Protecting Medicare, Social Security, and Missouri's Seniors

My mom and I used to talk a lot about what it's like to grow older in America. Driving to and from her doctors' appointments, poring over costly medical bills, sorting through complex Medicare payments--she spoke bluntly about the sometimes endless struggles seniors face.

My mom never gave me anything but her honest opinion. And among the many holes her death left in my life--one is that I lost a constant, candid barometer of what life is really like for older Americans.

So as I've recently taken the top-ranking Democratic spot on the U.S. Senate's Committee on Aging, it's been critical for me to get that same candid perspective from folks in Missouri, whose experiences are much like my mom's.

That's why I traveled the state last week, holding a series of Senior Listening Sessions to hear from seniors on the issues that affect their daily lives, and get their feedback on how we can make government work better for them.

From Kansas City to Farmington, Chillicothe to Branson, I heard from so many folks who reminded me that my mom's experience wasn't unique. It's getting harder for folks to save for retirement, and guard against fraud.

I held these listening sessions because I want to make sure that Congress is doing everything possible to give the generation that came before us all the benefits they've earned, and that means affording them a retirement where they aren't scrambling to make ends meet. But in Farmington and Macon, I heard from seniors about the negative effects of the Missouri State Legislature's refusal to expand Medicaid--turning away Missourians' own tax dollars, and forcing the closure of a number of rural hospitals, severely limiting seniors' access to care. In Branson, I heard from folks whose financial security has been threatened by scam artists through fraudulent calls, and I urged them to report those scams directly to my office to investigate.

And in St. Louis, I spoke with researchers and physicians about the importance of maintaining our county's competitive edge in medical research for Alzheimer's and other diseases--research that's critical to advancements in health and wellness and to Missouri's economy.

I'm looking forward to bringing the ideas I heard back with me to the Senate. Unfortunately, elected Republicans who now run Congress have very different priorities. Under their budget, more than 100,000 Missouri seniors would pay more for expensive prescriptions--re-opening the so-called "donut hole" and forcing seniors to pay the full price for prescriptions. By repealing the Affordable Care Act, that budget proposal would also mean that the more than 800,000 seniors who use free preventative services covered by Medicare would be required to pay for them. The budget would slash more than $5.4 billion in long-term care and other health care services for Missouri's senior and disabled citizens, and force nearly 900,000 Missouri seniors out of traditional Medicare and into a voucher program.

We owe so much to our parents' generation, and it's time to ensure they have the opportunity for a deserved and dignified retirement. I finished my tour with a pledge to go back to the Senate with renewed vigor--to fight to protect Medicare and Social Security, and to stand up and fight scam artists threatening seniors, and those elected officials who want to endanger the benefits our seniors have earned.

Claire McCaskill is Missouri's senior U.S. Senator and the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Committee on Aging.