Read the “Seniors At Risk” Report Here
Washington, DC — On a press call this morning, Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), the Alliance for Retired Americans and Protect Our Care discussed how President Trump’s health care sabotage agenda and leadership failures are especially harmful to seniors facing the coronavirus pandemic. The call addressed the new “Seniors At Risk” report released by Protect Our Care and the Alliance for Retired Americans today on how American seniors stand to lose in Trump’s war on health care, especially in his lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act that would devastate older Americans during this crisis.
This week Protect Our Care launched the “Seniors At Risk” campaign, beginning with the release of a new digital ad informing seniors, their children and grandchildren how President Trump is downplaying the coronavirus crisis, refusing to listen to experts, and failing to provide adequate testing, resulting in the unnecessary deaths of tens of thousands of America’s seniors.
Protect Our Care will continue its “Seniors At Risk” campaign with a series of state specific reports, state press calls with local elected officials, health care advocates and allied organizations, and additional digital ads.
“As we struggle to break free from the grips of the worst public health crisis our Nation has seen in a century, older Americans have been left as an afterthought by the Trump Administration,” said Senator Casey. “Protect Our Care and the Alliance for Retired Americans have released a report that details more than 20 million new Americans who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic are eligible for coverage through the ACA Marketplace. During this pandemic, more than ever, Americans need access to affordable health care. This Administration must drop their lawsuit against the ACA and stop its efforts to undermine the health and safety of seniors and their families especially during this pandemic.”
“From day one, President Trump has put the retirement security and health of older Americans at unnecessary risk. In just the last three months, COVID-19 has killed tens of thousands of older Americans. The president’s botched response shows a callous indifference toward the lives of seniors,” said Richard Fiesta, Executive Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans. “Rather than rallying the nation and marshaling the full resources of the federal government to fight this national emergency, he’s even used the pandemic as a pretense to gut Social Security by eliminating its dedicated funding. What have America’s seniors done to deserve this?”
“Two and a half years ago, I was fortunate to receive a lung transplant that saved my life,” said Gary Mitchell, a lung transplant survivor and President of the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans. “Now my life and the lives of millions of older Americans are at risk from the coronavirus. President Trump’s failure to take this health crisis seriously has made a terrible situation worse, and thousands of seniors have died because of it.”
“President Trump’s failure to prepare us for the coronavirus crisis and his all-out war on health care has shown his complete disregard for the health and safety of older Americans,” said Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach. “Eighty percent of all coronavirus deaths have been over the age of 65 and many seniors have died unnecessarily and alone. If President Trump truly cared about the livelihoods of American seniors, he wouldn’t be trying to rip apart our health care system and gut critical programs like Medicare and Medicaid that are essential for older Americans to receive life-saving treatment and care.”