According to the August 16, 2010 article "Seniors to get checks", released by the Atlanta Journal Constitution and written by the Associated Press's Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, the Democrats are doing everything in their ability to overcome the senior mistrust over the new health care law that has been building over the past months. President Obama's administration and Congressional Democrats will continue to pay close attention to seniors as we head into the November elections.
More than 750,000 Medicare recipients with high prescription drug costs received a $250 check in the mail this summer. The individual checks were enclosed in a letter addressed to the Medicare beneficiaries stating the purpose of the money: to bring needed relief to individuals with high drug costs, and to bring America one step closer to closing the donut hole or coverage gap within Medicare. The letter ended with what the AJC referred to as a "sales pitch" signed by the Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius telling seniors to 'stay tuned for more information... on how this new law will help make Medicare more financially secure and provide you with higher quality and more affordable health care."
How are seniors reacting to the checks arriving in the mail? Deborah Johnson-Scheid of Raleigh, NC is quoted 'I'm not impressed at all. I appreciate Obama trying, but it still does not help the people who are on drugs that cost $800 or $1,000.' She goes on to claim 'I may be dead by then,' when referring to the law being phased in for 2011 that will provide a 50 percent discount on brand name prescription drugs and a lesser discount on generic drugs for those who fall in the coverage gap.
An Arizona native, Virginia Brant, compared the check to a "free spin on the wheel" in Vegas. She sees the check as a teaser to prepare her for what is coming to her and other seniors under the new health care law. She is one of the few seniors in support of the law, claiming the check is a sign of the Obama administration listening and working to please seniors.
In reality, the check is a nice gesture. But a nice gesture is not always a solution. "Giving an individual a $250 check, when their out-of-pocket expenses are in the thousands, is comparable to giving a soldier a band-aid after being shot forty times," says the American Seniors Association President Stuart Barton. The significance of the band-aid, if any at all, is lost within a brief moment, just as the significance of the $250 check instantly disappears in the reality of high prescription drug prices.
Over three million more checks will be going out to those seniors who fall in Medicare's coverage gap this year. Democrats are holding information sessions about the new health care law, as well as 'birthday parties' for Social Security in their home towns this month. They have gone as far as running a nationwide advertisement starring TV's popular sheriff of Mayberry, Actor Andy Griffith, to reassure seniors on the benefits of the new law. Each of the recent political gestures of the Democrats is a reaction to current polls demonstrating the difficult position the Obama administration and the Democrats are in with seniors. The AP-Gfk poll shows that 56 percent of seniors oppose the new health care law.
Washington officials have high and somewhat unrealistic hopes that seniors will "come around" in time, given the bill is implemented effectively. Despite the change in attitude of seniors on the new health care law, it will be interesting to see what more the Democrats resort to as America approaches the November elections.
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*If you’d like more information on this topic, or to schedule an interview with Stuart Barton, please email Kristen Hicks at or khicks@americanseniors.org.
