Politics & Government

Connolly Speaks in Favor of Medicare and Social Security at Local Town Hall

U.S. Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-11th) gathered four experts for a panel on the history, benefits, and issues relating to Medicare and Social Security.

At a Sept. 29 town hall meeting at Westminster at Lake Ridge, U.S. Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-11th) sounded a note of personal urgency in calling for improvements to Medicare and Social Security.

“In 2036, I’m going to be 86, living here in Westminster,” Connolly told approximately 80 senior citizens.

In 2036, the Social Security leadership has estimated that it will only be able to pay 75 percent of the promised benefits, unless changes are made to the program now. Medicare also faces cost growth problems. While Social Security currently has a surplus of about $2.5 trillion, Medicare contributes to annual deficits and the national debt.

“We have to find ways to get that system to work better,” said panelist Bill Kallio, state director for the American Association of Retired Persons. “But cost growth problems are not unique to Medicare. They’re unique to our entire health care system. You really cannot fix Medicare until you fix health care. In order to make health care more affordable for older citizens, we have to make it more affordable for every citizen.”

Medicare: A Look Back and a Look Forward

Connolly and the panelists reminded the gathering of the history of Medicare.

“In 1965, when we adopted Medicare, a majority of senior citizens did not have health insurance,” Connolly said. “Many of them did not have access to health care.”

He then asked the audience how many of them had a preexisting condition. “Probably none of you, right?” he said jokingly.

If Medicare was abolished, and insurance companies continued their practice of not granting coverage to anyone with a preexisting condition, he argued, many senior citizens would be out of luck when it came to affordable health care.

“We need to make the system more efficient while still protecting the benefits of those who cannot [afford health care,” he said.

Panelist Joanne Grossi, Regional Director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, walked the audience through some of the latest changes to Medicare as a result of health care reform, including free preventative services such as mammograms or flu shots, and a free wellness visit.

“We’re really concentrating now in Medicare on prevention and wellness. Now once a year for free, we want you to be meeting with your doctor and developing an individual plan,” she said.

Those in the Medicare Part D donut hole can receive a discount on drugs: 50 percent for brand name drugs and 7 percent for generic drugs. The donut hole will close completely in 2020, Grossi said.

In 2012, Medicare beneficiaries will be able to “dis-enroll” from a Medicare Advantage Plan and return to original Medicare and then get a standalone prescription drug plan, she added.

Social Security: The Long-Term and the Short-Term View

To Kallio, one of the biggest battles in fighting for Social Security is fighting the misinformation about the program. Currently, about 38,000 residents in Prince William County, Manassas, and Manassas Park receive a combined monthly total of $42 million.

In its most basic form, he defined Social Security as a “national social insurance program designed to replace a portion of lost wages due to death, disability or retirement.”

But he sees Social Security as being more than that: as a generational compact with long-term goals.

Social Security faces two challenges: the long-term and the short-term, Kallio said.

“The long-term - that really has to do with values and vision and what sort of society we want to create together,” he said. “The short-term is what it means year to year in terms of the annual deficit.”

In the long-term, Social Security defines a way of life.

“It gives us all peace of mind throughout our entire life,” he said. “You need to send a message to every elected official saying, ‘I want to protect that.’”

Though Social Security may have some tough times ahead, Kallio said it “has not contributed one thin dime to annual deficits or the national debt. It has a $2.5 trillion surplus. It is still growing.”

But the year 2036 will bring benefit cuts if the program is not changed.

“That’s the real debate we should be having right now,” he said, “What changes should we make in Social Security today so that by the time we get to 2036, we can keep the promise to the next generation?”

“These changes are manageable,” said panelist David Melton, a Senior Public Affairs Specialist with the Social Security Administration. “We are an aging country. Demographics are driving the need for change. There is nothing inherently wrong with the Social Security program. For 76 years, it has worked.”

Social Security has seen its share of changes. What was once a program just for retirees has expanded to include families, survivors, and the disabled.

“We’re a huge program,” Melton said. “Small changes make a big impact.”

One small change is the switch from physical checks to direct deposit.

“If all of those beneficiaries signed up for direct deposit today, we would save $120 million a year, just in getting those benefits to you,” he said.

Social Security: A Ponzi Scheme

After Texas Governor Rick Perry’s Sept. 7 statement during the GOP debate that Social Security was a “Ponzi scheme,” the panelists tried to assure the Westminster audience that the program was no such thing.

“If anybody knows what a Ponzi scheme is, it’s an illegal act intentionally designed to rob people of their money. Social Security is not that,” Kallio said. “Social Security is an intergenerational system. The workers today contribute to the system because of the promise that it will be there for them.”

In 1983, Kallio said, Congress came together for a bipartisan solution to revamp the ailing Social Security program.

“One of the changes that was made at that point was that it would build up a surplus,” he said.

“For years, the federal government has been borrowing from that surplus,” Connolly said.

Kallio said Congress had spent Social Security money and not paid it back. “Social Security didn’t cause that problem. Government spending did.”

Note: Melissa Herd from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services was also a panelist, and spoke during the Q&A session.


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