ISSUES ::

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Social Security
My Postion: Prior to the creation of Social Security, most elderly and disabled Americans relied on their families, private charity, or inadequate state welfare programs to help provide for their basic needs. During the Great Depression, the failure of these traditional sources of financial assistance led President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Congress to establish the Social Security program, which provides most Americans and their families with insurance against loss of income due to retirement, disability or death. 

Many decades later, Social Security continues to provide Americans with a solid guarantee that the contributions they make to the system will provide benefits that protect against:

• an impoverished retirement;
• economic insecurity of families when a breadwinner retires, becomes disabled or dies;
• lost income due to disability;
• inflation, as benefits keep pace with costs of living;
• the risk of outliving personal savings, as retirement benefits are paid until death; and
• market risk, as benefits are safe from the fluctuations of the stock market

Social Security’s future is often called into question by those who would like to see it abolished. However, the outlook for Social Security is very strong.  Only modest, common-sense adjustments are needed to ensure that Social Security provides adequate benefits in the long-term future. Radical overhauls such as “privatization” are not necessary and could never provide the same protections as Social Security. I oppose privatizing Social Security and instead want to work on a bipartisan basis to strengthen and improve Social Security for future generations.

Medicare
My Position: Medicare is the federal health insurance program created in 1965 for people age 65 and older.  The program was expanded in 1972 to cover individuals under age 65 with permanent disabilities and those with end-stage renal disease.  Medicare now covers 45 million Americans. The insurance program provides comprehensive coverage, including hospital visits; skilled nursing facility, home health and hospice care; physician, outpatient, preventive services; and drug coverage.  Medicare plays a vital role in helping to provide financial security to beneficiaries. Because of Medicare, older Americans know that they can obtain health care when they need it.

In 2007, the House passed the CHAMP Act which provided a long-term solution for physician payments under the Medicare program.  The CHAMP Act also eliminated overpayments to private plans in Medicare and expanded benefits for lower income individuals.    Last year, over the former President’s veto, the Congress enacted legislation which increased payments to physicians, added preventive benefits to Medicare, reformed certain private plan options, and improved Medicare benefits for low-income individuals. The provisions in the economic recovery package for health information technology and comparative effectiveness the quality and reduce the costs of our nation’s health care system.

This year we must continue to improve the Medicare program, by fixing payments to both physicians and private plans, reducing costs in the Medicare prescription drug program, and providing more assistance to modest-income individuals. ■

WHAT DO YOU THINK? I Agree with Congressman Rangel's stance on this issue. I Disagree with Congressman Rangel's stance on this issue.
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