Arizona United States House of Representatives, District 5

Candidates:

J.D. Hayworth, Republican
Harry Mitchell, Democrat
Warren Severin, Libertarian

Questions - SOCIAL SECURITY HEALTH CARE REFORM MEDICARE LONG-TERM CARE RETIREMENT SECURITY

Social Security

A balanced Social Security plan for guaranteed benefits
	Supports	Opposes
AARP
J.D. Hayworth, Republican
Harry Mitchell, Democrat
Warren Severin, Libertarian
Using Social Security taxes for private accounts
	Supports	Opposes
AARP
J.D. Hayworth, Republican
Harry Mitchell, Democrat
Warren Severin, Libertarian

* If there is no check mark, the candidate was either undecided or chose not to check a box.

Question
Will you support or oppose a balanced Social Security plan to continue the program's guaranteed benefits for future generations? Will you support or oppose using Social Security taxes to fund private accounts?

AARP Response
For 70 years, America's families have relied on the values embodied in Social Security. The program's guaranteed, risk-free benefit protects people from outliving their savings or the loss of a spouse or parent. We all benefit from the shared responsibility of providing for today's beneficiaries, with the knowledge that that same responsibility will be met by future generations for us.

AARP believes that a bipartisan plan that balances additional contributions from higher income workers with modest adjustments in future benefits can maintain guaranteed Social Security benefits for future generations. Private accounts that drain money out of the Social Security Trust Fund would make it harder to strengthen the program and create a mountain of new federal debt for our children and grandchildren.

Candidate Response: J.D. Hayworth, Republican

As a member of the Social Security Subcommittee, I am at the center of efforts to save and strengthen this vital program. We have our work cut out for us. The annual report of the Social Security Trustees concludes that by 2040 Social Security will not be able to meet its obligations—it will essentially be insolvent. The Trustees also make clear that without reforming the program, the only way to stave off impending bankruptcy is to either reduce benefits for recipients or increase taxes on workers. My bottom line is that we must do more to protect the system without resorting to tax increases, benefit cuts, increasing the retirement age, or privatizing the system. Working together, we can find a solution.

Candidate Response: Harry Mitchell, Democrat

Candidate Response: Warren Severin, Libertarian

Social security worked when the ratio of payers to payees was, in FDR’s time, 16:1. Now the ratio is closer to 2:1. When SS was enacted the primary argument against it was that it would become, in time, unsustainable. That time is rapidly approaching. To make matters worse, Congress has periodically increased SS taxes to rebuild the SS Trust Fund. That fund is bankrupt. Every time the taxpayers have refilled the fund, Congress has taken the money out of it and spent it on other things. Corporate officers who raid employee pension plans go to jail. Your congressmen get re-elected.

It’s time to gradually transition the current form of Social Security to a system of personal retirement accounts.

Health Care Reform

A shared approach to providing health care coverage
	Supports	Opposes
AARP
J.D. Hayworth, Republican
Harry Mitchell, Democrat
Warren Severin, Libertarian

* If there is no check mark, the candidate was either undecided or chose not to check a box.

Question
Will you support or oppose a shared approach involving government, employers and individuals, to providing health care coverage for everyone?

AARP Response
In the absence of universal coverage, AARP supports specific reforms that increase the number of people with health care coverage, either through public or private insurance.

More and more Americans, including a growing number of workers, find themselves without health insurance. Increasing health care costs strain businesses large and small, leading them to either stop offering health care coverage all together or raise employee premiums and co-pays. Shifting an ever-larger share of health care costs to individuals does not address the problem of the high cost of health care and threatens the health and financial security of American families.

AARP believes that government, employers and individuals should share the responsibility for paying for health care coverage.

Candidate Response: J.D. Hayworth, Republican

Government has a responsibility to ensure that all Americans have access to health insurance. However, health care decisions must be made by doctors, patients, and families, not the government. To expand health insurance coverage, I have sponsored legislation, the Health Coverage for the Uninsured Act. This bill would: 1. encourage uninsured individuals to purchase health insurance by allowing a tax deduction for the premium; 2. encourage small businesses to offer health insurance to employees by giving them a refundable tax credit for contributions made to employees’ health savings accounts; and 3. provide a tax credit to low-income people for the purchase of health insurance. I am opposed, however, to requiring individuals to purchase health insurance.

Candidate Response: Harry Mitchell, Democrat

Candidate Response: Warren Severin, Libertarian

The Federal Government would manage a universal health care program about as well as it manages everything else – badly. Waste, fraud and abuse are rampant in the current Medicare and Medicaid programs, costing taxpayers many billions of dollars a year. If you want to see waste and mismanagement on a truly colossal scale, try universal health care.

Right now free-market competition among health care insurers and providers is the only force working to help contain rising health care costs. A universal program would in most forms remove free-market, competitive forces, resulting in even high overall health care cost.

The U.S. already faces an overall shortage of doctors, nurses, and related health care professionals.

Medicare

Medicare negotiating to lower drug prices
	Supports	Opposes
AARP
J.D. Hayworth, Republican
Harry Mitchell, Democrat
Warren Severin, Libertarian
An annual limit on federal Medicare spending
	Supports	Opposes
AARP
J.D. Hayworth, Republican
Harry Mitchell, Democrat
Warren Severin, Libertarian

* If there is no check mark, the candidate was either undecided or chose not to check a box.

Question
Will you support or oppose allowing Medicare to use its bargaining power to negotiate lower prices for needed prescription drugs? Will you support or oppose imposing an annual limit on federal Medicare spending?

AARP Response
Medicare Part D is now helping millions of people in Medicare save money on their prescription drugs. But while those with Part D coverage are saving, the actual cost of prescription drugs continues to increase at a rate greater than general inflation. AARP believes that more must be done to bring down soaring drug costs and supports allowing Medicare to use its bargaining power to negotiate lower prescription drugs.

Proposals have been made in Congress to put an annual limit on how much money the federal government spends on the Medicare program. AARP opposes arbitrary limits on Medicare funding.

Candidate Response: J.D. Hayworth, Republican

Under the Medicare Part D program, seniors have access to discounted prescription drug costs because of aggressive private-sector negotiations. Recent surveys show that seniors are actually getting lower drug prices than expected. One report shows that seniors are seeing discounts on the top 25 drugs they purchase of 35% at retail pharmacies and 46% through mail order. While this is an excellent start, more can be done. And as a member of the Health Subcommittee, I will be looking at ways to reduce even further prescription drug costs for seniors. Finally, Medicare is an earned benefit and those who have paid into Medicare should expect to have appropriate Medicare coverage when they become eligible.

Candidate Response: Harry Mitchell, Democrat

Candidate Response: Warren Severin, Libertarian

I support Medicare using its buying power to negotiate prices for medications. This is exactly what the large healthcare insurers do, to the advantage of their subscribers.

I support limits on federal spending in all forms. Just like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid should be gradually transferred to a system of private health insurance. Just as with negotiating for best prices for medication, Medicare can negotiate with private healthcare insurers for best rates and a series of plans with varying levels of coverage.

Long-Term Care

A combined approach to covering long-term care
	Supports	Opposes
AARP
J.D. Hayworth, Republican
Harry Mitchell, Democrat
Warren Severin, Libertarian
Requiring individuals to purchase private long-term care insurance
	Supports	Opposes
AARP
J.D. Hayworth, Republican
Harry Mitchell, Democrat
Warren Severin, Libertarian

* If there is no check mark, the candidate was either undecided or chose not to check a box.

Question
Will you support or oppose a combined approach that involves government and individuals covering long-term care? Will you support or oppose requiring individuals to buy private long-term care insurance?

AARP Response
Long-term care can be costly for people who do not have family caregivers or need more care than family and friends can provide. Qualifying for Medicaid-the primary public funding source for long-term care-requires either very low assets and income, or depleting almost all assets and income to pay for care. Currently private insurance is either too expensive or unavailable for many people. Approaches that give people cash payments to choose, buy and manage their care, along with counseling to help them make and manage care choices, help maintain dignity and maximize independence.

AARP supports a publicly funded, long-term care cash benefit program-paid for through a combination of government and individual contributions-to give people more control over their own care. AARP opposes requiring individuals to buy private long-term care insurance.

Candidate Response: J.D. Hayworth, Republican

I have continually been a strong supporter of tax incentives to encourage individuals to purchase long-term care insurance and will continue pushing that initiative in Congress. I am also pleased that the State Long-Term Care Partnership program has been expanded to allow more states to participate. This program would protect some or all of the assets of persons applying for Medicaid who have purchased long-term care insurance through a public/private partnership program. Finally, I am opposed to requiring individuals to purchase private long-term care insurance.

Candidate Response: Harry Mitchell, Democrat

Candidate Response: Warren Severin, Libertarian

Long-term care can be financially catastrophic for the patient and his or her family. No question about it.

We must avoid the immediate knee-jerk solution of “Get the federal taxpayers to pay for it.” Current taxpayer obligations due to the national debt as well as entitlements like Social Security and Medicare amount to about $400,000 per U.S. household. That level of debt is unworkable by most families. We can’t throw yet another big entitlement program onto the taxpayers’ charge cards.

The solution centers on increased public awareness of the problem and greater participation of charities and other non-government organizations.

I am opposed to government requiring the purchase of anything, including long-term care insurance.

Retirement Security

Automatic payroll deduction for IRAs
	Supports	Opposes
AARP
J.D. Hayworth, Republican
Harry Mitchell, Democrat
Warren Severin, Libertarian

* If there is no check mark, the candidate was either undecided or chose not to check a box.

Question
Do you support or oppose requiring employers to give workers access to automatic payroll deductions to fund their personal IRAs?

AARP Response
Social Security was never intended to be a worker's only source of retirement income. Even though people know Social Security will not be enough to live on, many find it difficult to save for the future. AARP supports creating and expanding supplemental retirement accounts that enable workers to accumulate retirement savings in addition to Social Security's guaranteed benefits.

AARP supports making saving for retirement simpler and fairer by requiring that employers give workers access to voluntary, automatic payroll deductions to their own IRAs if their employers do not already give them access to a pension or 401(k) plan.

Candidate Response: J.D. Hayworth, Republican

Personal retirement accounts, like IRAs and 401(k)s are an important part of retirement planning. As a member of the Ways and Means Committee, I helped craft the Pension Protection Act, which includes a number of significant provisions to enhance retirement savings for millions of Americans. This new law permanently extends IRA and retirement savings provisions in the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. It also makes other improvements in pensions and retirement savings through enhanced vesting, portability and reduced regulatory burdens. The law also requires the IRS to establish procedures for depositing tax refunds directly into an IRA. This new law has been lauded by newspapers throughout the country. I will continue working to expand retirement options for all Americans.

Candidate Response: Harry Mitchell, Democrat

Candidate Response: Warren Severin, Libertarian

I am opposed to forcing small business owners to comply with yet another piece of government paperwork. It’s already reached the point where a small business can’t have one employee; it has to have the employee plus a bookkeeper to manage SUTA, FUTA, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Workman’s Comp, and a host of other bureaucratic nightmares.

I see no reason why employees can’t manage their own IRA’s.