Monday, March 3, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
* SOCIAL SECURITY: Exclude Social Security from any federal balanced budget amendment or law, prohibit means testing, and eliminate restrictions on earnings after retirement.
* MEDICAID: Protect Medicaid from any steps backward by way of reducing health care or long-term care coverage. Enact a national long-term care policy that covers people with physical, cognitive or other mental impairments.
* MEDICARE: Maintain and strengthen the program, its fiscal solvency and public support. Maintain its current share of total health care costs for beneficiaries, and block efforts to control Medicare spending by shifting costs to beneficiaries and providers.
* HOUSING: Promote independent living, and provide tax credits and other incentives to develop affordable and safe housing. Encourage the federal government to convert surplus government-owned facilities into housing for all people.
* CRIME: Encourage national legislation that imposes serious penalties and restitution for crimes against the elderly. Train older people to work with youngsters via mentoring programs, fund-raising, community cleanup programs, and other activities that improve their communities and lessen the likelihood of crime.
* LONG-TERM CARE: Establish affordable public and private long-term care insurance plans that free older people and their families from the fear of impoverishment. Require long-term care insurance plans to include home care and community-based services. Establish uniform standards and consumer protection for long-term care insurance at the national level.
* GRANDPARENTS: Establish programs for households headed by grandparent caregivers, including respite and day care, legal assistance, mental health and advocacy services, health care and substance abuse treatment. Remove legal and administrative barriers to grandparent caregivers for access to food stamps, as well as other safety net programs.
* VETERANS: Change federal laws to allow the Department of Veterans Affairs' medical facilities to become medical providers for Medicare-eligible veterans, and to be reimbursed by the Health Care Finance Administration for such service.
archive
