Protecting & Honoring Seniors
Older Missourians hold a special place in our communities and deserve our promise to protect them and honor their contributions to making our nation great.
There are nearly 1 million Medicare beneficiaries and over 1.1 million Social Security recipients in the state of Missouri. These vital programs that our seniors rely on for their financial security and health coverage should be protected—not politicized or privatized.
Unfortunately, faced with rising costs and fixed incomes, too many seniors are struggling to make ends meet. Medicare beneficiaries spend an average of over $4,000 a year on out of pocket health care services. And, since 2000, seniors have lost 20 percent of their purchasing power and pay 119 percent more on Medicare premiums.
This has to stop. No senior should have to choose between filling a prescription and putting food on the table. That’s why Robin Carnahan has and will continue to fight to improve seniors’ quality of life and protect the benefits they have earned.
As Secretary of State, Robin has worked tirelessly to crack down on financial fraud and abuse—particularly practices that target seniors. In 2007, in response to the increasing incidence of investment schemes targeting older Americans, Robin formed the Senior Investor Protection Unit, which includes attorneys, investigators and education specialists to investigate misleading recommendations and cases of fraud against Missouri seniors. Robin also put rules in place to stop securities brokers and investment advisers from using misleading credentials targeting senior investors. And in 2009, she helped pass the bipartisan Senior Investor Protection Act, which increased penalties for financial fraud committed against seniors.
If elected to the U.S. Senate, Robin will fight the Washington insiders and special interests who helped the Wall Street insiders get multi-billion dollar bailouts. And she will work to support Missouri seniors and their families and enact responsible, commonsense policies that:
- Protect and Strengthen Social Security: Robin is committed to shoring up Social Security and protecting it from risky Wall Street privatization schemes.
- Strengthen Medicare: Medicare must be protected—not privatized. Robin will fight to strengthen Medicare and ensure seniors receive the quality health care benefits they deserve. This includes closing the Medicare Part D coverage gap—or “doughnut hole”—into which 3 million Americans fall each year.
- Expand Long Term Care Benefits: Forcing seniors to “spend-down” their savings until they qualify for long term care benefits under Medicaid is morally wrong and economically unsustainable. Seniors deserve quality, affordable long-term care services—including the option of home and community-based care. Robin supports long-term care financing reform to ease this burden on both seniors and their families.
- Ensure Retirement Security: Robin will work to make it easier for workers to save money for retirement—and then grow and protect those savings as they get older.
