Eye on the Administration

By: AARP Advocacy

Obama Answers AARP Call to Make Health Reform a Priority

On Thursday, March 5, President Obama held the “White House Forum on Health Reform.”  The President described the Forum as an opportunity to bring together Members of Congress from both parties with stakeholders in health care reform to discuss the most effective ways to “bring down health care costs and increase coverage.”   The President also announced a series of regional health care forums in five states, including California, Iowa, North Carolina, Michigan, and North Carolina, which AARP members will be participating in.

AARP CEO Bill Novelli attended the Forum and urged the President and Congress to commit to working together to reach a bipartisan solution to our health care crisis this year. 

Novelli also used the Forum as an opportunity to lay out AARP’s priorities for health care reform, which include: 

• Making affordable health care coverage options available to everyone, especially people ages 50-64 who are among the fastest growing group of uninsured;
• Keeping Medicare affordable by rewarding doctors and hospitals for quality rather than the quantity of care;
• Strengthening and improve Medicare for our children and grandchildren;
• Promoting prevention and healthy behaviors;
• Eliminating fraud, waste and abuse; and
• Improving care coordination for people with chronic conditions and helping them stay in their homes and out of institutions.

Click here to read Mr. Novelli’s statement.

Click here for the AARP Bulletin Article - Obama’s Health Summit: A Moral and Fiscal Imperative

Fiscal Responsibility Summit

On Monday, February 23, AARP CEO Bill Novelli participated in President Obama’s "fiscal responsibility summit."   The President described the summit as an opportunity to "bring together a variety of voices on solving the long-term problems with the economy" and with a special focus on programs such as Medicare and Social Security.  After Mr. Obama made opening remarks, summit attendees were divided into five groups that would address: health-care costs, Social Security, tax reform, defense procurement and the federal budget process.  Mr. Novelli participated in the health care subgroup where he reinforced the need to reform the health care system to ensure that all Americans are guaranteed access to their choice of health care plans they can afford. 

At a round-up session at the end of the summit, the President called on Mr. Novelli to ask his opinion of how we can improve Medicare for our 40 million members.

Mr. Novelli spoke to media following the summit and underscored the need for health care reform.

AARP looks forward to working with the Obama Administration and Congress to reform our broken health care system and address other long-term fiscal challenges.