Biden’s Care Infrastructure Passed House -Wins & Losses 4 Seniors???

November 23, 2021

Biden’s Care Infrastructure Passed The House

Biden’s 1 Trillion $ Care Infrastructure Passed the House through the brilliant work of speaker Nancy Pelosi which was a great boost for deadly climate change, Child Tax Credits,paid parental leave and so much more. For seniors, the good news is it covers

New hearing benefits for Medicare beneficiaries, including coverage for a new hearing aid every five years.
A $35-per-month limit on the cost of insulin under Medicare and a cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs at $2,000

$1.2 billion in new spending for critical

programs and services under the Older Americans Act (OAA).
Dental & Vision Coverages Dropped But Sanders Tries to Save

The Care Infrastructure Bill passed but it dropped expanding dental and vision benefits after centrists called for paring down the overall cost of the package, which originally was proposed for $3.5 trillion.

The framework of the Care Infrastructure Bill also doesn’t include legislation to give Medicare the power to negotiate for lower drug prices, but senators say that it would eliminate a rule that gets rid of the safe harbor for Part D drug rebates.

Senator Bernie Sanders is trying to work vision and dental back into the Care Infrastructure bill and is outraged that both were dropped. 2-5 voters want dental and vision back in the bill
- Across political parties,
- Across political parties, voters’ top priority for the bill is adding dental and vision benefits to Medicare, which was cut from the White House’s latest framework after intense pushback from dental groups and amid concerns about the price tag. Still, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) indicated he is trying to work Medicare coverage for dental and vision services back into the final bill
- If You Are In Aging Call Your Congressman
Care Infrastructure Bill may not pass it’s next big hurdle , the Senate if folks in health care and older constituents do not contact their congressman or woman and tell them to support this bill. Your Congresswoman or man controls the votes for the bill and you have to let them know you will only vote for them if they do. Common Cause has this easy way to find and contact your congressman If you believe in Medicare and senior’s right to to not have their teeth rot, not hear their grandkids or be unable to read a book- so please email, pick up the phone now.

FDA Proposal Would Allow Millions of Consumers to Buy Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids in Stores or Online

October 25, 2021

FDA to Allow Buying Hearing Aides over the Counter- But Free Hearing Benefits on Chopping Block in Care Infrastructure Bill

A long-awaited Food and Drug Administration proposal would allow millions of consumers to buy over-the-counter hearing aids in stores or online without a prescription or medical exam.

More than four years after Congress ordered the agency to allow over-the-counter hearing aids, it took the first step Tuesday to broaden access to more accessible and affordable devices for millions of patients with mild to moderate hearing loss. The agency’s proposal would create a new category of over-the-counter hearing aids and supersede state-level regulations that require patients to go through physicians or audiologists to get prescriptions and fittings for them.

Infrastructure Trapped in Party Line Clash

President Biden’s Care Infrastruce bill is now trapped in a party-line clash where hearing benefits under Medicare will be ditched as the GOP is pulling away from the centrists that voted for it. Nineteen votes for the bill came from Republicans 2 months ago, as the Republican party is opposed to the Care infrastructure Bill

Progressives Hold The Line for Care Infrastructures for Seniors, Women Families

House Democratic Progressives held the line in a weeklong standoff with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who reversed course and canceled plans to vote on the infrastructure bill with the support of President Joe Biden. He told House Democrats the votes weren’t there to pass that bill without the larger social policy bill.

Biden Says Care Infrastructure Price Tag Must Come Down

President Biden told Democrats the initial $3.5 trillion price tag would have to be reduced, and that the talks ranged up to $2.3 trillion, a source familiar with the meeting said Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., floated a $1.5 trillion counteroffer that some decried as being too small. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., has declined to say what she’d back, frustrating her colleagues.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he aims to pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill and Democrats’ broader investment in the social safety net and climate policy by the end of October.
The House delayed a vote on the Senate-passed infrastructure proposal as progressives sought an agreement on the larger piece of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda.
Democrats are negotiating a compromise between centrists and progressives on a plan to invest in child care, paid leave, health care, education, and the fight against climate change.

If You Are a Woman or Work In Aging Call Your Congressman

Care Infrastructure may wait long if folks in health care and older constituents do not contact their congressman and tell them to support this bill. They control the votes for the bill, and you have to let them know you will only vote for them if they do. Common Cause has this easy way to find and contact your congressman. If you believe in Medicare and seniors’ right not to have their teeth rot, not hear their grandkids or be unable to read a book- do it now.

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Who Benefits from Bidens Caregiver Infrastructure Plan ?

April 19, 2021

Who Benefits from Biden’s Infrastructure Bill addressing Caregivers? Three groups

The first and foremost beneficiaries are paid caregivers who serve older people on Medicaid. The problem is they are not paid enough. These caregivers make an average of about 11.50 an hour or $23,920.00 a year, a figure below the poverty line. The goal for the Biden plan is $15.00 an hour which is $31,200 a year. This is above the federal poverty line of 2021 but only if you have 5 people in your family and will in another phase have to go higher.

Biden’s Program Benefits Caregivers Who are Primarily Women of Color

Predomitality women and people of color, these caregivers and their families struggle to survive on their present low salaries. In theory, much of the funding for the Biden Plan would be used to improve low-wage caregiving jobs.

Despite this invaluable work, caring mainly for elders and people with disabilities. 1 in 8 of these direct caregivers’ lives in poverty

Why a Caregiver Infrastructure Bill.

This bill repairs the ravaged road to caring for the huge number of elders who need care now and in the future. Why do we need a superhighway to care? The Elderly will grow to

a vast number while caregivers are in decline, leaving a rutted highway that needs major repair- for boomers, elders, retirees, and future older people in the coming to get the care they need 40 years.

Caregivers are hard to recruit because of the low salaries and the pandemic. COVID infected them as they were front-line workers, had to work three jobs to keep financially afloat, and were not in line to get the first shots. So they often became COVID victims and spread it to their own families. The bill will help the salaries of caregivers, which will help rebuild the potholed path to caring for elders now and in the future. The number of Americans ages 65 and older will more than double over the next 40 years, reaching 80 million in 2040. The number of adults ages 85 and older, the group most often needing help with basic personal care, will nearly quadruple between 2000 and 2040.

Why Unionize?

The bill would raise the salary for care providers who are caring for the poorest elders, themselves on Medicaid. It would also give them a right to collectively bargain nationwide through the SEIU. This is why the union needs to be involved. States can randomly lower the $1500.00 an hour plus a union needs to be in place to raise the minimum wage of $15.00 higher in the future to really gets these critical workers out of poverty.

Biden believes Unions Hold up the American Worker

Biden supports unions. They have been decimated over the last three decades. The rejection of the Alabama Amazon union is an example of this.

Not clear yet how the $400 billion would be spent?

Biden’s proposal doesn’t specify how the $400 billion in additional funding would be spent, beyond stating that access to home and community-based care would be expanded and caregivers would receive “a long-overdue raise, stronger benefits and an opportunity to organize or join a union.” The proposal is the second tier of the bill and will be more clearly defined in the next round.

We will look at the next two groups that benefit- senior and aging families -in my blogs in the next few weeks.

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