Safeguarding Social Security and Medicare
“Seniors deserve a high quality of life with access to the full benefits and resources that they have earned throughout their years of contributing to the economy and their communities. Social Security and Medicare are essential to ensuring that older Granite Staters and Americans have the support that they need to continue leading active and fulfilling lives. I will keep fighting to protect and strengthen the long-term viability of Social Security and Medicare, while also championing efforts to better support seniors in every aspect of their lives.” – Senator Hassan
Senator Hassan strongly opposes any attempt to privatize Medicare, turn Medicare into a voucher program, or increase the Medicare eligibility age. The Senator will also continue standing up against attempts to privatize or cut Social Security or raise the retirement age.
As part of her efforts to strengthen Medicare and lower prescription drug costs, Senator Hassan supports allowing Medicare to negotiate the best possible price for prescription drugs to cut costs for the nearly 43 million seniors enrolled in Medicare Part D.
The Senator is also focused on additional efforts to address older Americans’ varied health care needs. She successfully worked to pass a measure, which is now law, to increase access to hearing aids by making hearing aids available over the counter for those with mild to moderate hearing loss. She also cosponsored legislation, which is now law, to establish centers of excellence to help support caregivers and inform the public about Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, which will improve early detection, treatment, and care.
When a loved one becomes ill, it usually falls to a family member or close friend to exit the workforce to take over as caregiver - and as result, caregivers can lose years of retirement savings and Social Security contributions. To ensure that these caregivers can still have a secure retirement, Senator Hassan supports creating a Social Security Caregiver credit and providing modest retirement compensation to individuals who leave the workforce or reduce their hours to care for a loved one. She also supports making it easier for small businesses to offer retirement plans and for employees to save for retirement.
Senator Hassan strongly opposes efforts to undermine the Medicaid program – in part because of the devastating impact it would have on seniors – and supports efforts to protect Medicaid and Medicare by requiring a supermajority in Congress (60 votes) to make major changes to these critical health care programs.
Additionally, Senator Hassan fought against the Trump Administration’s efforts to change Medicaid into a per capita system, which would massively cut the Medicaid programs that millions of seniors across the country depend on to stay in nursing homes and to receive in-home care. She also opposed President Trump’s attempts to implement an “age tax” that would allow health insurance plans to charge older adults up to five times more than younger people.
To protect seniors who are vulnerable to financial exploitation and fraud, Senator Hassan also introduced bipartisan legislation to encourage banks and legal organizations to better identify - and prevent - the financial exploitation of older citizens.
Senator Hassan will continue fighting to ensure that older Granite Staters and Americans have the support and resources that they need to remain active participants in our economic and civic life.
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July 01, 2020
Senator Hassan Leads Colleagues in Calling for Answers On Nursing Homes Evicting Residents Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
WASHINGTON - Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) led 11 of her colleagues in calling on the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to act in response to nursing homes evicting residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. The letter cites New York Times reports that nursing homes have evicted more than 6,400 residents since the beginning of the pandemic.
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June 24, 2020
Senators Hassan, Brown, Reed Lead Colleagues in Calling for Answers Over Difficulties With Stimulus Payments Issued as Debit Cards
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Jack Reed (D-RI) led a group of 15 senators in calling for answers from the Treasury Department about ongoing difficulties facing Americans who received their CARES Act stimulus payments as debit cards.
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Senate Passes Hassan-Backed Bipartisan Bill to Aid Victims of Identity Theft
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate yesterday passed bipartisan legislation, introduced by U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), and other colleagues, to require the Social Security Administration (SSA) to provide a single point of contact to help Americans who are victims of identity theft.
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Senator Hassan Hears from Nursing Home Administrators About Efforts to Keep Residents Safe Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
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April 06, 2020
Senators Hassan, Shaheen, and Bipartisan Group of Colleagues Urge Greater Protections for Health Care to Seniors Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen joined a bipartisan group of their colleagues in urging the Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to increase access to in-home health care services to protect Medicare beneficiaries from high-risk settings and promote safer access to care amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The letter was led by Senators Mark Warner (D-VA) and Tim Scott (R-SC).
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BROWN, HASSAN, BENNET, BOOKER LEAD LETTER CALLING ON ADMINISTRATION TO ENSURE VETERANS, SSI BENEFICIARIES GET STIMULUS CHECKS AUTOMATICALLY
Today, U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) led a group of 45 colleagues in calling on the Trump Administration to issue stimulus checks automatically to recipients of benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Supplemental Security Income program. In their letter, the Senators point out that these are two groups with large amounts of non-filers and groups that the federal government has the data necessary to deliver the stimulus checks automatically.
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Treasury Reverses Course, Announces Social Security Beneficiaries Will Automatically Receive COVID-19 Direct Cash Assistance
WASHINGTON - In case you missed it, following calls from Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and colleagues, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that Social Security recipients will automatically receive direct cash assistance included in the CARES Act without having to file tax returns.
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