by Amanda Cuda, Staff Writer

Published 04:05 p.m., Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro speaks at a town hall meeting at the Baldwin Center in Stratford, Conn May 18th, 2011. The meeting was held to help inform seniors at the center about proposed changes to Medicare and Medicaid. Photo: Ned Gerard / Connecticut Post | Buy This Photo

STRATFORD – James Marbury has been through a lot in his 84 years. He fought in the Korean War. When he came home from fighting, Marbury, who is black, experienced rampant racism, not being allowed in certain restaurants and being forced to use a separate YMCA from his white peers.

With all he’s experienced, he feels that he and other seniors have earned the right to certain protections in their old age, such as the reassurance that they’ll be able to get affordable health care whenever they need it. Marbury, who lives in Stratford, was one of roughly 50 seniors who attended a town meeting with U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, Wednesday at the Baldwin Center in Stratford. DeLauro discussed proposed changes to the federal budget that would severely affect Medicare and Medicaid, both of which help cover health care costs for older Americans.

The plan would gradually transform Medicare from a defined benefit plan to a “premium support system,” under which beneficiaries would be entitled to a payment from the federal government to help defray premiums and other health-care costs. Most of the plan’s biggest changes to Medicare would take place years down the road, including one that would change the age of Medicare eligibility from 65 to 67 by the year 2022. The proposal would also cut Medicaid funding by roughly a third over the next decade.

The plan is projected to achieve a federal budget surplus by 2040, but some critics, including DeLauro, believe the changes would effectively end Medicare and Medicaid as we know it.

Marbury said he keeps up to date on current events, and is always concerned by possible changes that could affect seniors. Though he is in good health, he knows many other seniors — including his 92-year-old brother-in-law and 76-year-old wife — who do have problems. He’s also worried about how these proposed cuts could affect his daughter, now 52 years old. “I’m concerned about the people in this room and millions of other people out there,” Marbury said. “If we don’t stand together, we’re going be ripped off.”

DeLauro expressed similar sentiments in her talk to the seniors. Herself the daughter of a 97-year-old mother, DeLauro said she’s sensitive to cuts that affect seniors. Though she knows that the country needs to cut programs and bring down the deficit, she said she’d rather the country save money in other ways, such as ending subsidies for oil companies. DeLauro said the plan on the table “asks the deepest sacrifice of our seniors and those who have been working and saving preparation for retirement.” The proposed Medicare changes would drastically affect seniors’ quality of life, she said, as the payment provided by the government through the plan likely wouldn’t be enough to cover their health care costs.

In addition to DeLauro, Brad Plebani, deputy director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, based in Wallingford, spoke at the town meeting, and decried the plan as “the worst I’ve ever encountered. It’s designed to shift the costs (of health care) onto you, the Medicare beneficiaries, or your children or children’s children.”

Medicare has long been a hot-button political issue, but has been particularly hot recently. Also this week, the Republican Party announced plans to target U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4, with automated telephone calls criticizing his position on Medicare. The “robo calls” would be placed to those in Himes’ district, informing them that Himes supports the status quo for Medicare, a position that “lets Medicare go bankrupt.” Himes was one of 10 House Democrats around the country to be the focus of such a campaign.

For many seniors, however, this isn’t just a political issue. It’s something that affects their daily lives. Agnes Sheehan, 72, of Stratford, attended the town meeting and said the talk left her unsettled. As someone with health issues — which she declined to elaborate on — she needs the support she gets through Medicare and is troubled by the thought of losing it. “Seniors have been paying into Medicare all our lives,” Sheehan said. “We don’t want to lose our health insurance.”

Reach Amanda Cuda at acuda@ctpost.com or 203-330-6290. Follow at twitter.com/AmandaCuda.
[To read the article at CTPost.com and to see more photos, go here]