Seniors
Keeping Our Promises to the "Greatest Generation"

We, as a Nation, owe a huge debt to our senior citizens, whose very blood, sweat, and tears, put the money in the coffers, the food on the plate and provided us with the future that we are enjoying today. It is our obligation to ensure that they have access to good, affordable, health care, and that they receive the benefits they were promised and which they paid for with each dollar earned and sent to the federal government.

I believe in producing results instead of promises. Here are just a few of the things which I have been working on as your Representative in Congress.

Medicare Physician Reimbursement Rates
I worked with Senators Stevens and Murkowski to secure an increase in Medicare physician payments to augment the reimbursement rates for our doctors. Medicare is not paying doctors in Alaska enough to cover the real costs of providing health care in our state. This chronic problem is ruining what should be the golden years for our senior citizens. It saddens and pains me to hear my fellow Alaskans recount stories of how they were turned away from doctors when they were in need of care. This is not the treatment our elders deserve and it is certainly not something which Congress can afford to ignore.

Congressman Young is a cosponsor of H.R. 235 the Social Security Fairness Act of 2009.  This act would repeal the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision.  These unfair offsets take away some retired public employees’ benefits that they have earned.  Public employees like educators, police officers and firefighters should not suffer a penalty in their retirement benefits because of their dedication to public service.

Our payment fix has now expired and there are even more cuts scheduled to take place next year for Medicare reimbursement rates. This is unacceptable. Our seniors are already having enough trouble finding doctors willing to accept current funding levels for Medicare; the last thing we need is more doctors who can't afford to accept patients. Be assured that we will once again find a solution to this problem. I will continue to ensure your voice is heard, and I will fight for your rights and for all of Alaska.

Bills Passed by the House and Voted For

H.R. 1 - Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act
This bill from the 108th Congress expanded Medicare to include a prescription drug benefit (Part D). Additionally, the bill replaced the old Medicare+Choice program with the Medicare Advantage program and strengthened and improved Medicare Parts A and B.

H.R. 3162 - Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act
I voted against this bill which would have paid for expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) with cuts to Medicare Advantage. Our children's health insurance is a priority, but it shouldn't come at the cost of benefits for our senior citizens. Subsequently, I have voted for H.R 976 which provides for the health care of our children but does not raid Medicare to do so.

Bills Cosponsored

H.R. 82 - Social Security Fairness Act
This bill repeals the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), which penalize some public employees (teachers and other public school employees, firefighters, police, social workers, and other civil servants) by cutting or taking away completely Social Security benefits they or their spouse earned. Alaska is one of the 15 states where public employees are affected by GPO/WEP.

H.R. 1093 - Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act
This bill amends Medicare to increase, over five cost reporting periods, the Medicare caps on the total number of full-time equivalent residents in the field of allopathic or osteopathic medicine (graduate medical education (GME) positions) for states with a shortage of residents.

H.R. 1552 - Medicare Patient Access to Physical Therapists Act
This bill amends Medicare to authorize qualified physical therapists to provide services for Medicare beneficiaries without requiring a physician to refer them. It also provides for treatment of outpatient speech-language pathology services separately from outpatient physical therapy services.

H.R. 3865 - Home Health Care Access Protection Act
This bill amends Medicare to protect Medicare beneficiaries' access to home health services by delaying implementation of the payment rate adjustment until the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services takes the necessary steps to produce an increase in the transparency of its rule making process. It also requires an expert technical advisory group to oversee standards and provide a forum for a public notice on any adjustment proposal.