Washington politicians, through legislation, created the emergency that is being called the “fiscal cliff.”   My fear is that this self-imposed fiscal cliff emergency will cause Congress and the Administration to make bad decisions that will harm millions of our fellow citizens.

The elections are over. Billions have been spent and we’ve watched thousands of ads. We’ve been called by hundreds of pollsters and gotten tons of mail. Now we’ve finally voted and just what do we have? We have the status-quo.

 Once again, older Americans face rising costs and expenses for the year ahead with little or no increase in their monthly Social Security payments – all thanks to a flawed Consumer Price Index (CPI) that the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) is based on.  Announced by the government on Tuesday, the Social Security COLA for 2013 is 1.7 percent, one of the smallest increases ever!  

The decision expected from the Supreme Court next week relating to the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (sometimes called Obamacare) will have an impact on older Americans regardless of the decision.

In an aging America, senior citizens face more healthcare choices – and risks – than ever before. We are especially concerned that the healthcare discussions remain centered on patient care and safety, and that Medicare is not cutting costs by cutting corners.

RetireSafe along with 9 other stakeholders sent the letter below to CMS pointing out our concern with changes to Medicare that we feel will have detrimental effects on duel eligibles.  We are looking forward to the Director's response.

From my point of view, the decisions that will come from the current arguments concerning the Affordable Care Act (ACA) being held before the Supreme Court this week will have a huge effect on our country, an effect that goes far beyond health care reform.

On February 29^th, I attended the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee markup of HR 452, the Medicare Decisions Accountability Act.  This bill will repeal the IPAB.  The subcommittee voted 17 to 5 to pass the bill to full committee, where it should go this week, and hopefully be voted on by the full House by the end of March.  It is our hope that this is IPAB’s first step on the road to a well-deserved extinction.

America can continue to benefit from the full lifesaving benefits of the Medicare health system.  All of the money the President hoped to save by cutting payments to providers or increasing costs to patients can be found by reducing the waste, fraud and abuse that exists today in Medicare.

The State of the Union address last night was well written, well delivered, and received with much standing and much applause . . . but it seemed to ignore the fastest growing, most vulnerable and the most politically active segment of Americans, those who have retired or are close to retiring. 

RetireSafe today urged Express Scripts, Inc. (ESI) to return to the negotiating table, and come to an agreement with Walgreens.