New Poll: Seniors Concerned About Cuts to Medicare and More After Fiscal Cliff

AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Generation America (GenerationAmerica.org), a national membership organization for Americans over 50, has surveyed its members to obtain their thoughts and opinions concerning the proposed Medicare cuts tied to the fiscal cliff discussions. More than 4,000 responses have been received to date.

Not surprisingly, seniors understand the difficult situation in which we find ourselves and are willing to do their part. However, they want to see the government focus on its own financial role in this situation. As the results show, they want government pay brought in line with private health care administrative pay. They want competitive bidding, and they want greater efficiency in the government run program.

Generation America (GenerationAmerica.org) has forwarded the results of its members' responses to the President of the United States, the Vice President, House Majority & Minority Leaders, Senate Majority & Minority Leaders, Secretary of HHS, CMS Acting Administrator, the Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member and House Committee on Ways & Means Chairman.

Below are the key findings:

• 85.6% believe the quality of their care is going to be negatively affected by additional cuts in payments to doctors and hospitals.
• 92.9% enthusiastically support competitive bidding for service providers and insurance companies to bring costs down.
• 91.3% are in favor of additional spending to eradicate corruption and bring costs down.
• 92.5% are in favor of a federal wage freeze until such time that the federal worker pay is in line with private sector pay.
• 95% are in favor of bringing government internal costs in line with private sector health care overhead costs.
• 73.2% are in favor of increasing eligibility age to 67 from 65.
• 61.3% are in favor of higher premiums for wealthier Americans, although they want to see the definition of wealthier. A number of comments suggest that it should be the same $250,000 income threshold that has been established for capital gains.
• 58.7% are in favor of the proposal to move catastrophic care to Medicare, knowing deductibles and co-pays will be affected.

Generation America was founded to give seniors an unbiased voice in Washington and is the leading alternative to AARP. Generation America provides its members access to exceptional discounts, benefits and services that promote the safety, security and well-being of seniors. For more information, visit GenerationAmerica.org, email them at [email protected] or call 1-877-290-6577.

SOURCE Generation America