AARP Eye Center
Pennsylvania 2024 Senate Race: Casey, McCormick Talk Social Security, Medicare
Posted on 09/30/24
by Donna Liquori
En español | U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D) will face businessman Dave McCormick (R) on Nov. 5 in a pivotal race that could affect control of the Senate.
Casey was first elected to the Senate in 2006 and is seeking his fourth term.
McCormick is a military veteran who served in the Middle East during the first Gulf War and a former hedge fund CEO. He is running for Senate for the second time.
AARP spoke with both candidates about issues important to older adults. Their answers were edited for clarity and brevity.
AARP studies show 48 million family caregivers provide at least $600 billion in unpaid care a year, many helping older loved ones continue to live independently. If elected/reelected, how would you support family caregivers, many of whom are juggling work and family?
CASEY: We cannot continue to rely upon family caregivers to do all the work.... I’ve introduced a Long-Term Care Workforce Support Act that would ensure caregiving can be sustainable—that it can be a lifelong career by providing substantial new funding to support workers in every part of the long-term care industry, from nursing homes to home care to assisted living.
MCCORMICK: Part of it is structurally helping people save for those latter years to be able to afford health care, to be able to afford elder care. So, tax-advantage savings, long-term care insurance, expanded access to home- and community-based services. And I think at the end of life, our health care system should also encourage earlier access to community-based palliative care.
Social Security is expected to see a shortfall in approximately 10 years. If Congress doesn’t act, millions of Americans who are counting on Social Security may see cuts to the money they’ve earned. If elected/reelected, how would you protect Social Security for the future?
MCCORMICK: The promises that are made have to be kept.... I wouldn’t support any change to benefits for anyone who is anywhere near retirement [or] in retirement—frankly, even well along in their careers.... But if you look over the last 20 years of spending under both parties, Republicans and Democrats, the spending has been out of control.... We’re going to have to find fiscal sanity.
CASEY: I think the more immediate threat to Social Security are efforts to privatize it. So, Republicans in Congress have for years proposed privatizing Social Security, which is a stupid idea.... But it’s something they’re going to continue to pursue.... So, job one is to stop them from doing that.
Medicare provides critical health coverage for older Americans. If elected/reelected, how will you protect Medicare from benefit cuts, and how can the program be improved?
CASEY: We’ve got to maintain the Senate majority and make sure that we have the votes to defeat any efforts to cut Medicare, to voucherize Medicare, like a lot of Republicans want to do.... We have to remind people that Social Security and Medicare are earned benefits.... These are programs that people have paid into throughout the course of their working career. So we’ve got to make sure that we protect and preserve both Social Security and Medicare.
MCCORMICK: Medicare Advantage—over 50 percent of eligible seniors are now choosing that program, and that’s because it includes many important care options that aren’t covered by Medicare.... Competition—having the government not too heavily on the scale—is going to be the best way to drive the best health care outcomes and the best affordability.
Americans pay some of the highest prescription drug prices in the world. If elected/reelected, how will you lower prescription prices for all Americans?
MCCORMICK: We need to continue to be the driver of innovation in the world for pharmaceuticals and at the same time deal with the escalating price, and so we don’t want to kill the innovation in pursuit of affordable drugs.... I think more [pricing] transparency ... requiring the disclosure of [drug] rebates so seniors are aware of savings, lowering out-of-pocket costs for seniors who receive medication at a hospital ... expanding access to more affordable generics.
CASEY: I just actually introduced legislation to do that, to build upon the great gains we made in the Inflation Reduction Act.... What my bill will do is extend the out-of-pocket [prescription drug] cost cap that will be in place for seniors [on Medicare] in January to extend that to those in the commercial insurance market.
Older workers often face age discrimination in getting or keeping jobs. If elected/re-elected, how would you combat age discrimination and help older workers who need or want to continue working?
CASEY: The remedy here is a piece of legislation that has been bipartisan for years. We have to continue to work to find a pathway to get it passed, but it’s the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act, which would make it easier for employees to prove that they’re the victim of age discrimination in the workplace.
MCCORMICK: I’m sympathetic to that concern. And I know there’s been some legislation proposed on this by Senators Graham, Grassley and Hawley and some others that would essentially help prevent elder employees from discrimination by not having them be forced into arbitration.
If elected/re-elected, what will you do to improve the lives of older Americans and their families?
MCCORMICK: I think an economy where inflation is under control, where food, fuel and rent prices aren’t bankrupting families that are living paycheck to paycheck—I think that’s sort of the starting point for economic security.... And to ensure that they have the health care they need.
CASEY: All three programs—Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security—are critical to protect. But I also think we can go beyond what we have now and have new federal investment in home- and community-based services.
—Interviews by Donna Liquori
Find more information on the candidates at bobcasey.com and davemccormickpa.com.
As a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, AARP does not endorse candidates or make political donations.
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