Senior Citizens Holding Demonstration in Boston to Protest a Potential Increase in Medicare Eligibility Age

Occupy Boston supporters won’t be the only ones protesting in Boston today. The Massachusetts Senior Action Council (MSAC) has announced that it will hold a demonstration, today, October 13^th, outside of the Boston offices of the Massachusetts Hospital Association. The demonstration is set to begin at 3 p.m.

The MSAC’s Executive Director, Carolyn Villers, told New England Post that the demonstration is a direct response to a proposal being advocated for by the American Hospital Association; a proposal that would increase the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67.

According to Villers, if the Medicare eligibility age is pushed back, more costs would be shifted to Massachusetts seniors. And as Villers pointed out, many of these seniors are already “forgoing care and not picking up prescriptions because of high costs.”

Instead of cutting health services to seniors, Villers suggests that the government reduce debt by allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. This practice alone, according to Villers, would result in $20 billion in cost savings.

Villers also supports programs for getting people back to work, and commented that “many Americans feel common ground with the 99% movements,” like Occupy Boston. According to Villers, “Corporations and banks haven’t been paying their fair share of taxes.”

In addition to holding today’s protest, the MSAC is lobbying Senator Kerry and Senator Brown to come to the defense of seniors in the Bay State.

Short URL: http://www.newenglandpost.com/?p=5659

Posted by erik devaney on Oct 13 2011. Filed under Top Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry