Issue Position: Seniors

Issue Position

Issue Position: Seniors

As the population ages, both in Illinois and the country, services and programs for older people must keep pace. I will continue working to ensure that seniors have the opportunity to live safely and independently for as long as they can, and to recognize their place as valuable members of our communities.

Social Security

Social Security provides a foundation of retirement income that has helped seniors retain an adequate standard of living. An individual's Social Security check is relatively modest, covering about 40 per cent of pre-retirement earnings, but is the primary source of income for many seniors. As such, this resource must be preserved.

I have opposed efforts to partially privatize Social Security because this would significantly reduce benefits, shift more of the risk to individuals, and require massive federal borrowing. Social Security is projected to remain solvent until 2041. We should act soon to preserve Social Security for the long-term. I will continue to work for a responsible, bipartisan plan for Social Security reform which keeps sight of those people the system is designed to protect: our seniors.

Medicare

More than 1.5 million people in Illinois depend on Medicare for essential health care services, including access to the medication they need to stay healthy. I will work to improve the new Medicare drug plan. Adding a prescription drug benefit to Medicare was long overdue, but the plan that was enacted was too complicated, too confusing, and flawed -- with serious gaps in coverage that continue to leave some seniors with large medication bills. A Medicare-run drug plan would be simpler, more dependable and more effective at negotiating lower drug prices. Access to affordable, high-quality health care is critical to our nation's health and to our economic future.

I support giving seniors the choice of joining a Medicare-run prescription drug plan to compete with the private insurance plans currently available. A Medicare-run drug plan would be simpler, more dependable and more effective at negotiating lower drug prices. I recognize the importance of adequately paying doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers who treat seniors in the Medicare program. I also support the push to address rising health care costs in order to ensure Medicare's solvency for generations to come.

Pension Security

As businesses increasingly shift from defined benefit plans that guarantee a certain pension for workers to defined contribution plans that provide no guarantees, it is more important than ever to help protect pension benefits that workers have already earned and to create incentives that help families save on their own. I will continue working to strengthen our pension rules so that companies must fulfill their obligations to their workers. And I am working on legislative proposals designed to help increase our national savings rate (measuring how much we save versus how much we owe in debt), which has dipped below zero.

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