Speakers’ information valuable

Friday, August 31, 2012

To the Editor:

I would like to thank Hollis state representative candidate Kat McGhee for securing guest speakers to meet with the Hollis Seniors to discuss the Affordable Healthcare Act on July 19 and Aug. 23.

On July 19, Natasha Perez, Seniors Advocate with the Committee to Protect Social Security and Medicare, lead a discussion on facts vs. fiction regarding the recent the health care reform bill and a pending bill in Congress. The Aug. 23 speaker Deborah Fournier, of the N.H. Fiscal Policy Institute, spoke about the changes, or more so the additions, that ACA would provide to Medicaid and Medicare.

Ms. Fournier explained how the Medicaid expansion will benefit 30 percent more people in need with the same amount of spending and the CBO projects a $210 million deficit reduction between 2012 and 2022. She also explained how the ACA will implement preventative wellness, rehabilitation, and mental health. I feel Ms. Fournier helped separate some of the fact from fiction and gave seniors information to discuss.

Having senior parents dependent upon Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, I see how confusing these topics can be. Being a part of the sandwich generation, I want to make informed decisions when voting for officials that will benefit multi-generations and not “kick the can” down the road so to speak. I appreciate Ms. McGhee’s desire to inform Hollis Seniors and get a “pulse” of the people she wants to represent. I also was given websites www.whitehouse.gov/health
reform and www.nhfpi.org to read up further.

DARLENE
DEMETRION

Hollis