The U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) recently voiced his concerns about the changes made to Medicare by the members of the congress. This even included replacing Tom Price, the current Health and Human Services Secretary, whose proposals include turning Medicaid into a voucher based, privatized system as well as cutting Medicaid.
The Medicare program has earned 3.3 million New Yorkers as beneficiaries last year. According to reports, approximately 370,713 senior citizens in the Hudson Valley have enrolled in Medicare.
The Senator states that he will fight for making Medicare protected and strengthened using his powers of a Senate Democratic leader. Schumer also urged his colleagues in the Senate to act toward securing Medicare, which in his words “provides affordable health care to countless New York seniors.”
“Every senior and every American should hear this loudly and clearly: I will fight with every fiber of my being to beat back these harsh efforts to weaken, wound and destroy Medicare,” Schumer said. “Our country must keep its promise to seniors by ensuring they have access to health care and economic security in their aging years.”
There has been a new debate opened in the US Senate about confirming Tom Price as the secretary of Health and Human Services. It is reported that Price has put forward a plan to overhaul Obamacare, which has gathered opposition from the democrats. Since Price is President Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary, repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act is solely the result of him coordinating the Republican efforts.
Price even proposed a replacement plan in 2015 that featured tax credits in order to aid people in buying insurance on the private market. It also included the use of private health savings accounts and providing states with federal funds in creating high-risk pools for covering the preexisting conditions.
On the other hand, Schumer elaborated further on the dangers of altering the Medicare program. According to him, converting Medicare into a partisan voucher based program will affect many New York seniors who have depended on the program for years by investing in it. He stated that it is unacceptable for any plan to alter the Medicare program by making the seniors to go through a many insurance options with a specified amount of money for accessing the substandard care offered.
“Medicare is enormously popular because it works, it delivers affordable and vital healthcare to our seniors,” Schumer added. “And it needs to be strengthened not put on the chopping block.”