|
|
Candidates Speak Out On Senior Issues
General Wesley K. Clark is
one of America.s most distinguished retired military officers. During
his 34 years of service in the United States Army, he held numerous
staff and command positions, rising to the rank of four-star general
and NATO Supreme Allied Born in Chicago on December 23, 1944, General Clark grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas. Always committed to public service, he went to West Point at the age of 17 and graduated at the top of his class in 1966. He earned a Master.s Degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. From 1997 through May of 2000, General Clark was NATO Supreme Allied Commander and Commander in Chief of the United States European Command. In this position, General Clark led Operation Allied Force, NATO.s first major combat action, which saved 1.5 million Albanians from ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. From 1996 to 1997, General Clark served as Commander in Chief of the United States Southern Command, Panama, where he was responsible for the direction of U.S. military activities in Latin America and the Caribbean. General Clark is a recipient of numerous U.S. and foreign military awards, including the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart. In August 2000, President Clinton awarded General Clark with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation.s highest civilian honor. An acclaimed public speaker and commentator for CNN, General Clark is the author of Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo, and the Future of Combat and his new book, Winning Modern Wars: Iraq, Terrorism, and the American Empire. In the summer of 2000, General Clark joined Stephens Group, Inc., and served as Managing Director of Merchant Banking from March, 2001, through February, 2003. He was most recently chairman of Wesley K. Clark & Associates, a strategic advisory and consulting firm. Wes Clark and his wife Gert have been married for 36 years. They live in Little Rock, Arkansas and they have one son, Wesley, a screenwriter who lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Astrid Clark.
Clark Responses to Survey HEALTH / Medicaid What do you think should be done to ensure the sustainability of the Medicaid program and to improve it? Prior to full meaningful reform, would you support the continuation of a temporary increase in the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP)? To make health care work, we must protect and expand Medicaid and SCHIP. My Job Creation Plan provides fiscal relief for States to ensure that they are not forced to cut Medicaid in an attempt to balance their budgets. In addition, I have proposed a plan for universal and more affordable health insurance. My plan would make health insurance mandatory for all children through age 22 and provide tax credits to help families pay the cost. My plan also includes $282 billion to pay the cost of states that expand Medicaid and S-CHIP to all families up to 150 of poverty and on a sliding scale up to 200 percent of poverty. HEALTH / Medicare Prescription Drugs Do you support a prescription drug benefit, and if so, will you commit financial resources in your fiscal year 2006 budget submission to address the serious deficiencies in the reported conference agreement and work to fix serious structural deficiencies? Will you commit resources to eliminate each of those problems? Yes. America's seniors need and deserve a comprehensive, meaningful, and affordable prescription drug benefit through Medicare. But the prescription drug bill signed by the president fails on all three counts: it forces seniors into HMOs where they lose their choice of doctors; it increases prescription drug costs for many seniors; and it prohibits seniors from purchasing low-cost prescription drugs from Canada. I advocate a new approach to a Medicare prescription drug benefit grounded in the three basic principles: the benefit should be comprehensive for all seniors through Medicare; the benefit should provide meaningful help for all seniors; and it should make prescription drugs affordable for all seniors. What are your positions on these five issues? (pertaining to the prescription drug legislation)
(a) I oppose arbitrary caps on Medicare costs such as those contained in the prescription drug law. We need to provide the resources for seniors to get the medical care they need through Medicare, not impose spending caps designed to undermine the entire Medicare system. (b) I support a prescription drug benefit administered through Medicare. It's the most reliable and cost-effective way to deliver the benefit. If Medicare supplies the benefit everywhere, we won't have to worry about "fallback" delivery systems for regions of the country where private insurers decide they'd rather not supply the benefit. (c) I believe that Medicare is an important part of the social compact with all seniors and that all seniors and that all Medicare beneficiaries should get the same benefit. I don't support bureaucratically cumbersome means tests for a prescription drug benefit. (d) The bill passed by Congress fails to take any meaningful steps to control the spiraling cost of drugs. I believe Americans should be able to import, safe, low-cost prescription drugs from Canada. We also need to remove the legal loopholes that allow brand-name drug companies to block access to the market to generic drug makers that provide drugs at low cost. Finally, the government must be able to negotiate directly through the free market with drug companies for bulk discounts on popular drugs. (e) The so-called "competition" that Congress's bill sets up is really a scheme to undermine traditional, fee-for-service Medicare. The bill bribes HMOs and PPOs to cherry-pick the healthiest seniors for their plans, leaving Medicare with the highest-cost seniors. Rising premiums will eventually send Medicare into a "death spiral," leaving our sickest seniors to fend for themselves. I oppose such unfair competition because it's unfair to seniors who need Medicare the most. HEALTH / Medicare What are your specific plans to help ensure the financial future of the Medicare program? Medicare is a vital part of the social contract between America and its people. It's vital that we I have proposed a detailed "Saving for America's Future Plan" to save $2.35 trillion over ten years for deficit reduction and investment in priorities like Medicare. The plan saves money that can be used to ensure the solvency of Medicare. It also includes specific measures to modernize Medicare, increasing its quality and costefficiency. These include instituting competitive bidding and payment constraints for medical equipment suppliers; better enforcement of the Medicare secondary payer provision; and savings on drug payments (for the few drugs Medicare has always covered, and now for the many additional drugs covered under the new benefit). These and other steps will go a long way towards ensuring the financial future of Medicare. INCOME SECURITY / Social Security We would appreciate your views on Social Security’s future. Do you favor or oppose the following changes to Social Security?
I strongly believe that Social Security is one of the government’s most important programs. For 20 percent of elderly beneficiaries, Social Security represents their only source of income. The program faces a long-term deficit that must be addressed. As President I would work in a bipartisan way to save Social Security—not by ending it as we know it, but by putting it on sure financial footing. My plan to save $2.35 trillion over the next ten years and reduce the deficit every year is a first step in the right direction. I will oppose all efforts to divert payroll tax dollars into individual accounts or raise the retirement age. I would be willing to consider raising the cap on taxable wages as part of a comprehensive Social Security reform package. I support the progressive nature of Social Security as it's currently structured, and I believe any reform effort should maintain or increase its progressive design. I also support efforts to modernize SSI so long as those efforts don't compromise the needs of beneficiaries. INCOME SECURITY / Pensions Do you favor establishing a system of federally-sponsored universal retirement savings accounts in addition to Social Security, financed with new dollars, rather than with funds diverted from Social Security? I believe that there are three legs of the retirement stool: Social Security’s guaranteed benefit, employer pensions, and individual savings. Too many Americans, however, do not have access to employer-sponsored savings plans and get too little incentives from the tax system to save for the future. I would expand savings options for Americans so that they can build wealth and save for retirement. I support legislation that would encourage employers to offer 401(k)’s and to simplify and expand retirement savings options. I also strongly support tax reform and believe that a central element of any tax reform should be promoting savings by America’s families. I would consider federally-sponsored universal savings accounts in addition to Social Security that would be financed with new dollars as part of my overall tax reform plan. What are some of your recommendations for helping to protect workers currently covered by defined benefit pensions and workplace savings plans? Defined benefit plans are a basic bedrock of retirement security for tens of millions of American workers, guaranteeing them a standard of dignity in retirement, without facing the risks associated with other retirement options. The Federal government should promote and protect defined benefit plans. LONG-TERM CARE Do you agree that federal and state policies should allow people who need long-term care to receive the services and supports in the least restrictive setting possible, including the home and community? Yes. How would your administration support and enhance current state efforts to move people from institutions to the community and to prevent premature or inappropriate nursing home placement? What, if anything, will you do to streamline or eliminate the home and community-based waiver process for states under Medicaid? In addition, how would your administration support unpaid or family caregivers who provide the majority of long-term care to older people with disabilities? Would your administration support, enhance or replace the current federal/state/local infrastructure to provide home and community-based services for older people (i.e. Older Americans Act program and the aging network, SSBG, senior transportation programs, elderly housing programs, etc.) and how would your administration do this? As the baby boomers approach retirement and seniors enjoy longer lives, it's more important than ever to improve and expand our system for long-term care. Seniors and their families need better options for helping loved-ones who need daily assistance in completing basic tasks. This is a multi-faceted challenge that requires a multi-faceted solution. First, we need to understand that the primary caregivers for nation's chronically ill of all ages are family and relatives, particularly women. Second, we have to recognize that Medicare does not offer significant coverage of long-term care. Third, the nation's primary payer and insurer for these costs is Medicaid, a program that faces enormous fiscal challenges. And, finally, while we would all like to have a more vibrant private insurance system, it remains a fairly modest element of our long-term care infrastructure. While there are no silver bullets to address the long term care challenge, we can, and we must do better. We need to reorient our system away from institutionalization and towards home and community-based services. We need to improve and expand our end-of-life programs for the terminally ill, including building on the successful Hospice model. We need to better manage our limited resources by using proven chronic care management techniques that improve medical outcomes and constrain cost growth. We need to better coordinate those services that duplicate one another in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. We need to provide caregivers with the support they need to supplement and not supplant the services they provide. In so doing, we should consider expansions of the Older Americans Act, caregiver initiatives, and innovative tax credit policies that provide direct resources to these populations. And as we succeed in moving our long term care system to one that is more grounded within the community, we need to make certain that we ensure quality care for these home-based services by improving training, increasing inspections and better rewarding providers that consistently give high quality care The federal and state governments, together with individuals and families, all bear some financial responsibility for long-term care. How should these responsibilities ideally be distributed? Do you support the federal government bearing an increased burden? If so, how? The federal government should play in important role in providing financial support for long-term care. We should also promote initiatives that encourage families to save for their retirement while they're still young. COMMUNITY SERVICES / Older Americans Act What initiatives would you advance to support and augment the Older Americans Act and the vital services it provides to millions of older adults? The Older Americans Act is an important pillar of our long-term care and elderly care system in America. I support full funding or Title III of the Act, and we need to make sure such funding keeps pace with inflation and the growth of the elderly population. It's unacceptable that there are currently waiting lists for many OOA services. Moreover, we need to look at ways to better coordinate the services provided through the OOA with Social Services Block Grant programs, and we should increase flexibility for Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) in planning, coordinating and delivering services under the Act. COMMUNITY SERVICES / Social Services Block Grants Would you support the restoration of the Social Services Block Grant authorization level to at least its pre-welfare reform level of $2.8 billion and restore the ability of states to transfer 10% of TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) funds to SSBG? Yes. States use the Social Services Block Grant to provide vital services to poor and elderly Americans. Though the 1996 welfare reform has been a success in certain respects, this success does not reduce the need for state services made possible by the SSBG. COMMUNITY SERVICES / Senior Employment Program Would you support a ten percent increase in SCSEP funding, with would provide over 6,000 additional jobs for low-income Americans age 55 and older? Yes. COMMUNITY SERVICES / Senior Volunteer Programs What plans do you have to support and, further, what other plans would you implement to make the best use of seniors as a resource in service to their communities, would you support a goal of doubling the number of senior volunteers sponsored through the National Senior Service Corps over the next five years? Seniors have a lot to contribute to America. I would support doubling Senior Corps. In fact, I have already proposed expanding Senior Corps as part of my proposal for a national Civilian Reserve. COMMUNITY SERVICES / Housing How important will it be to your administration to maintain and increase the supply of low-income senior housing we have in this country and what would you do to make sure health and housing services fit together for these people? Ensuring access to quality, low-cost housing for all low-income Americans – especially low-income seniors – will be a high priority for my administration. We should fully support and expand programs like HUD's Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program. We should also support efforts at the state level by State Housing Authorities to encourage construction of low-cost senior housing through methods like tax-free bond issues. Finally, we should support and expand the section 8 voucher program, which provies low-income housing to thousands of low-income Americans. COMMUNITY SERVICES / Transportation Please describe your plan to promote senior transportation as a priority within your Administration, and specifically do you support substantial increases in funding for the Federal Transportation Administration’s Section 5310 Program, the major transportation program for the elderly which is currently funded at $90 million? I support efforts to expand the role of the federal government in promoting senior transportation initiatives. FEDERAL RIGHTS What will your administration do to ensure full protection for the rights and welfare of our nation’s seniors? Protecting the rights of seniors and being vigilant against discrimination is one of the primary functions of government. I support vigorous enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. I will also appoint judges who have a proven record of enforcing the law in a way that's fair to seniors. What steps will your administration take to address staffing problems in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities? As president I will work to ensure that all our nation's long-term care facilities are safe and adequately staffed. In particular, I will make sure states accurately report serious violations to the federal government as required by law. A recent GAO report showed that many states fail to report fully on such violations. The same report also showed that many state inspection processes are inadequate and that nursing homes are able to conceal violations by preparing for scheduled inspections. The federal government must do a better job of overseeing state inspection systems. Finally, we must increase efforts to recruit and train qualified long term care providers. TAXES A series of tax cuts have been passed over the past three years, which have been criticized as contributing to these large deficit projections. Would you support modifications of any of these tax cuts, and if so, which ones in particular? I believe the best way to promote economic growth and fiscal responsibility through the tax code is to promote fairness and progressivity. President Bush's tax cuts have overwhelmingly favored Americans who need help the least. I have proposed a "Saving for America's Future Plan" that will save $2.35 trillion over ten years for deficit reduction and investment in priorities. One element in the plan is recapturing revenue from those provisions of President Bush's tax cuts that go to the wealthiest Americans—those making over $200,000 annually.
|
|
Copyright © 2004
Leadership Council of Aging Organizations. All Rights Reserved. |
