Tennesseans Need Health Care Reform Now!

Toni Fontenot and her husband had high-stress jobs and health problems seven years ago, so they decided to try to improve their chances of living a long and healthy life together. They moved to a small town in East Tennessee, began growing organic fruits and vegetables, started raising chickens and goats, got low-stress jobs and lost weight. Now 60, they say they’ve never been healthier or happier.

But their future is not rosy. They can’t get affordable health care.

Because she had a stint in her heart and her husband had pre-hypertension before they moved to Madisonville, Tenn., they were classified as uninsurable. She has an expensive policy through her work (with a $10,000 deductible and premiums that take two-thirds of their paychecks) but doesn’t expect the small company will be able to offer it much longer.

They’re too young for Medicare, which won’t be available until they’re 65, but they don’t even want government assistance. They just want affordable coverage. And they certainly are not alone.

The AARP Public Policy Institute estimates that 7.1 million adults age 50 to 64 were uninsured in 2007, a 36 percent increase since 2000. Baby Boomers will be pushing this age group to nearly 20 percent of the population in the next seven years.

In Tennessee, more than 14 percent of people in that age group were uninsured two years ago—and even more are today as they lose their jobs in these troubled economic times and can’t afford COBRA coverage or find a job that offers an affordable health plan.

That’s one of the reasons AARP Tennessee is seeking your help in convincing our congressional delegation and the president to work in a bipartisan, common-sense way to reform our health care system and provide all Americans with access to affordable coverage.

Our other priorities are:

1. Closing the Medicare Part D coverage gap or “doughnut hole” for prescription drugs. 28 percent of Tennesseans fell into the “doughnut hole” in 2007, costing them thousands of dollars for needed prescriptions
2. Approving generic versions of biologic drugs used to treat cancer and other serious diseases to reduce the price of these costly treatments. $71 billion could be saved if four generic biologics were available
3. Preventing costly hospital readmissions by creating a follow-up care benefit in Medicare to help people safely transition home from the hospital. 19.8 percent of Tennesseans were re-hospitalized within 30 days from 2003-2004
4. Increasing federal funding and eligibility for home and community- based services that allow us to remain in our homes as we age. Only 1 percent of Tennessee’s long-term care funds were spent on home- and community-based services in 2006
5. Improving programs that help low income Americans in Medicare afford the health care and prescription drugs they need.

We can do this, but we need your help. Tell us about your experiences with this broken health care system.

Contact AARP Tennessee at tnaarp@aarp.org, visit our web site at www.aarp.org/tn or join us at www.HealthActionNow.org and tell your congressman and senators that NOW is the time for health care reform!