Letter from retiree organizations to WA State congressional delegation on chained CPI
Dear Senator/Representative:
With the release of President Obama’s budget, the threat of unfair and unnecessary cuts to Social Security and Medicare have become palpable. We are asking you to take a stand!
The change to the Chained CPI simply makes the COLA for Social Security even more unfair. We know that the CPI for Urban Wage Earners, the present index, fails to take into account the disproportionate amount seniors and disabled people pay towards health care costs. The Chained CPI is even worse because it will reduce already insufficient annual cost of living adjustments. It was immoral for President Obama to offer this benefit cut as a way to entice the GOP to the table to discuss revenue. The damage he has done will be with us for decades into the future. What is most appalling is there exists a simple tweak that could eliminate any discussion of Social Security’s solvency for the next fifty years: eliminating the cap of $113,700.
Will you stand with the vast majority of your constituents and commit in writing to oppose any effort to adopt the Chained CPI? Will you take the further step of committing to support Scrapping the Cap, a simple fix that will put Social Security on sound financial footing for many decades to come? The time for making such a commitment has never been more appropriate.
President Obama also proposed to raise the cost of Medicare for people earning more than $47,000 a year. Such a proposal demonstrates blinders to the struggle of middle class people to make ends meet. Frankly, it is an outrageous proposal! There are so many constructive solutions to lowering the costs of Medicare:
1. Allow CMS to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs.
2. Change the reimbursement formula to pay for best practices and outcomes rather than paying per procedure.
3. Lower the age of eligibility for Medicare to 50 or 55 and allow this healthier cohort to pay premiums to Medicare, if they choose.
We recognize these suggestions (like Scrapping the Cap) are heavy political lifts, but they are also the correct approach and put you, as opposed to President Obama and the Republicans, on the side of the American people.
Are you prepared to oppose, in writing, the proposal to increase the cost of Medicare and cut Social Security benefits?
We look forward to your response.
Thank you,
Robby Stern, Chair
Social Security Works Washington Coalition
President, Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action
