news.goldseek.com / Dennis Miller / 23rd September 2014
That title wouldn’t make for much of a campaign slogan, and yet, it’s the natural outcome of one particular politician’s promise. As the editor of a retirement-focused newsletter, most of the notes I receive about the Affordable Health Care Act, or Obamacare, are first-person accounts of how a reader’s change in coverage or cost is affecting his finances. These (mostly sad) stories prompted several discussions with Andy Mangione, vice president of government relations of the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC). Andy serves as the lead legislative and government contact for AMAC in Washington, DC. He’s also responsible for national grassroots outreach and developing strategic partnerships.
Andy is AMAC’s man on the scene in Washington, and he kindly agreed to sit down for an interview on the significant budget cuts to home health care that have been made as a result of Obamacare. I’ll let Andy get into the details.
Dennis Miller: Welcome, Andy. Thanks for taking the time to educate our readers on the latest goings-on in Washington.
Andy Mangione: My pleasure, Dennis.
Dennis: Andy, let’s get right to it. I know you’re very concerned about how cuts to home health care will impact seniors. This is no longer a theoretical problem. I’d like to ask a two-part question: Can you tell our readers a bit about your organization and how these budget cuts will affect “mature American citizens?”
Andy: Dan Weber, a private citizen, founded AMAC as an alternative to and competitor of AARP. AMAC is a right-of-center, conservative member benefits and senior advocacy organization for Americans age 50 and older. AMAC offers many of the same benefits and services as AARP. The biggest difference, though, is our approach to advocacy. AMAC is a member-driven organization. We do not sit in a boardroom and determine our stance on issues unilaterally. We take our marching orders from our members. They determine the issues that I bring to Washington, DC and help us to determine our policy and issues positions.
We have over 1.2 million American members living in all 50 states. We add approximately 1,000-2,000 new, dues-paying members each week.
I think it’s important to describe the Medicare home healthcare recipient before getting into the cuts. The average age of this beneficiary is 82. Two-thirds live below the federal poverty level, and they have chronic illnesses like heart disease, COPD, and diabetes. These are Medicare’s oldest, sickest, and poorest beneficiaries. Most of these folks reside in rural areas, and the majority of them are women.
The $22 billion cuts over four years to Medicare home health care will mean these homebound seniors will have to seek care outside of their homes. The cuts will also devastate the home healthcare sector. And where will the money from these cuts go? To fund subsidies on the insurance exchanges and to expand Medicaid—two key components of Obamacare.
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