Sequestration playing havoc with lives of senior citizens. We must not excuse this.

[madfloridian]

Here are several ways the elderly are being harmed right now. All the politicians are talking about everything but this. The media focuses on what they think will draw audiences. The Democratic leaders could be taking stands on this right this moment. They could be calling all of this to the attention of the public, speaking out against it.

If they can't stop it, at least they could take a stand. It might make a difference if they do.

Sequestration plays havoc with the lives of senior citizens

Sequestration is a big word for automatic, ham-handed federal budget cuts. President Obama, the Senate and the House, figured last year that the best way to ensure some sort of a reduction in government spending was to pass a sequester law. No one thought that the law would be implemented because it is so onerous.

Although the president, himself, signed the bill into law, he reassured the American people during his reelection campaign that the sequester wouldn't happen. But it did go into effect on April 1.

"The result," said Weber, "has been a devastating series of mindless, across-the-board and inflexible reductions in essential services that impact the elderly the hardest. The media focuses on how the cuts effect programs like the elimination of White House tours, but the sad truth is that seniors, in particular, are being made to suffer for the sake of political brinksmanship."

....""Any 'savings' from the sequester would pale in comparison to the added costs, resulting in premature nursing home placement for seniors who can no longer stay in their homes and communities because of reduced federal funding. Such cuts would also place greater financial strains on family caregivers and drive higher medical costs due to elders' poorer nutrition and health, increased falls, and other avoidable crises. There will be indirect economic harms from the sequester as well: fewer meals served means smaller purchases from local farmers, grocers and food vendors, fewer in-home service hours restricts the senior's life and the worker's pay, and stranded-at-home seniors spend fewer dollars in their community."

Home subsidies for the elderly and disabled could be lost.

Rural Elderly, Disabled Could Lose Low-Income Housing Subsidies Due To Sequestration

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says 15,000 low-income elderly and disabled people in rural areas could lose rental subsidies because of across-the-board budget cuts that went into effect earlier this year.

USDA's rural rental assistance program helps low-income tenants live in government-funded housing. Vilsack said the money for that program could run out in August or September and the lack of rental assistance could not only have an impact on the tenants but also the owners of the apartment complexes.

He said USDA doesn't "have a good answer to what happens other than we're going to run out of money and that's a consequence."

The elderly on Medicare are already seeing serious cuts. Cancer patients will be affected.
I can't wait to hear the excuses for that one. They left DC without making sure cancer patients got their needed medication?

Sequestration Nation: Medicare Reductions Are Hurting Elderly Cancer Patients

In case you didn’t know, April is National Cancer Control Month. Ironically, though, as of April 1, the government began doing less to control cancer. As part of sequestration, the government began reducing funding for a specific portion of the Medicare program that is critical to cancer patients.

As The Washington Post recently reported, legislators intended to partially shield Medicare from sequestration by limiting reductions to the program to 2 percent, as opposed to the 7.8 percent cuts faced by most other programs. This 2 percent cut, however, will fall heavily on cancer patients enrolled in Medicare. For John Peterson, a cancer patient at Texas Oncology, this cut could be a serious burden. “I have a lot of exotic drugs that we have Medicare pick up the cost or we almost can’t afford to do it and it’s been a life saver,” said Peterson.

Because oncologists can’t change the cost of the drugs they purchase, the entire 2 percent reduction must come out of overhead costs for storing and administering the medicine. For drug treatments for cancer, which can run up to $15,000 for a full course, a 2 percent funding reduction can be a significant strain on the clinics offering these services. According to Ted Okon, director of the Community Oncology Alliance, “The costs don’t change and you can’t do without it. There isn’t really wiggle room.” Put more bluntly, Ralph Boccia, director of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders in Bethesda, Maryland, states that, “When I look at the numbers, they don’t add up. Business 101 says we can’t stay open if we don’t cover costs.”

Clinics that are able stay open will likely only be able to do so by drastically reducing the number of patients they currently see.

Not long ago I posted about the cuts being made to Meals on Wheels, which many seniors depend on to keep them in their own homes as long as possible.

In the comments several went so far as to blame the seniors for the situation instead of holding our party leaders accountable.

Way to go, America. Meals on Wheels funding cut by sequestration. Seniors fearful.

MANATEE, Florida -- Bradenton Mayor Wayne Poston and Palmetto Mayor Shirley Groover Bryant drove off Wednesday morning to deliver hot food from Meals on Wheels PLUS of Manatee on Ninth Street East in Bradenton to bolster awareness of homebound senior hunger.

Yet, despite the well-meaning of "Mayors for Meals Day," agency officials were preoccupied by the disturbing news of the impact from impending federal budget cuts to its ability to serve those needy residents.

Due to the ongoing sequestration budget battle in Washington, Meals on Wheels PLUS figures to lose $68,000 from funding for its senior services, a development that troubled several people at Wednesday's event.

"It could be devastating. That's a lot of money," said Maribeth Phillips, the nonprofit's chief executive officer. "We're operating very lean as it is, so that's lot of funding for us to make up."

A nation can be judged by its respect for its elderly, poor, and needy. Traditionally Democrats have understood this. I am not so sure anymore.

These are political games that got out of control, and we need some caring voices very badly right now....starting with the president.

[spanone]

1. k&r...

[woo me with science]

2. Thank you, madfloridian.

We are seeing the real viciousness at the core of neoliberalism right now.

Thank you for saying clearly what really needs to be said here. Especially, with a caveat, your last few lines:

A nation can be judged by its respect for its elderly, poor, and needy. Traditionally Democrats have understood this. I am not so sure anymore.

These are political games that got out of control, and we need some caring voices very badly right now....starting with the president.

The caveat I would make is that there is very little evidence that these "games" got "out of control" in the eyes of the politicians who are orchestrating them. What we are witnessing here is the deliberate unfolding of a long-term, carefully orchestrated, bipartisan plan to impose austerity.

Barack Obama in 2006, on cutting safety nets: "This is not a bloodless process"

Yes, we desperately need caring voices now.

[L0oniX]

13. Caring voices? We need fearless uncompromising ACTION.

Better to take the moral high ground and do what it right and go down in flames than to stand with the corrupted ...socially immoral ...sociopaths who run to shed blood for money and power.

[woo me with science]

14. Thank you.

I stand corrected.

[jsr]

36. Bloodless, eh? Kinda reminds me of "The Sacrifice of Isaac" by Caravaggio

except in this case there is no intervening angel.

[sabrina 1]

66. This is Austerity, the American version, after the disaster and destruction it has and is still

causing in Europe, and in Third World countries before that, they didn't dare use the word Austerity here. We have our own unique phraseology to fool the people with.

This is a crime in action. We need a miracle now to rid the world of these monsters. They have gone out of control, we have allowed them, the people of the world, to gain too much power making it much harder now to stop them.

Still the people do have tools they can use. One of them is 'there are far more of us than there are of them' and if we join forces Globally, organize Global strikes eg, we CAN defeat them.

I dream of the day when all these criminals are brought to justice and all the money they stole is returned to its owners.

It is cowardly, disgusting, unforgivable and so much more, to do this to the elderly. It IS a crime.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

73. Yep...

... and I have realized for years there seems to be an underlying policy for those retired/disabled/seniors to just hurry up and die because you/they are not productive enough and a, "drain on society". You know, shades of the policies of Nazi Germany. Yeah, yeah... I know, it all comes down to fascism.

[TheKentuckian]

3. All as "shocking" as the sun rising in the east or water being wet.

[russspeakeasy]

4. Politicians of both stripes are

covered with the stench of entitlement.
I don't know if PBO could have won public opinion with a fight, but I do know that if you don't show up for the fight, you lose.
Like everyone else on this site, I am deluged with emails telling me to call my congress critter.
Nope,not one more time.
I'm sick of some staff member telling me that they will forward my message/concern....and "thank you for your support".

[madfloridian]

6. Picture this.

I really only have Bill Nelson to contact in the D column. I quit bothering long ago.

[wandy]

5. Mindless, across-the-board and inflexible reductions in essential services.............

Inflexible? Well not if you're an elected official catching a flight to meet with you're lobbyist.
Inflexible? Well not if you're among the elite making that important flight to visit you're money in the Cayman Islands.

Across-the-board our elected officials provide essential services for those they represent.

[awoke_in_2003]

34. And they are beginning to talk...

about lifting it on defense spending.

[wandy]

40. Well naturaly! Syria will need some attention................

What with Afghanistan winding down, another necessary 'war of choice' will be urgently needed.
Then of course Homeland Security will need some extra funding thanks to two nut jobs in Boston.
Why would we expect things to be any different?

[lastlib]

7. And John McCain wants to save the military from the sequester..........

I used to LOATHE Repukes! Now, it's becoming a seething hot hatred. They're jacking with people's LIVES!

[L0oniX]

11. It's not just the repukes.

[awoke_in_2003]

35. +1. nt

[woo me with science]

17. There is no honor among thieves.

The whole bloomin' town seend this bipartisan heist, but Redhats and Bluehats will still lie to the stars that it was only their accomplice who carried it out.

[geek tragedy]

8. Yet senior are the voters who give us a Republican majority in the House. nt

[L0oniX]

10. Dems don't see an opportunity in this? They are owned.

Here's a clue from good ol rocket scientist me. Stand up for seniors and make a loud noise about it. Make sure seniors know you are standing up for them. Demand tv air time ...it's our air. Use the bully pupit everywhere and in every state. Make a big noise!

[geek tragedy]

16. If voter behavior were rational, sure.

But we're talking about the "keep government out of Medicare" mentality.

[L0oniX]

23. A 5 yo could explain that Medicare is government run assistance.

[madfloridian]

12. No more blaming seniors for this. That is just wrong.

It's a pathetic thing to do, and it hijacks threads that tell real truth.

[RebelOne]

15. Not this senior. I am 74 years old.

My first-ever vote was for a Democrat president, JFK, and I have voted Democratic since.

[MotherPetrie]

18. So make the seniors who voted Dem suffer too?

[woo me with science]

21. Yeah, they deserve everything they get.

Keep talking, Third Way.

Keep showing us what you really think. America is paying very close attention.

[BeyondGeography]

29. If seniors start paying very close attention it would be refreshing

Many of them had their heads up their asses last November:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/08/1158908/-The-kids-will-destroy-the-GOP

Romney carried 65+ voters by 12 points.

[woo me with science]

37. "Fucking retarded liberals," impoverished seniors with "heads up their asses."

Keep talking, neoDemocrats. Keep voting for predatory legislation and then insulting its victims.

Keep mocking us. Keep that contempt warm.

Keep teaching Americans what we elected, in you...

[BeyondGeography]

43. They voted for McCain by the same margin, too

Theories?

[woo me with science]

45. Perhaps they saw through both corporate parties,

And felt utterly unheard and unrepresented?

[BeyondGeography]

46. More likely just another group of white people who have routinely voted against their interests

Last edited Sat Apr 27, 2013, 04:41 PM - Edit history (1)

and have fallen for GOP distractions far too often. Anectdotally, my reliably liberal middle class mother is routinely outnumbered in Sarasota by at least 2-1 every election in her mobile home retirement community.

Believe me, I hope they start holding politicians of both parties more accountable. Hoping to join them next decade in that effort.

[msanthrope]

28. Seniors need to think about their 2014 votes very carefully. nt

[BlancheSplanchnik]

39. Seniors need ADVOCATES and I formation they can trust. n/t

[russspeakeasy]

49. Think ? I think before every vote.

Now I'm beginning to "think" my bullshit detector is broken, or I left it somewhere. (I'll check the recliner).

[rhett o rick]

61. Huh? Maybe you should explain to them why.

They have been told over and over that the Democrats will look out for them. I dont think they will buy that one more time Lucy.

[truedelphi]

41. Seniors? Which group of seniors?

Maybe among the wealthier members of society, sure. And those people do tend to live longer, as they eat better, have better health care, live in totally safe gated communities etc.

But your average seniors are split along the same line as the rest of the country, with about 42% claiming to be dems, and 28 % claiming to be republicans. While the remaining 30% are independent of either party and vote third party or else simply for the best candidate.

[woo me with science]

47. Thank you. nt

[rhett o rick]

53. So what's your point? Let them starve? How cruel, how insensitive, how predictable. nm

[madfloridian]

55. Indeed it is both cruel and insensitive.

No matter which party does it.

[L0oniX]

9. Sequestration has achieved its purpose ...cut funds to seniors.

Choice: Sequestration or CPI ...either way it hurts seniors. Now they will pick and choose what sequestration will affect ....oh got to keep FAA, ect, ect. All this over $85 billion in chump change while doling out trillions in military, corporate and banker welfare. Is it a good cop bad cop show yet?

[dkf]

22. That $85 billion increases every year until it exceeds $1 trillion over 10 years.

It's seems small considering one years deficit often exceeds a trillion but look at the effect $85 billion has.

[MotherPetrie]

19. K&R.

[dkf]

20. We needed the funds from the Bush tax cuts. Once the middle class decided they didn't want to pay..

these services were on the block.

This was the tradeoff and its why Democrats screwed themselves forevermore by making the majority of e tax cuts permanent. Now all assistance is going to be cut because we the 99% of people decided we couldn't afford higher taxes.

[xchrom]

24. Du rec. Nt

[kelliekat44]

25. obama should have learned by now that you can't make a deal with the Devil.

The President wanted a clean debt ceiling bill to keep politics out of raising the debt ceiling but the GOP refused and debt ceiling deal that did not have across the board cuts..hence they win. Obama could have refused to sign the sequester risking what we would have faced not being able to pay our bills. He really did not believe the GOP was as evil and heartless as we all knew they are. Hence is signed off and the GOP has won the painful cuts battle because it really does not affect their true constituency and they will waiver cuts to their prize programs. Obama is suffering now along with the people he hoped to help. I only hope the GOP will suffer in 2014 and beyond. And the administration spokespeople are not making a strong case to tell what is really going on so Obama get little help or sympathy from anyone. The MSM is doing their usual job of spouting GOP talking points.

[woo me with science]

26. "Obama is suffering now along with the people he hoped to help."

You can't make this stuff up.

[truedelphi]

42. And boy oh boy, do I feel his pain! n/t

[Skittles]

30. OK I have to say

anyone who couldn't see the GOP was evil and heartless is either an idiot or.........no, there is no other, they would have to be a fucking idiot

[rhett o rick]

54. Pres Obama is in the 1%. To hope those in the 1% will help the 99% is very wishful thinking. nm

[99Forever]

27. The direct results of 11th dimensional chess.

Thanks President Barack Obama and staff, you guys are real political geniuses.

[ananda]

31. Boy we're a mean ugly country now!

This is just so wrong.

[forestpath]

32. The only seniors either party cares about are rich ones.

[snagglepuss]

33. k & r

[BlancheSplanchnik]

38. like banging our heads against brick walls

This is so sad. AND infuriating.

All because the ultra ultra rich and powerful have the means to run the game in thier favor and no lack of minions to help them.

[donnasgirl]

44. I would agree

But if the little people would stick together this would not happen,
1.Stop putting the rich people in charge.
2.What do we have to lose by putting a blue collar people in the seats that are held by millionaires.
3.And dam it, ( term limits) once and for all, no more lifers.

[madfloridian]

52. Yes, it is.

Exactly.

[madfloridian]

48. The process will only be "bloodless" for the rich I fear.

The words of Obama at the opening of the Hamilton project at the Brookings Institute.

There are real consequences to the work that is being done here

Bob and I have had a running debate now for about a year about how do we, in fact, deal with the losers in a globalized economy. There has been a tendency in the past for us to say, well, look, we have got to grow the pie, and we will retrain those who need retraining. But in fact we have never taken that side of the equation as seriously as we need to take it. So hopefully, this is not just going to be a lot of preaching to the choir. Hopefully, part of what we are going to be doing is challenging our own conventional wisdom and pushing boundaries and testing these ideas in a vigorous and aggressive way.

....Just remember, as we move forward, that there are real consequences to the work that is being done here. There are people in places like Decatur, Illinois, or Galesburg,Illinois, who have seen their jobs eliminated. They have lost their health care. They have lost their retirement security. They don't have a clear sense of how their children will succeed in the same way that they succeeded. They believe that this may be the first generation in which their children do worse than they do. Some of that, then, will end up manifesting itself in the sort of nativist sentiment, protectionism, and anti-immigration sentiment that we are debating here in Washington. So there are real consequences to the work that is being done here. This is not a bloodless process.

[russspeakeasy]

50. Great post mad...

[bvar22]

51. If only The Elderly had the money to be regular patrons of the Airlines...

...with TONS of Frequent Flyer Miles.
Congress would have called a special session
and the President would have jumped in to help them.


Does having a lot of $MONEY$ really make that much difference?

[emsimon33]

56. K&R

[treestar]

57. If you were talking about "the poor" I would sympathize

but "the elderly" are not always poor. In fact most of the geezers have retirement funds (they lived in good times when you could work years for one employer and get every benefit imaginable) and are quite comfortable.

If you want to talk about the elderly poor, that's a different thing.

When FDR and the D Congress first started SS, the elderly were the biggest group of poor people. Today, it is children.

[madfloridian]

62. Life is too short, treestar.

[kentuck]

58. And it's not just Democrats...

Republicans are equally hurt by their leaders' deception.

[Texasgal]

59. Meals on Wheels

is very close to my heart. My now deceased in laws lives would have been much harder without Meals on Wheels. They both passed away in their 90's, but without MOW it would have been sooner and harder. I guarantee you that.

I've given back to that organization many times because of this. I have volunteered to deliver and I give a donation every year.

I hope that we save this wonderful organization.... so many people NEED it.

[madfloridian]

69. It's a special program.

Our area has a program that drives seniors to and from appointments, and my mother made great use of that. She always donated to that group, and I continue to do so.

When she needed to have her meals supplied, we paid one of her neighbors who offered to take her one hot meal and one sandwich a day. That worked really well.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

60. Money for war but no money for our seniors

it's amazing how we give out millions to regimes throughout the world yet we don't have any money left for those in this country. I don't mind if we give money to those who are starving and have other needs globally but just for warmongering - no.

[madfloridian]

63. You are so right.

Letting OUR seniors hurt while finding money for everything else is inexcusable.

[HiPointDem]

64. kr

[Samantha]

65. Great work, madfloridian

Thank you for this thread. It is very informative.

Sam

[madfloridian]

68. Thank you.

I found so many more articles about various ways seniors are being hurt by these political games. I could only put a few.

[JDPriestly]

67. Well, the FAA has been bailed out. I guess our Congress members fly a lot.

But since they don't need meals on wheels or housing subsidies, we can wait on those budget items, can't we?

[madfloridian]

70. So glad to see the tweets.

Thanks to those who did.

[madfloridian]

71. More cuts happening.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/02/sequestration-effects_n_2996101.html

Organizations and companies have begun laying off workers, while many more have decided not to staff vacant positions. Schools on military bases are contemplating four-day weekly schedules. Food pantries have closed, as have centers that provide health services. Farmers have been forced to go without milk production information, causing alarm in the dairy industry and the potential of higher milk prices. Workers at missile-testing fields are facing job losses. Federal courts have closed on Fridays. Public Broadcasting transmitters have been shut down. Even luxury cruises are feeling the pinch, with passengers forced to wait hours before debarking because of delays at Customs and Immigration. Yes, sequestration is creating the possibility of another poop cruise.

On the national level, sequestration may be defined by canceled White House tours and long lines at airports that never materialized. But on the local level, it is beginning to sting.

The Huffington Post set out to do an extensive review of sequestration stories from the past week, with the goal of finding 100. What seemed like a daunting task was completed in hours. No one region of the country has been immune. Rural towns in Alaska, missile test sites in the Marshall Islands, military bases in Virginia, university towns across the country, and housing agencies in inner cities are all beginning to feel the cuts.

"We are trying not to lay any employees off, but we will have reduced work schedules. We will also close our offices. there will be days when it is closed every month or several times a month," said LaShelle Dozier, the executive director of the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, whose organization helps families in need cover the cost of rent and is facing a $13.9 million cut this year. "But if we do not come up with some type of solution or remedy by July, it will equate to 1,700 families losing housing vouchers, which is over 4,800 actual tenants."

At the end there is a long detailed list of other serious cuts.

[aquart]

72. The Republicans continue to get away with murdering Americans.

[sabrina 1]

74. Because there is no one to stop them.

[madfloridian]

77. Exactly.

No one to stop them, no one to call them out on it.

[Faygo Kid]

75. Hey, but the planes run on time. Screw the poor/old.

That's the nation we live in. We're screwed.

[Little Star]

76. k&r

[GitRDun]

78. Then why do seniors vote Republican?

Check this article out:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324073504578105360833569352.html

Senior citizens, who swung to the Democrats during the Medicare and Social Security fights of the 1990s, have swerved to Republicans. Close to six in 10 seniors backed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, according to exit polls Tuesday, up from the 51% of the group siding with Sen. John McCain in 2008.

I ran into an elderly neighbor yesterday and within five minutes he is bitching about Democrats..was really disgusted at the level of ignorance.

I feel sorry for the lost services but I wonder when the seniors are going to help fix the problem.

[madfloridian]

81. This is a Democratic administration that is letting this happen.

[sendero]

79. Well they've put up with..

... zero interest rate policy for 5 years why wouldn't they just put up with this?

I'm beginning to think that there is not much that Americans won't put up with.

[Laelth]

84. We are well sedated (by Hollywood and prescription drugs).

The American Political Caste is not worried about a revolution at the moment. They have nothing to fear. Most Americans are watching TV right now.

-Laelth

[wet.hen88]

80. truth

Yes, this is all true, but what's to be done? Last congressional vote here in Georgia, as USUAL, was poor show and for Repugs. The people who WOULD have brought in Dems either didn't vote or don't understand "IF you like him, give him a dam Congress!" I don't know the answer here in fundie country...have screamed until hoarse...wailing in the wilderness here.

[madfloridian]

82. Yes, blame the seniors.

[bigbadR]

83. Another murderous cut to senior health care

I am a Type I diabetic on medicare. Type I diabetics bodies make NO Insulin so we are dependent on insulin injections in order to remain alive. We are subject to two forms of coma, one the diabetic coma when our blood sugar becomes too high and our blood becomes both ketotic and too acidic we can lapse into a deadly coma. The other is when our blood sugar becomes too low, a non diabetic's blood sugar does not fall below 70 or 80 mg/dl, but a Type I diabetics blood sugar can rapidly fall to below 20 mg/dl and an insulin shock coma occurs which can also lead to death. Thus, Type I diabetics are required to test their blood sugar when they first wake up in the morning, before each meal, before driving a car, before and after exercise and before going to sleep. This prescribed testing requires a minimum of 8 glucose monitoring test strips a day since the sequester medicare will pay for 1 to 3 test strips daily. The other day I went to the pharmacy to fill my prescription for 250 glucose monitoring strips per month and received 25 test trips. THESE FOOLS ARE TRYING TO MURDER ME, THEY ARE TERRORISTS.

[LWolf]

85. .

The way we treat our elders is, in my opinion, a reflection of the health of our society.

[madfloridian]

86. Exactly right.