Protect, improve, expand Medicare and Social Security
On July 30, thousands of activists met to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Medicare including a bus from Fresno/Modesto to Oakland.
Medicare covers 54 million older and disabled Americans, providing basic security against the increasing cost of chronic and catastrophic illness. Publicly financed and managed, traditional Medicare’s overhead is 2% compared to 13% for privately run Medicare Advantage plans.
The theme of the rally was: “P.I.E.” Protect it. Improve it. Expand it. The Medicare insurance system — not run for profits, so there are no arbitrary denials of coverage. With some Congressional leaders wanting to cut Medicare, raise the eligibility age or replace it with vouchers, we must let those reps know this is an option we as American voters/taxpayers will not accept.
On Aug. 14, Social Security will be celebrating its 80th anniversary. Once again, throughout the state we will gather to acknowledge the importance of protecting and increasing Social Security for current and future retirees.
In Fresno, we will meet at the Federal Courthouse on the corner of Tulare and O streets from noon to 2 p.m. Join us to let them know cutting Social Security is a bad idea.
Gene Roza, Clovis
This story was originally published August 9, 2015 at 10:17 AM with the headline "Protect, improve, expand Medicare and Social Security."