Seniors reap aid, still wary of health reform

President Obama’s push for a $250 bonus for Social Security recipients is but the latest in a series of paydays and promises the administration has showered on seniors - that politically powerful demographic that holds the keys to health care reform and, so far, is not sold on the White House plans.

The president’s call last week for Congress to approve $250 checks to make up for the lack of an annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment follows a similar payment to seniors as part of the $787 billion economic stimulus package.

Seniors advocates say recent subsidies for COBRA health coverage and extended unemployment payments disproportionately help older, out-of-work Americans, and the health care legislation in Congress finances more prescription-drug benefits for seniors by repairing the so-called doughnut hole in the Medicare plan.

Seniors represent a prized voting bloc because of their high turnout in elections, and catering to them is nothing new. Last year, Mr. Obama courted voters 65 and older by promising that they would pay no federal income taxes for the rest of their lives if they make less than $50,000 a year.

The latest $250 offering comes as Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill are putting the finishing touches on a remake of the health care system, and the support of seniors for the overhaul could go a long way toward passing it in Congress.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, made a pitch to seniors recently on PBS’ “The Charlie Rose Show,” promising that the bill would keep Medicare solvent for five more years, add to the drug benefit and allow seniors to keep their current doctors.

“The bill is much better for seniors,” she said.

But the majority of Americans 65 and older - 54 percent - oppose the health care reform plans, including 11 percent who strongly oppose it, according to a Rasmussen Reports survey conducted Oct. 10 through 11.

Sentiments are similar among most other demographics. The poll showed that 50 percent of all voters surveyed said they are opposed to the measures.

Rep. Tom Price of Georgia, chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, said that proposing the extra Social Security payments is a blatant attempt to appease older voters worried about the plan’s nearly $1 trillion price tag and its estimated $500 billion in Medicare cuts.

“They think that they are able to assuage concerns over the bigger picture by these little pittances,” he said. “The big picture is that the way they are attempting to buy off votes and not fix the economy is reckless and irresponsible.”

Mr. Price said his group had not decided whether it will take a position on the Social Security payments.

The payments, which would cost more than $13 billion, have broad bipartisan support, including backing from House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman, California Democrat and chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that wrote one of the five health care bills that are being melded into a final package of reforms, said he would not dignify Mr. Price’s comments with a response. But he said the extra payments were justified.

“I think the president thought seniors should get some more money because the evaluation of the cost-of-living increase is based more on the price of gasoline than the price of drugs, which is one of the areas where seniors are paying far in excess of the inflation rate,” he said.

Mr. Waxman said he was sympathetic to helping seniors cope with high medical costs, but he stopped short of saying he would support the $250 payments.

Other lawmakers were quicker to get behind the program.

“In the coming weeks, I will continue working to move this recovery payment forward so that we can get these checks in the hands of the people who need it most,” said Rep. Charles B. Rangel, New York Democrat and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said the payments were “needed and deserved” and vowed to do everything he could to get them passed.

“Any senior living in the real world knows that the cost of living has gone up over the last year,” he said. “This is a good first step in making it up and I will continue to look for other ways to help our seniors in these difficult times.”

The Social Security Administration announced Friday that benefit checks next year would not include an annual cost-of-living increase. Law dictates an annual increase pegged to inflation, but the consumer price index, which measures inflation, showed prices declining this year.

Mr. Obama headed off the bad news for seniors Thursday by calling for the $250 payments, which also would go to people receiving veterans and disability benefits, railroad retirees and retired public employees who do not receive Social Security.

The one-time payment would be equal to a 2 percent cost-of-living increase for most Social Security recipients.