Social Security: House Minority Leader Raises Renewed Privatization Fears

House Minority Leader John Boehner (Republican-Ohio) says he’s unsure whether the Republican Party will revive their 2005 movement to privatize Social Security.  Recently, U.S. Representative Paul Ryan (Republican-Wisconsin) - a member of the president's Fiscal Commission on addressing the national debt - released a budget blueprint that included dramatic cuts to Medicare and Social Security before effectively privatizing both systems.  Boehner has distanced himself from Ryan's blueprint without mentioning where he stands, leaving many advocates for seniors uneasy about the fate of these programs should Republicans return to power.  "Representatives Ryan and Boehner must not have seen what I saw when we put unbridled faith in the markets and Wall Street," Alliance For Retired Americans President Barbara J. Easterling said. "We need to continue our work to protect Social Security.  It is a valuable lifeline which has kept millions of retirees out of poverty."

President Obama Fills Key Position At U.S. Department Of Health & Human Services

President Obama has made Dr. Donald Berwick, an expert on reducing health care costs, a recess appointee to oversee Medicare and Medicaid.  By using his power to make recess appointments while the U.S. Senate is on vacation, the president put Dr. Berwick in a position of critical importance in implementing the new reform law.  According to The New York Times, "Republican senators had made it clear that they would use confirmation hearings to distort his record and rehash their arguments against the recently enacted health care reforms, mostly to score political points for the November elections."  Berwick's appointment will run until late 2011, giving him time to put changes in motion before he would have to be re-nominated.  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which Dr. Berwick will run, has been without a permanent administrator since 2006.  Also, Josh Gotbaum was named as a recess appointee to be the Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.  "President Obama did not want partisan gridlock to delay filling these important positions with the right people," said the Alliance For Retired Americans’ Executive Director Edward Coyle.

House Moves To Avoid Deals Between Drug-makers That Prevent Generics

The U.S. House has approved a measure that would restrict the ability of brand-name drug companies to enter into "pay-for-delay" agreements with a generic drug-maker.  Companies could be fined under the measure if the Federal Trade Commission and courts find they are involved in settlements that preserve a brand-name pharmaceutical firm's patent by delaying a generic drug-maker's introduction of a lower-priced product.  The restriction was included in an amendment to the war-funding bill, and was approved on a 239-182 vote.  The measure now goes to the Senate.  It is estimated by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that the restriction on drug agreements would save the government $2.4 billion over 10 years by reducing the cost of drugs purchased through Medicare and Medicaid.  "We’re pleased to see this measure pass. It should help end pharmaceutical companies' long track record of anti-consumer behavior," said Alliance For Retired Americans’ Secretary-Treasurer Ruben Burks.

Is Growing National Support for Health Reform Law Killing The Repeal Effort?

Although they've called repeatedly for repeal of the new Health Reform Law, some senior Senate Republicans have not endorsed a bill that would actually do it.  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, GOP Conference Chair Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Conference Vice Chair Lisa Murkowski of Arkansas have all argued that the reforms should be scrapped, but they haven't signed on to their party's repeal proposal.  That bill has been endorsed by other party leaders, including Jon Kyl of Arizona the minority whip, and John Cornyn of Texas, who heads the National Republican Senatorial Committee.  In the publication The Hill, Julian Zelizer, a congressional expert at Princeton University, said that divisions like this suggest what pollsters are saying: That there is support for the Health Care Reform Law in red America.  Political analysts agree that the repeal bill has no chance of moving through Congress with Democrats in charge and President Obama in the White House.