicare beneficiaries. Private managed-care companies are paid one flat fee to provide covered services. Medicare Advantage plans are paid some 14 percent more per person than traditional Medicare pays to take care of the average beneficiary. In 2009, Medicare Advantage plans will cost about $111 billion, according to a recent Medicare trustees’ report. Their extra payments amount to about $1,100 per enrollee.

In fact, if you’re on traditional Medicare, your premium dollars help subsidize MA plans.

New studies have found, however, that the plans aren’t nearly as efficient at providing care as traditional Medicare. Studies show that two of every three extra dollars paid to Medicare Advantage plans actually go for overhead, administration and profit. Recently, some Medicare Advantage plan members have raised questions about denials of care.

Under House health plans, MA plans would be cut by about $156 billion over 10 years, or about 10 percent of all MA spending over that period. AARP is seeking to persuade Congress to phase in these changes to help plans adapt.

Some MA beneficiaries fear that health-reform bills would eliminate MA plans entirely. This is just not true. Even after the largest cuts to Medicare Advantage proposed to date, the program would be significantly more costly in 2019 than today.

The health-reform bills also build in important consumer protections for Medicare Advantage plan members. Under the legislation, if your Medicare Advantage plan changed their list of covered medications or raised your out-of-pocket costs in mid-year, you could change your plan.

Whatever happens, you’d still have traditional Medicare to rely on.

Health-reform bills also would hold down planned increases in costs to some Medicare care providers, such as hospices, nursing homes and rehabilitation hospitals by paying them based on more accurate, current payment rates. Together, these savings would total about $196 billion over 10 years.

One more big source of savings comes in the area of prescription drugs. House health-care legislation would save $30 billion over 10 years by taking better advantage of drug-maker discounts.

Major U.S. drug manufacturers already have agreed to lower costs for Medicare beneficiaries by $80 billion over 10 years if health-reform passes. This agreement has been included in current proposed legislation. Drug manufacturers say they can absorb this reduction without hurting their ability to deliver new, innovative drugs to market. An amendment put on the House health-reform bill would allow the government to negotiate with drug-makers to lower costs, which is not allowed under current law. AARP supports this provision.

AARP also has endorsed a bipartisan bill (SR 525) that would make it easier to re-import safe, effective drugs into the United States from Canada and other countries. This legislation is not yet part of health-reform proposals, but AARP is fighting to include it.

Make no mistake – AARP believes our health system is broken and needs reform this year. While AARP hasn’t yet endorsed a specific bill, we are urging members of both major parties to work together on health reform. In fact, AARP has endorsed 38 different pieces of legislation related to health issues this year, 19 of which have bipartisan sponsorship.

As the health reform debate progresses, AARP Florida will do everything it can to help you stay informed. Again, please visit our website, www.aarp.org/fl , often for updates or call 1-866-AARP-449 to share your thoughts on health care.

Added: September 1, 2009
Views: 200 | Comments: 3 | Bookmarks: 0

AARP Welcomes New Senator LeMieux

Tallahassee , Fla – AARP Florida State Director Lori Parham issued the following statement today on Gov. Charlie Crist’s appointment of George LeMieux to serve out the remainder of outgoing U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez’s unexpired term:

“As a member of the U.S. Senate, Sen. LeMieux will play a role in historic decisions affecting the nation, the people of Florida and those age 50 and older in the SunshineState. One of his first important roles will be in the health-reform debate, in which critical issues face older Floridians.

“With an estimated 612,000 Floridians age 50 to 64 lacking health coverage, 312,000 Floridians age 65+ falling in to the Medicare Part D “doughnut hole” every year, and tens of thousands of older Floridians facing bankruptcy because of unanticipated health costs, Sen. LeMieux will have an opportunity to play an important role in improving their lives and health. AARP looks forward to helping him engage the important and urgent issues confronting Floridians age 50 or older.”

Added: August 28, 2009
Views: 118 | Comments: 1 | Bookmarks: 0

Finding the facts on health-care reform

This message is from Lori Parham, AARP's Florida State Director:

At AARP, we’ve been holding many Town Hall meetings where we’ve heard from our members on health reform.

Whether you are for health-care reform, against it or just aren’t sure yet, many of you are telling AARP that this issue is just plain hard to understand. So many numbers, ideas and claims are floating around, it’s hard to get a grip on this complicated issue.

In a series of posts, I’ll share one question we’ve been hearing. Then I'll note where AARP stands. Also, we won’t just tell you what we think – we’ll cite the best research we can find. Our goal is to fill in parts of the health-reform picture you may have not yet seen.

Question: I’ve heard a lot about the so-called “public option” plan? Won’t that lead to employers dropping their health-care coverage – and eventually, a government takeover of all private health care?

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a nonpartisan budget agency, the answer is no. CBO says that most employers would probably keep their employee coverage plans if health reform legislation is enacted, because it would be cheaper and make it easier for them to hold onto key employees in the long run. Also, if larger employers chose not to offer health coverage for employees, they would not only lose an important tax deduction, they’d also face increased taxes. In fact, the CBO published a table estimating that the number of people insured by their employer would actually rise by 2 million people over the next 10 years if health-care reform is enacted. (See Page 1 of the attached table on this report.)

Let me make clear that AARP neither supports nor opposes a “public option” plan. If health reform with a public option is the best way to hold down costs, the Association’s all-volunteer Board of Directors may be willing to support it, provided it helps preserve Medicare over the long term, brings down the cost of prescription drugs, guarantees you a choice of dependable, affordable health insurance plans and preserves your choice of doctors. AARP also would support a final plan that doesn’t include a public option, as long as it does what we want health reform to do. The Association’s top priority is access to affordable, quality health care.

Question: I hear a lot about medical-malpractice lawsuits driving up health costs. Isn’t fixing out-of-control jury awards essential to controlling health-care costs?

AARP agrees that too often, patients get trapped in nasty fights between doctors and lawyers. And too often, doctors spend time and money on tests meant mostly to protect them if they’re sued. It seems obvious that if doctors got more protections against frivolous lawsuits, costs would go way down. However, curbing medical-malpractice lawsuits doesn’t appear to have had much effect on controlling health costs.

For example, Texas lawmakers enacted one of the toughest medical-malpractice reform laws in any state in 2003, capping non-economic damages at no more than $250,000 per claimant. After 2003, Texas malpractice lawsuits dropped dramatically. Medical-malpractice insurance costs also are down by more than one-quarter.

If tort reform was the answer to controlling health costs, you would think that Texas would now have lower health costs than the nation. Actually, Texas’s Medicare costs are rising faster than the national average, according to Dartmouth University research.

And Medicare famously spends about $15,000 per year (as of 2006) to treat the average beneficiary in the small Texas town of McAllen – twice the national average. Only Miami, Florida, has a higher cost per beneficiary than McAllen. Medical-malpractice reforms haven’t helped hold down health costs in McAllen, even though doctors there say medical-malpractice lawsuits have fallen off to almost nothing.

Florida also has taken tough action to curb excessive medical-malpractice jury awards. Florida caps jury awards for “pain and suffering” and other non-economic damages at $500,000 for any malpractice other than death, a permanent vegetative state or catastrophic injury. Even for malpractice that causes a death, the maximum award is $1 million for non-economic damages. Attorneys’ fees also are capped under a constitutional amendment adopted in 2004.

But doctors say they are still doing lots of tests, some of them unnecessary. With nearly 100,000 preventable deaths per year through medical errors in the U.S., all those extra tests clearly aren’t helping to improve health quality.

AARP supports additional efforts to identify better ways to reduce so-called “defensive medicine.” The Association also supports more effective use of mediation to resolve disputes over health care more quickly and effectively, without extra legal costs or lengthy delays in getting help. Let’s keep in mind that families can be hurt by medical errors, and that they can bear heavy costs as a result. Our focus ought to be not on whether lawyers or doctors win, but what’s best for patients.

One other important point needs to be made about health-reform legislation and medical-malpractice lawsuits. Both House and Senate health-reform bills would make more information available to doctors about what kinds of treatments work best. These practices not only may improve the quality of your care, but if followed, they also provide your doctor with important protections from frivolous lawsuits.

Question: There is a lot of talk about improving the quality of care. Does quality really save money, or just cost more?

The most important point is that top-quality care saves lives. That’s why we have health care, after all. But there is growing evidence that, applied in the right way, improving health quality could certainly save money as well. For example, people are sometimes released from hospitals without good follow-up care, and then have to go back to the hospital for more care. That’s really costly. AARP fought for, and got, provisions included in the House and Senate bills that would improve your care after you are released from the hospital. This reform would not only improve your care – it would save Medicare $20 billion over 10 years.

In addition, health reform would save money by rewarding doctors and hospitals for better care. A new study by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid shows that, when rewarded for improving the quality of care, taxpayers, patients and physicians all gained.

In one study, ten physicians’ groups found ways to improve quality in caring for patients with diabetes, congestive heart failure, heart-artery disease and cancer over three years. Rewarding doctors for these improvements cost Medicare $23 million – but better care avoided $32 million in costs, and patients got better care.

Recently, I was struck by what Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, had to say about the merits of encouraging better preventive care – that we spend millions to treat sick people, but pennies to keep them well.

Added: August 27, 2009
Views: 7593 | Comments: 23 | Bookmarks: 0

CFO Announces Major Legislative Push to Protect Seniors

ST. PETE BEACH--Florida CFO Alex Sink held a press conference Monday in St. Petersburg prior to delivering a speech to the Florida Council on Aging Conference to announce her continued pursuit of tougher safeguards for Florida seniors. CFO Sink was joined by local senior victims of financial fraud that received assistance from the Department of Financial Service and senior advocates including AARP. In the Tampa area last fiscal year the department opened 52 annuity-related investigations.

Participants at the press conference included Robert Patrick and Marie St. Germaine of New Port Richey, whose more than $201,000 plus interest was refunded, Bonnie Madden of Port Richey, who saved nearly $300,000, and Ann Ridings of Sarasota, who was able to recover more than $250,000 to keep her ward, the late Joseph Seale, from being evicted from his nursing home. This was all done through involvement by Sink and the Department of Financial Services.

Added: August 24, 2009
Views: 162 | Comments: 0 | Bookmarks: 0

Strong Public Interest in Health Care Forces Search for New Venue

Strong public interest and limited space for an upcoming PascoCountyAARPHealth-CareTown Hall has led to the postponement of the Aug. 21 event.

AARP had previously arranged to hold the event from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Aug. 21 at CARES Rao Musunuru, M.D. Enrichment Center. 12417 Clock Tower Parkway in Hudson.

However, the PascoCounty event proved to be so popular that AARP and CARES became concerned that the venue would not be large enough to allow everyone interested in attending to be able to ask questions and to be seated in an air-conditioned space.

Therefore, AARP Florida state leaders made the decision Tuesday to postpone the Hudson event. AARP will work to find another location that will accommodate those interested in attending.

We will let our AARP Florida members know where and when the event will be held as soon as a more appropriate location has been found. We are committed to ensuring that every PascoCounty member has a chance for their voice to be heard on this important issue.

If you have questions, please contact AARP at FLAARP@aarp.org.

To find an updated schedule for PascoCounty and other events, visit the AARP "Events Calendar" at www.aarp.org/fl .

Added: August 20, 2009
Views: 166 | Comments: 0 | Bookmarks: 0

Journal Archives

November 2009 (4)
October 2009 (4)
September 2009 (8)
August 2009 (9)
July 2009 (2)