THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, October 8, 1995                TAG: 9510050026
SECTION: COMMENTARY               PAGE: J4   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Letter 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   49 lines

DON'T CUT MEDICARE TO REWARD THE RICH

Medicare was established to guarantee Americans access to affordable health care in their old age. For 30 years, Medicare has helped to assure that older and disabled Americans get health care they need, while lessening the burden on famlies who might otherwise be responsible for paying the medical bills of ailing parents or grandparents.

Today Medicare is under attack. The House of Representatives is urging drastic reductions that will result in out-of-pocket expenses for beneficiaries - in excess of $2,700 to $3,400 over five years. This means that seniors would be paying higher premiums for doctor care and higher costs when ill. For millions of elderly, this increase would result in hardship - an unnecessary hardship, I believe.

Congress could eliminate a proposed tax cut that would give $20,000 tax breaks to people making more than $350,000 a year, and congress could eliminate government subsidies and tax breaks to selected businesses (cost: $104 billion last year) for example. Penalizing the elderly and handicapped while benefiting the wealthiest is unconscionable.

The American Association of Retired Persons has a long history of supporting deficit reduction, but not at the expense of basic commitment to health-care coverage for all generations including the elderly and disabled.

AARP agrees that the rate of growth in Medicare spending needs to be slowed and the Trust Fund needs to be strengthened. However, the proposed $270 billion in Medicare cuts go far beyond what is needed to strengthen the Trust Fund.

The Trust Fund could be preserved for the next decade by cutting Part A spending by $110 billion over the next seven years.

AARP's position is that short-term savings could be accomplished this year to keep the Trust Fund solvent for about 10 years. This would give us the time to look carefully at longer-term Medicare reform, which needs to proceed cautiously with input from beneficiaries to be sure it is done wisely. AARP opposes drastic cuts in Medicare benefits in the name of deficit reduction as ``too much, too fast.''

This is the time for citizens to give their input to U.S. senators and U.S. representatives with regard to proposed Medicare reduction. Our U.S. senators and representatives have local phone numbers.

EVELYN M. HELLINGER

Norfolk, Sept. 25, 1995 by CNB