Bernie Sanders

Sanders Campaign Press Release - Expand Social Security, Sanders Tells New Hampshire Seniors

December 15, 2015

DOVER, N.H. – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders told seniors at a community center here on Tuesday that more than half of workers nearing retirement have no savings so protecting Social Security is a top priority. He also called for reining in runaway prescription drug prices and stopping cuts to Medicare.

"Millions of seniors including many in New Hampshire and Vermont are struggling just to keep their heads above water," Sanders told the crowd of 150 people, mostly seniors. "Not only will I oppose any efforts to cut Social Security benefits. What we are going to do is expand Social Security benefits."

Social Security is a key source of income for 42,000 people in New Hampshire whose benefits last year averaged about $15,000. Without Social Security, more than 41 percent of the elderly in New Hampshire would be living in poverty. With Social Security, the elderly poverty rate in New Hampshire is 5.7 percent.

Under current law, the payroll taxes which fund the retirement program are capped at $118,500. Under Sanders' proposal, the wealthiest Americans who make more than $250,000 annually would pay the same share of their income as everyone else. Lifting the payroll tax cap would only raise taxes on the wealthiest 1.5 percent of Americans. The new revenue would expand Social Security benefits by an average of $65 a month, increase cost-of-living adjustments and boost benefits for low-income beneficiaries.

"Senior citizens with an income of less than $16,000 would see their benefits go up by more than $1,300 a year. Very low-income seniors who put in a lifetime of work would see their benefits go up even more," Sanders said.

On prescription drugs, Sanders has introduced legislation to rein in prices that jumped more than 12 percent last year, the highest in a decade. "Americans should not have to live in fear that they will go bankrupt if they get sick. People should not have to go without the medication they need just because their elected officials aren't willing to challenge the drug and health care lobby," Sanders said.

He noted that the pharmaceutical industry spent nearly $230 million on lobbying last year and employed more than 1,400 registered lobbyists.

Legislation by Sanders and Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland would authorize the U.S. Health and Human Services Department to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. Their bills also would stiffen penalties for drug companies that commit fraud and lower barriers to the importation of less expensive drugs from Canada and other countries.

Sanders has fought Republican efforts to end Medicare as we know it by turning it into a voucher program. "Instead of cutting Medicare, instead of privatizing Medicare, instead of limiting the number of Americans who qualify for Medicare, we must join every other major nation on earth in recognizing that health care is a right, not a privilege and that right should be guaranteed to all, regardless of gender, income, age, or race," said Sanders, the Democrats' leader on the Senate Budget Committee.

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Bernie Sanders, Sanders Campaign Press Release - Expand Social Security, Sanders Tells New Hampshire Seniors Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/314757

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