AARP Protests Medicare Premium Increases, Delivering Over 20,000 Petitions to Senators Hutchison ...( Medicare premiums have doubled si...),Health

Medicare premiums have doubled since 2000

AUSTIN, Texas, May 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Waving signs and carrying boxes, AARP members and volunteers today delivered more than 20,000 petitions to the offices of Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn in Dallas and Austin, saying it's time for Congress to halt out-of-control Medicare premium increases.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030514/AARPLOGO )

Congress must act by June 30 to preserve beneficiary access to doctors without penalizing them for a flawed physician payment system. People on Medicare have always been willing to pay their fair share for their health care coverage and they understand that doctors who treat Medicare patients must be paid fairly. But forcing older Americans to pay even higher premiums because of a flawed physician payment system is just not fair. Temporary physician payment fixes by Congress have contributed to a doubling of Medicare premiums since 2000.

"At a time when all Texans are feeling the crunch of higher prices for basic necessities like food and gas, the last thing Medicare beneficiaries who live on fixed incomes need is another increase in their monthly Medicare premium," said AARP Texas State President Gus Cardenas in Austin. "We're asking Senators Hutchison and Cornyn today to help us fix the physician payment problem, not just vote to raise our premiums."

In an AARP poll released earlier this month, 66 percent of adults ages 50 and over said they would vote against a congressional candidate in the general election if that candidate supported increasing monthly premiums. AARP has 39 million members nationally, including 2.3 million in Texas.

More than 20,000 petitions from Texans were hand delivered both to Sen. Hutchison's office in Dallas and Sen. Cornyn's office in Austin, while volunteers held signs that said "Keep
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