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MnSF will focus its efforts on member-selected priorities |
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At the conclusion of the 2006 Minnesota Senior Federation Annual Convention, membership voted on national and state issue priorities for the organization to work on in 2007. Federal priorities are prescription drug costs, Medicare reform and Social Security. State priorities are property taxes, universal health care and prescription drug costs.
As the legislatures begin a new session, consider these brief descriptions of those priorities. In upcoming issues of Senior News, we will identify priority legislation, specific authors and bill numbers. While these are our priorities, they are not the only issues we will be working. If you’re interested in working with us on these issues, contact Lee Graczyk at 800/365-8765 ext. 5028.
FEDERAL
A. Prescription drug costs
Americans pay more for prescription drugs in the United States than anywhere else on the planet. There are opportunities available right now that, if realized, would bring dramatic fairness to consumers and taxpayers and reign in the inflated cost of prescription drugs in this country.
The Minnesota Senior Federation will work to: 1) allow the federal government to negotiate prices with drug manufacturers; and 2) allow for importation of prescription drugs by consumers.
B. Medicare reform
Medicare in its current form cannot be sustained and costs must be controlled to allow the program to survive into the future. The Minnesota Senior Federation is committed to working to protect Medicare through our leadership on the Medicare Justice Coalition, by working to oppose higher health care costs being shifted to Medicare beneficiaries and by opposing attempts to divide Medicare into a two-tier health care system.
We will actively work to: 1) request Congress, and specifically Minnesota’s Congressional delegates, to develop federal legislation that will assure the financial stability of Medicare without unfairly penalizing the program’s beneficiaries; 2) oppose arbitrary increases in Medicare copays, deductibles and premiums; 3) oppose arbitrary reductions in Medicare reimbursement rates to providers that result in significant reduction in choice of providers and/or increase cost shifting; 4) support non-partisan or bi-partisan efforts to obtain a reasonable and workable resolution to Medicare’s structure and financing that will assure long-term solvency; and 5) oppose all Medicare private contracting efforts.
C. Social Security reform
Many conflicting proposals have been made to reform and transform the Social Security system. Members of Congress and the president have said that reforming the Social Security system is a national priority. The Minnesota Senior Federation will take the lead in proposing solutions as well as opposing ideas that would undermine the integrity of the Social Security system. The Minnesota Senior Federation will actively work to reform, secure and strengthen the integrity of the system beyond the next 50 years.
STATE
A. Property taxes
The Minnesota Senior Federation supports progressive rather than regressive forms of taxation, which have no relationship to a person’s ability to pay the assessed tax. The current property tax system is a regressive tax, adversely affecting homeowners who have lived in their homes for a long period. Some homeowners are paying up more than 40 percent of their income on property taxes. As a result of this method of unlimited taxation, many Minnesotans are being driven from their homes, especially the widowed and the elderly. Continued attempts to make the present market-value-based property tax system into a suitable, adequate and fair system for funding of cities, counties, school districts and the Metro Council are an impossible task.
The Minnesota Senior Federation will actively work to abolish the present regressive market value property tax system of funding cities, counties, school districts and services and work with other individuals and organizations to find a suitable progressive replacement which provides adequate funding for local governments and schools while maintaining fairness to all and that this property tax replacement be developed for consideration by the legislature.
B. Universal health care
There are currently more than 390,000 Minnesotans without healthcare. The Minnesota Senior Federation will support work towards passage of legislation to enact a single-payer healthcare system for all Minnesotans.
C. Prescription drugs
Cost of prescription drugs continues to rise at a prohibitive rate, and discriminatory pricing practices by pharmaceutical companies place the customary retail purchases at a cost disadvantage.
The Minnesota Senior Federation supports legislation that will provide significant price relief to the greatest number of people (not just seniors), using little or no taxpayer money. The Minnesota Senior Federation also supports full disclosure of pricing and relationships between doctors, retailers and manufacturers.
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