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November 28, 2000
Aim Applauds Linconln´s Support for Medicare Modernization
(Washington, DC) - AIM Spokesman and former U.S.
Representative Tim Penny met today with U.S. Senator Blanche Lambert Lincoln (D-AR) to urge her continued support for comprehensive Medicare modernization.
Mr. Penny presented Senator Lincoln with the results of a
recent survey commissioned by AIM.
The survey found that seven out of ten Americans believe the Medicare program will not be able to survive in its current form and will not be able to provide benefits for the retirees of the baby boom generation. The poll also found that a majority of Americans (53%) say Medicare needs comprehensive reform, compared with only 28% who said the only change needed was the addition of prescription drug benefits. The survey results showed that a majority of all ages, educational backgrounds, and political affiliations believed that the program will not survive. Most importantly, support for comprehensive reform cut across party lines.
Mr. Penny represented southeastern Minnesota in the U.S.
House of Representatives from 1982-1994 and is a nationally recognized expert on budget, health, and income security issues.
Discussing the poll results, Mr. Penny stated, "These poll results clearly indicate that Americans are ready for a thoughtful and thorough debate about Medicare's future. Voters across the age and political spectrums are aware that the Medicare program faces enormous demographic challenges that cannot be resolved with a patchwork approach."
Commenting on these survey results, AIM Director Tracey
Moorhead said, "Americans are clearly concerned about the long term survival and availability of the Medicare program which, in its current structure, simply cannot provide benefits for the baby boomers who
will begin to enter the program within five years and who will double the size of the program over the next twenty years. Current debate, however, has focused on how to expand the program to provide
prescription drug benefits to Medicare beneficiaries - not on fixing and ensuring Medicare's long term success. Congress and the Presidential candidates should only consider prescription drug benefits as part
of a broader effort to secure and strengthen Medicare. "
AIM supports comprehensive Medicare reform which addresses
the financial crisis facing health plans and providers, improves coverage through consumer choice and competition, replaces the current rigid and outdated benefit structure and bureaucracy with the flexibility to
make new innovations and technologies more accessible, and which provides access to prescription drug coverage as part of comprehensive reform
AIM is a coalition of over 35 organizations representing seniors,
doctors, hospitals, small and large businesses, medical research and innovators, insurance plans and providers, and others who are dedicated to achieving comprehensive reform of the traditional Medicare system.
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