Press Releases

A national retiree group is urging its members in South Carolina’s 6th congressional district to contact U.S. Representative Jim Clyburn to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.  Representative Clyburn is a member of the congressional “Super Committee” that is charged with recommending at least $1.2 trillion in federal spending cuts by November 23.

In response to the defeat of recommendations by the leaders of the National Commission on Fiscal Reform and Responsibility today,
SC Alliance for Retired Americans President Julie Harbin issued the following statement.
 
“South Carolina retirees temporarily dodged a bullet when Commission members today rejected their co-chairs’ proposal to drastically cut Social Security benefits and increase the retirement age. We should never try to balance the budget on the backs of current and future retirees, particularly when Social Security has not added one cent to the deficit.  

“Now that the Commission has closed its doors, we hope that we can have a more honest debate on federal spending. While it was encouraging to hear panel members acknowledge there is no link between Social Security and the deficit, it was also galling that many of the Commission members pushing draconian cuts in Social Security are also the ones leading the fight to extend tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.  

“Social Security is one of America’s greatest success stories, one that has kept generations of seniors out of poverty. We hope that today is the beginning of a new chapter in the debate on the future of retirement in America, one that seeks to strengthen – not weaken – the economic well-being of millions of seniors who are struggling to make ends meet.

“Social Security did not create our nation’s fiscal problems, nor should it be used to fix them.  On behalf of the members of the SC Alliance for Retired Americans, I want to thank the Commission members who had the courage to stand up for our nation’s retirees and workers.”

The Alliance for Retired Americans, representing more than four million
retirees, older Americans and community activists -- including more than
26,259 members in South Carolina -- has endorsed three candidates for
the US House of Representatives: US Rep. John Spratt (5th CD), US Rep.
James Clyburn (6th CD) and Jane Dyer (3rd CD).

Their positions demonstrate a strong commitment to improve the quality
of life for older Americans. Their leadership on issues such as
preserving and protecting Social Security from privatization and benefit
cuts, especially in 2010, the 75th anniversary of the program, exhibits
that commitment.

The Alliance's members can support these candidates because of their
belief in the need to provide more affordable health care for older
Americans, as well as the need for stronger retirement and pension
security, and quality long-term and nursing home care.

Electing these candidates to the House of Representatives will enhance
the quality of life for older Americans.

The public is invited to a rally on Friday, Oct. 22, 5:30-6:30pm at Bergamo Square in downtown Greenville in an effort to tell Congress and members of the President's Deficit Commission "Hands Off Social Security!"

The rally is being organized by the SC Alliance for Retired Americans, a statewide advocacy organization working to unite retiree organizations and individual allies on issues important to seniors and their families.

"Social Security is increasingly under attack," said SC Alliance for Retired Americans President Julie Harbin. "We want to send a clear message to our elected representatives that Social Security is a promise between generations that must not be broken. Social Security did not contribute to the deficit and should not be cut as a way to solve our economic problems."

The timing is critical, Harbin stressed, as the Commission will be offering its recommendations to Congress on Dec. 1. Senior advocates warn that the Commission likely will suggest cutting Social Security benefits and raising the retirement age.

The public will be invited to participate in the Alliance's petition post card campaign urging members of Congress: Hands Off Social Security!

Speakers will include community activists, lawmakers and political candidates

Some 700 South Carolinians gathered last Saturday in the big hall of the convention center in Columbia to talk about the deficit. No kidding. They could have been grilling or napping or swimming on a lazy summer day, but instead they chose to spend six hours huddled around tables and grappling with this country's fiscal crisis. The average age in the room was 58.

That sort of civic engagement speaks volumes about our community, and that is very good news.

Unfortunately, the folks who turned out for the Columbia event -- and the thousands like them who participated in 60 other cities across the country -- may simply be pawns in a larger game staged by powerful forces trying to shape the national discussion on our economic policy.

The much-hyped "town hall" meetings were the product of America Speaks, a group funded by Wall Street fat cat Peter G. Peterson, whose proclaimed mission is to privatize Social Security. It was Peterson who urged President Obama to create the Fiscal Reform Commission -- the body that is to receive on June 30 a special report culled from the results of last weekend's town halls. In December, the Commission will offer its recommendations to Congress, which will then receive an up or down vote, with no debate.

Participants at the America Speaks events were given hand-held devices to record votes on items outlined in our workbooks. We sat at tables made up of 8 to 12 people, and discussed our votes as a group before we cast our individual votes. While we could create our own options if we didn't feel satisfied by what we had to choose from, these alternative options were not recorded in the electronic tally.

Our table, for instance, unanimously supported the idea of single-payer as the best fix for our health care system, but that was not an option on the table. We objected to a process that did not include the one option we thought most viable and responsible. But our electronic votes did not -- and in fact could not -- reflect our true wishes.

The discussion became, then, not whether to cut services, benefits and entitlements, but by how much, and to whom. The workbooks offered background information about the deficit and economic projections that were misleading.

Social Security, for instance, does not contribute a penny to the deficit yet was on the chopping block for cuts. Given the false parameters, participants at the America Speaks events voted to raise the retirement age for full benefits to 69, never mind the system is fully funded well beyond 2025.

And while the workbooks at the America Speaks events did say the rising costs of Medicare and Medicaid are fueled by a health care system that is unsustainable and costing twice as much per person than in any other country, reforming health care was not an option.

"We're playing with a stacked deck," said SC Alliance for Retired Americans Vice-President Brett Bursey, who attended the event in Columbia. "We're going to end up with results that are manipulated by those that framed the question."

He said, "There is no mention of the fact that the war budget is one of the reasons we have this tremendous deficit. There is nothing about the housing bubble causing a $4 trillion hole in the budget that was due to financial mismanagement. So the things that created the situation are not even on the table to be discussed."

America Speaks challenged participants to find ways to cut the deficit by $1.25 trillion by 2025.

"Single payer and negotiations for prescription drug prices could reduce the budget by $1.25 trillion by 2025," Bursey said, quoting figures from the Congressional Budget Office that weren't in the workbook.

According to the Center for Responsible Economic Policy, an infinitesimal tax on all Wall Street transactions could yield $300 billion. America Speaks option was to raise $30 billion with a tax only on standard stock transactions, not the exotic derivatives or default swaps that helped bring on our current economic crisis.

We can only hope that the President's Fiscal Reform Commission is as thoughtful as Saturday's participants when they go looking for their $1.25 trillion to plug the hole.

Last year, about 61,000 Medicare beneficiaries in South Carolina hit the “donut hole” — the gap in prescription drug coverage in Medicare Part D — and as a result received no help with the cost of their medications.

That’s what happened to 72-year-old Mary Edna Crider of St. Matthews, SC. And it wasn’t the first time.

Crider, who has diabetes and suffers from a heart condition, said last year she hit the donut hole in early summer. “This year we were into it by April,” she said.

“I take a good bit of medication,” she said, and estimates they cost between $700-$800 a month. “My husband gets a good retirement check, but we have other expenses and the money doesn’t go that far. We get by.”

Crider will be among Medicare beneficiaries who, beginning this month, will receive a $250 rebate check in the mail from the government as part of the new health care law. “I think it’s good,” she said. “I’ll put it up to buy medicine.”

Medicare enrollees pay 25 percent of their prescription drug costs until the total reaches $2,830 for the year. Then they fall into the coverage gap known as the “donut hole” and have to pay a total of $4,550 in out-of-pocket prescription drug expenses before the plan resumes paying nearly 100 percent of drug costs. Some 4 million seniors will be in the donut hole this year, and will become eligible to receive rebate checks.

The rebate checks are the first of several provisions of the new law that will affect seniors. Throughout the rest of the year, seniors across the country will receive checks as they enter the coverage gap.  The law will close the gap over the next 10 years, cutting the donut hole in half by 2011 and eliminating it entirely in 2020.

“The new health care law offers lots of benefits for seniors,” said Julie Harbin, President of the South Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans. “It stops overpayments to private Medicare Advantage insurance companies that have made huge profits while causing millions of Americans to pay higher monthly premiums for their Medicare coverage.”

The law also protects nursing home residents against elder abuse and neglect, and it prevents discrimination against early retirees by health insurance companies.

Crider hopes the health care reforms help the people she sees at the drug store. “Bless their hearts, some of them don’t have enough money to buy a full prescription, but the pharmacy won’t let them buy half. I’d go out of business working there. I’d be giving people what they need.”

While Crider has not had to go without her medications, she isn’t above asking her doctor for free samples. As she says, every little bit helps.

Seventy-five years ago this week, FDR signed the Social Security Act into law. As senior and retiree groups threw parties across the country to mark the occasion, opponents of Social Security continued their multimillion dollar campaign to fool the public into believing that benefits for seniors must be cut to reduce the deficit.

It is a cruel message that puts the burden of fixing the country’s financial problems on the backs of seniors and people with disabilities. It is also dishonest.

They don’t blame our economic problems on Wall Street bailouts, tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans or funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And they won’t tell you that Social Security’s solvency can be resolved with small adjustments, such as raising the payroll tax cap on Social Security taxes for the wealthy or by freezing the estate tax and applying that money to the program.

Those who depend on Social Security -- or love someone who does -- would do well to pay attention to what’s going on. The next couple of months are critical.

In December, President Obama’s Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform will offer to Congress its recommendations on how to reduce the deficit. Given the make-up of the body, it’s likely that Social Security and Medicare will be targets.

The Commission’s co-chair, for one, famously described older Americans as “greedy geezers” and supported efforts to privatize Social Security. If he’d had his way, those investment accounts by now would have lost 20 percent of their value.

While the Commission has several other known foes of entitlement programs, it also includes US Rep. John Spratt, who promises to continue to work to keep Social Security strong for future generations. South Carolina voters have a unique opportunity to engage their family, their neighbors and the congressman on this matter to make sure he stays true to his commitment.

Social Security, funded with taxes paid by workers and their employers, is a promise between generations that belongs to the people who have worked hard their whole lives to provide for their families.

The program is critical to many of South Carolina’s retirees and their spouses. Don Thacker, 80, says Social Security and Medicare allow him to live at home and get medical care as an outpatient. “Many people live on very limited incomes in South Carolina and have to make choices between food and medicine,” he said. “These programs make a difference.”

Columbia resident Ruby James says, “I worked for many years and then became disabled. I’m able to live now off of my Social Security.” Her daughter's husband died at a young age, leaving her with three children, one with a disability. Social Security benefits helped two of those children finish college.

Without Social Security,19.8 million more Americans would be poor, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (<http://www.cbpp.org/>). Without Social Security, 45.2 percent of elderly Americans would live below the poverty line.

But Social Security doesn’t just benefit seniors; children and people with disabilities also depend on the program. The program lifts more than 1 million children out of poverty. And it is is the most important source of income for the 112,000 children living in South Carolina’s grandfamilies, households headed by a grandparent or other relative.

Sue Berkowitz says that her husband and a former roommate would not have been able to attend college if not for Social Security benefits. “So even though we were prior to retirement age, I know two people who are dear to me who it helped.”

While the debate rages about how to manage our national deficit, the loudest voices are spreading fear and misinformation. The rest of us need to make our own voices heard at the polls in November.