Staying Fit
The following documents related to health care concerns of people 50-plus are presented in reverse chronological order.
September
C: On September 6, 2013 AARP, on behalf of more than 37 million of its members and all Americans age 50 and older, submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid on the state of Arkansas’s Medicaid Waiver Application. Arkansas is proposing a unique strategy for assuring health coverage to its low-income citizens through the Arkansas Health Care Independence Act of 2013. AARP supported this initiative through its advocacy in Arkansas and continues to support the implementation of the Private Option to provide health care coverage for low-income Arkansans. This three-year statewide demonstration would use premium assistance to help low-income healthy adults purchase qualified health coverage through the new Arkansas Insurance Marketplace (the Exchange). Medicaid beneficiaries would receive an Alternative Benefit Plan (ABP) and “have cost sharing obligations consistent with both the Medicaid State Plan and with the cost-sharing rules applicable to individuals with comparable incomes in the Marketplace.” PDF
August
L: On Aug. 16, 2013 AARP provided a letter to the House Ways and Means Committee in response to the committee's solicitation of public feedback on Medicare reform. AARP agrees health care spending generally needs to be brought under control in order to preserve the program for future generations. Growing spending on health care has strained the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund (Part A) and has required an increasingly larger portion of general revenues (Parts B and D). However, the options presented by the Committee do nothing to address the underlying causes of high health care spending. Instead, they merely shift the financial burden onto older Americans and others who depend on Medicare for their health security. PDF
July
On July 11, 2013 AARP sent a letter to members of the House of Representatives opposing the FARRM Act of 2013. It would repeal the 1949 rules governing the farm provisions of the law and removes the nutrition programs entirely from the bill. PDF
