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Reports
from the Alliance for Retired
Americans…Seniors in Indiana, Missouri, Iowa
take actions to improve healthcare
Indiana is
ending its troubled $1.34 billion deal with
a team of vendors to automate the
application process for food stamps,
Medicaid and other benefits.
The system has been highly criticized for
lost documents, slow processing times and a
lack of face-to-face interaction between
caseworkers and welfare recipients.
The news came just two days after social
services advocates, including Indiana
Alliance members, held a news conference to
say that Indiana needs viable public
solutions to fix a crisis in public
welfare.
In Missouri, Alliance activists traveled to
Humana's corporate office in Springfield, MO
on Monday to lodge a formal complaint
against the company. Missouri Alliance
President
Dave Meinell and three
colleagues presented an open letter
addressed to Humana's CEO,
Michael McCallister, which
read: "Both your mailings to Medicare
Advantage recipients, as well as the current
ads you are now running in Missouri with
AHIP (America's Health Insurance Plans),
falsely warn seniors that their benefits are
at risk."
In Iowa on Thursday - two days after
UnitedHealth Group, the largest U.S.
insurer, announced a 13% third quarter jump
in profit to $1.03 billion - seniors and
leaders from the Iowa Alliance called on
Senator
Charles Grassley (R-IA) to
stop putting the interests of big insurance
ahead of Iowans and to support health
insurance reform.
The seniors descended on four of Grassley's
offices, in Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Sioux
City and Waterloo, to urge him to stop lying
to Americans about health reform.
Activists brought a bar of soap, to be
donated to a local shelter, to Grassley's
offices, telling the Senator that he should
have his mouth washed out with soap for his
lies.
Alliance Director of Government and
Political Affairs
Richard Fiesta and
Director of Field Mobilization
Dani Pere traveled to
Concord for the New Hampshire Alliance's
convention.
Charlie Balban
was elected President;
Ron Geoffroy, Sr. was
elected Executive Vice President;
Audrey Buchanan-Swan was
elected Treasurer; and
John Mendolusky, outgoing
president of the NH Alliance, gave the
Thomas C. Deary Award to
John Hoar, Sr.
The award is made in memory of Tom Deary, a
tireless NH seniors advocate.
Last Friday, the Consumers for Affordable
Healthcare, a coalition of consumer
advocates in Maine, presented its 2009
Consumer Advocate Award to
John Carr, President of the
Maine Council of Senior Citizens-Alliance
for Retired Americans, in recognition of his
commitment to quality, affordable health
care.
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