As citizens, we must ensure that income and medical benefits for our elderly and disabled provided by Social Security Administration, Medicare and Medi-Cal continue to be available for all in our country.
In a devastating move, Congress did not intervene and stop the 2.8% Medicare Physician Fee Schedule payment cut for 2025. Therefore, the reduction took effect on Jan. 1. When medical practice inflation is factored in, this is in effect a 6.3% payment cut to physicians. This cut results from the expiration of a 2.93% temporary congressional update to the conversion factor at the end of 2024 and a freeze on fee schedule inflation updates until 2026 under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act. 
As of February, an estimated 73.2 million people received Social Security benefits, including Social Security for retirees and Supplemental Security Income for the disabled, as the Boomer generation continues to become eligible for retirement. Beneficiaries, who have paid a lifetime of dues during employment, become eligible for services they have paid for. In 2023, approximately 5.8 million people were newly awarded;  over 3 million retiree deaths occur each year.
The Social Security Act of 1935, created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, established the national elderly pension system, later expanded to include benefits for dependents, the disabled and other groups; this is in response to the economic impact of the Great Depression caused by the 1929 stock market crash when one in four were unemployed. This economic security for the elderly and disabled is provided by a work-related, contributary system in which workers provide for their own future economic security through taxes paid while employed. As reported by Newsweek , the Department of Government Efficiency plans to decrease the number of Social Security Administration employees from 57,000 to 50,000 through early retirement and buyouts. Forty-seven SSA offices across the country are set to close. The impact on benefits is still uncertain – but it is likely to lead to delays in issuing monthly benefits.
Medicare, the federal health insurance program, is funded through payroll taxes, general federal revenues, beneficiary premiums, and interest earnings. Medi-Cal, California’s implementation of the federal Medicaid health insurance program, was established in 1965 for those with disabilities or unemployed.
A person’s health is critical — especially as they grow older and bodies decline; many doctors may no longer accept Medicare patients for treatment. So what do the elderly do? Medicare typically pays doctors 80% of what private health insurance pays. Medicare patients’ reimbursements have been cut by nearly 30% since 2002. We must keep Social Security safe and sustainable as a U.S. government benefit. Medicare benefit sustainability for the medical community is a must for a healthy country.
Congress must rally to protect the over 73 million individuals who receive Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid benefits. Life depends on it.
Phyllis Walker
Santa Clarita
