Issue Position: Helping Seniors in the Ocean State

Issue Position

Issue Position: Helping Seniors in the Ocean State

Helping Seniors in the Ocean State
Improving the lives of Rhode Island's seniors is one of my top priorities in Washington. I'm proud to serve as a member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, a panel specifically tasked with exploring the wide range of issues that concern older Americans.

I hear countless stories from Rhode Islanders about their frustrations with our health care system, from staggering costs to inadequate access to high-quality care. I am passionate about reforming health care in America, particularly Medicare, by emphasizing prevention and improved quality of care, a stronger investment in our health information technology infrastructure, and changes in the payment structure. I am committed to ensuring that Medicare works not only for today's seniors, but for the millions of Americans who expect and deserve the program's benefits in the decades to come. I will not accept benefit cuts, increased cost-sharing, or reduced eligibility as solutions to the Medicare crisis.

I am particularly troubled by the Medicare Part D drug benefit, which leaves many Rhode Island seniors struggling to understand their benefits and responsibilities. I will continue to push for important reforms to this program, including empowering Medicare to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies over drug prices, increased transparency in pricing, a government-sponsored alternative for seniors, and an elimination of the donut hole.

I also took a lead role in the Senate to ensure that older and disabled Americans, often our most economically vulnerable citizens, were included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. I urged Senate leaders to make seniors a priority in the recovery package, and I am proud that a one-time, $250 payment to all Social Security and SSDI beneficiaries was included in the economic recovery bill. At. a time when every dollar counts, these payments channeled over $34 million in additional funds for seniors and disabled Rhode Islanders, helping those on fixed incomes with a much-needed financial boost.

Finally, many Rhode Islanders have also shared with me their anxieties about retirement savings. I believe that our Social Security system can continue to serve as the bedrock of retirement security, and am working to ensure the solvency of the system through the peak Baby Boom retirement years and beyond. In high-cost areas like Rhode Island, however, Social Security simply doesn't provide enough to cover all of the costs of living for many retirees. I support incentives for retirement planning, such as tax-deferred savings to encourage people to start investing for their retirement when they are young. I will continue in my efforts to make sure that retirement is a time of enjoyment, not economic anxiety, for Rhode Islanders.

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