How Health Insurance Reform Will Help America's Older and Senior Women;

[and-justice-for-all]

http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/seniorwomen/index.html

While all Americans shoulder the burden of rising health care costs and increasingly inadequate health insurance, America’s 17 million older women (ages 55-64) and 21 million senior women (ages 65 and older) are particularly susceptible to rising costs. At a time in their lives when access to affordable health care is increasingly important, some older women are having a harder and harder time getting the care they need and deserve.

That’s why, today, I will participate in a roundtable discussion with women in South Portland Maine to formally release and discuss a new report on the importance of health insurance reform for older women and women senior citizens.

The report, Strengthening the Health Insurance System: How Health Insurance Reform Will Help America’s Older and Senior Women, identifies problems with the status quo for older women and women senior citizens and outlines some proposed solutions to those challenges that will result from health insurance reform. A couple of examples that I found especially compelling:

* Senior women spent on average 17 percent of their income on health care in 2005.i The growth in Medicare Part B premiums from 2000 to 2018 is predicted to cost seniors an additional $1,577 per year out-of-pocket.ii Health insurance reform will reduce overpayments to private plans and clamp down on fraud and abuse to bring down premiums for all seniors and extend the life of the Medicare trust fund by 5 years.iii

* One in five women aged 50 and above has not received a mammogram in the past two years.iv By ensuring that health plans cover preventive services for everyone, investing in prevention and wellness, and promoting primary care, health insurance reform will work to create a system that prevents illness and disease instead of just treating it when it’s too late and costs more.

Health insurance reform will remove these hurdles to ensure that older and senior women, along with all other Americans, get the quality, affordable health care they deserve. To read the complete report, visit www.HealthReform.gov and share your story or idea about the importance of passing health reform this year.

Thank you for your commitment and support as we work towards creating a health care system that better serves all Americans.

Sincerely,

Kathleen Sebelius
Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
______________________________
i CMS 2005 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey Cost and Use file

ii Analysis preformed by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

iii Office of the Actuary, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

iv Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data. Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2008.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Thank you Madam Secretary! I hope you enjoy visiting our state. :^)