Protecting Our Seniors Should Be Our First Priority

Today the House of Representatives is voting on legislation to repeal the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports program. This is counterproductive.

Seniors need our help. Congress should not even be taking a vote on whether to repeal the major provision in the health care law that tries to help Americans with long-term care. We should have voted this down yesterday.

There are 10 million Americans that need long-term care today. In 10 years, that number will be 15 million. Providing long-term care is a major drain on family budgets. Last year, the average annual cost of a nursing home was $70,000. We cannot allow aging to become a guaranteed path to poverty for the middle class. Yet, yesterday and today, the House of Representatives is considering legislation that would repeal the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports program, a section of the Affordable Care Act.

Protecting our senior's access to quality medical care should be our first priority. In these difficult economic times, fighting the advancement of poverty in our seniors should be our highest priority. We must draw a strong line in the sand and not allow any effort to sacrifice our seniors in the name of fiscal austerity. That is why I voted against the rule last night, and that is why I urge my colleagues to vote NO on H.R. 1173, legislation to repeal the CLASS Act.

 

Follow Rep. Dennis Kucinich on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RepKucinich

Comments

[ennis438]

08:53 AM on 02/02/2012

Congressman Kucinich is correct . All of the middle class should have a safety net in place. However , when we allow organized crime to purchase our Congresspeople , and , in turn, these pigs only protect the people who own them, then we have no democracy and no country. We are getting more and more like North Korea every day, by allowing a few to control the country and every one else is nothing. I am sure glad Washington and Jefferson can not see the disappearence of their great dreams.

[guveqzero]

12:32 AM on 02/02/2012

Protecting the poor should be our first priority.

[Lindytindy]

08:26 PM on 02/01/2012

Thank you Dennis. I feel every day like I'm being targeted for extermination.

[crabbyoldart]

06:42 PM on 02/01/2012

I like what this person had to say.What you just said: is articulate, it is intelligent, and it is logical.

[Deborah A Peterson]

05:25 PM on 02/01/2012

regarding Rep. Kucinich vote against repealing the CLASS ACT. Rep. Kucinich does not seem to understand that our government cannot afford to provide this coverage. The plan was not sustainable.
Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are in trouble as it is. What the government should do is encourage the middle and upper middle class to secure their own long term care plan, provide tax incentives to do so; thus, preserving Medicaid for the truly needy.

[WI Patriot]

05:08 PM on 02/01/2012

Rep. Dennis Kucinich's $20,000 check must've cleared the bank....................why do congress people even talk - all they have to do is show the list of money people give them.........you got $20k from the retirement lobby, got it thanks.


Top 5 Industries, 2011-2012, Campaign Cmte
Industry Total Indivs PACs
Retired $20,050 $20,050 $0
Transportation Unions $7,300 $0 $7,300
Real Estate $7,300 $7,300 $0
Securities & Investment $6,200 $6,200 $0
Education $6,065 $6,065 $0
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=n00003572

[Heroldness]

04:26 PM on 02/01/2012

If Republican voters do not see now just what their party has planned for them I'm sure they will when their mothers and fathers and grandpas and grandmas start getting kicked out of nursing homes and "come home to roost" so to speak. When they have to figure out how to pay for the care of their loved ones on their own lack luster wages and declining home values and ever increasing food and health care cost Maybe, maybe then it will finally sink in just how badly the 1% hate doing a single thing for them. Entitlement: Are Republican voters so blind that they have ignored the fact that someday they may need these things themselves or that someone in their family is already using or in need of these services? When one of their own canidates for President actually says he's not concerned about the poor, they have a safety net and if their are loop holes then he will fix it and then watch congress close the loopholes by eliminating the whole program.......................................................WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY THINKING???????

[bave]

03:43 PM on 02/01/2012

Isn't this the very same portion of ACA that 90% of democrats even agree is untenable? Where's the money coming from!?

[SteveM39]

02:12 PM on 02/01/2012

Putting band-aids on our mangled healthcare system is only extending our pain. Eventually the conservatives will destroy all access to healthcare except for the 1%. When enough bodies start piling up on the streets outside hospitals, maybe the people will actually throw the bums out and get some real representation in Washington.

[Liberal Independent]

04:08 PM on 02/01/2012

Conservatives have destroyed everything else! Why stop now?!

Here's hoping the bums are sent home with their pink slips in November.

[mater]

01:57 PM on 02/01/2012

Yes, it should, but Kucinich is the first one to say it. Thank you for caring, sir.