The senior citizen advocacy group AARP says the fiscal cliff could deeply damage the retirement security of Vermont seniors and deprive thousands older Vermonters of affordable health care and much-needed benefits.
The AARP says that 91,000 senior Vermonters now receive Social Security benefits averaging $14,000 per year, and that reformulating cost of living adjustments, as is possible under debt deal discussions, would cut about $270 million in Social Security benefits to Vermonters over the next 10 years.
The AARP also says that shifting the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 67, a move also being debated, would leave 13,157 Vermonters without health coverage and force them to buy private insurance, which could cost $2,200 more per year.
“Raising the Medicare eligibility age would dramatically increase costs for recently retired and soon-to-retire seniors, drive up premiums for those enrolled in Medicare and increase overall health care costs,” said Greg Marchildon, AARP state director for Vermont in a statement. “Seniors deserve guaranteed coverage, not higher costs.”
“Americans have worked too hard to earn their benefits to end up getting pushed over the edge in a fiscal cliff deal,” Marchildon said. “Social Security is not a cause of the budget deficit and it shouldn’t be used to solve it.”
According to Dave Reville, an associate Vermont state director for the AARP, the research was based on official government sources; figures were drawn from agencies such as the Social Security Administration and the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Reville urged seniors to contact Vermont’s congressional delegation and the Obama administration, to make sure that their voices are heard in the discussions.
“We’re fortunate to have a congressional delegation that’s very supportive of protecting these programs and strengthening these programs, so we feel like they are in our corner in this regard,” said Reville. “I’m not suggesting that our three members are going to carry the debate, but they certainly have an influence on it.”
Reville highlighted Sen. Bernie Sanders’ past pledges to protect Social Security. Sanders has vocally and consistently argued against Social Security cuts, saying that it hasn’t contributed to the national debt or deficit, and has a $2.7 trillion surplus. Sanders also founded the Senate Defending Social Security Caucus.
The Obama administration late last month said that Social Security should be addressed separately from deficit negotiations currently under way, a position Sanders welcomed as a “step in the right direction.”
Reville said state lawmakers and the Shumlin administration could do little at this point to affect or prepare for any fiscal cliff.
“We’re just concerned that seniors have become a bargaining chip in these programs, have become a bargaining chip in a very dangerous game that impacts millions of older Americans, and over 100,000 Vermonters,” said Reville. “What’s being proposed would be both unprecedented and dramatic, and in many cases catastrophic. A very high percentage of older Vermonters live solely on Social Security income.”
The nonprofit AARP has 135,000 members in Vermont, and a total membership of more than 37 million nationwide.
