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The American Association of Retired People has endorsed passage of the health care reform legislation. In an article posted yesterday after the final legislation was released the AARP discussed the benefits of health care reform to seniors:

The final version of a massive health care reform package would help seniors with prescription drug costs, offer free preventive care under Medicare, provide incentives to companies to offer insurance for early retirees and ban limits on lifetime health care coverage.

Further detail was provided later in the article:

The reconciliation bill carries several elements of particular interest to older Americans:

• Those in Medicare Part D who fall into the “doughnut hole,” and have to pay all their prescription drug costs for part of the year, would get immediate help this year from a $250 rebate. Next year they would get a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs, and by 2020 the doughnut hole would be closed completely.

• Medicare would cover preventive services with no copayments, and those costs would not apply to the deductible.

• A new insurance exchange would help people who don’t have affordable insurance through their jobs. Until the exchange is set up, employers who give health care benefits for retirees ages 55 to 64 would get federal aid through a temporary reinsurance program.

• New regulations on insurance companies would bar them from dropping the coverage of people who get sick, and from putting lifetime caps on coverage. Starting in six months insurance companies could not discriminate against children with preexisting conditions; by 2014 all ages would receive that protection.

• A new long-term care insurance program, which workers could pay into, would help them if they become ill or disabled and need help with basic services in order to stay in their homes.

The following press release was issued today indicating their endorsement of the plan:

AARP Statement on Historic Health Insurance Reform Package

WASHINGTON—Today, AARP Board Chair Bonnie M. Cramer, M.S.W., announced the Association’s support for health insurance reform legislation containing key reform provisions that will improve health care for older Americans and their families. For more than two years, AARP has fought for health insurance reform that helps Americans 50-plus get the care and medications they need at a price they can afford. Cramer’s statement follows:

“After a thorough analysis of the reform package, we believe this legislation brings us so much closer to helping millions of older Americans get quality, affordable health care. For too long, our members and others have faced spiraling prescription drug costs, discriminatory practices by insurance companies and a Medicare system awash in fraud, waste and abuse.

“The legislative package cracks down on insurance company abuses and protects and strengthens guaranteed benefits in Medicare, the program millions of our members depend on and in which millions more will soon enroll. It closes the dreaded Medicare Part D ‘doughnut hole,’ a gap in prescription drug coverage that is life-threatening for many. The package stops insurance companies from pricing people out of coverage because they have an existing health problem or arbitrarily limiting the amount of care someone can receive. It also limits insurance companies’ ability to charge higher premiums based solely on age. And it improves efforts to crack down on fraud and waste in Medicare, strengthening the program for today’s seniors and future generations.

“For every American who has struggled without access to health insurance—and for all those at risk of losing their current coverage with the next job loss, illness or premium hike—this package presents the best hope to offer health security for them and their families. We understand that significant work remains even after this package becomes law, but we cannot lose the opportunity looking for a ‘next time’ that is doomed to be ‘too late.’

“We urge Congress to seize this opportunity to improve health care so older Americans and their families get the care they need.”

Also today, AARP CEO A. Barry Rand sent a letter to every member of the House of Representatives, urging them to put the health of Americans age 50-plus first and vote “yes” on the legislative package.

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