Raising The Medicare Eligibility Age

If you were delighted to hear that raising the Medicare eligibility age was off the table in the economic debate, you may want to hold off on celebrating just yet. In a White House press conference yesterday, Jay Carney confirmed that the President "would consider the hard choice that included the so-called chain CPI" to calculate cost of living adjustments for Social Security recipients. He says that the chain CPI is on the table, but will only be considered as part of a comprehensive package that "asks the burden to be shared." Chain CPI slows the growth of Social Security benefits paid to seniors over time. It would effectively reduce benefits by about $250 over three years, and could mean about $15,000 less for retirees over time. Sen. Bernie Sanders calls it "an economic and moral disaster." There is no economic reason to even balance the budget, much less should it be done on the backs of seniors and the disabled. Call the White House and demand that chain CPI is taken off the table now!

In the best of the rest of the news... The departing Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, just gave a clear directive to his successor – stop the discrimination against same-sex couples in the military. At his direction, the Department of Defense has issued a memorandum granting many new benefits to LGBT partners of our service men and women. Some of the new benefits include child care, legal assistance, and dependent ID cards for spouses. However, because of the Defense of Marriage Act, there are still many benefits LGBT military family members don't receive – including healthcare, hospital visitation privileges, and presentation of the Flag at military funerals. But it appears that the DoD is gearing up to extend those benefits as well, when DOMA is finally repealed – which could happen next month when it comes before the Supreme Court. The memorandum regarding new benefits clearly states that when DOMA is "no longer applicable to the Department of Denfense, it will be the policy of the Department to construe the words 'spouse' and 'marriage' without regard to sexual orientation." OutServe-SLDN Executive Director Allyson Robinson praised Panetta's decision saying, "We thank him for getting us a few steps closer to full equality – steps that will substantively improve the quality of life for gay and lesbian military families." Kudos to Leon Panetta, and let's hope the Supreme Court overturns DOMA next month.