Op/Ed: Ovide's Policies Could Hurt Older Adults

Older adults, and those who care about them, should keep a close eye on this year’s gubernatorial race.  Simply put, Ovide Lamontagne, the Republican candidate, advocates polices that would be devastating to older people.

Since the beginning of his campaign, Ovide has identified “opposing Obamacare…a top priority” and promised to “take all steps necessary to oppose its implementation” (http://nhjournal.com/2012/06/28/what-granite-staters-are-saying-about-the-supreme-courts-obamacare-decision/). 

Yet, Obamacare has strengthened Medicare and helped older adults.  It has extended the date of exhaustion of Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund from 2016 to 2024, begun closing the notorious prescription drug “doughnut hole,” and added free wellness and preventive services.  If Obamacare is repealed, as Ovide advocates, these things will go away.

Ovide has also advocated turning Medicare into a block grant “to deregulate health care.”  The idea here is that the federal government would give New Hampshire a sum of money to spend essentially as it pleased.  If the governor or legislature wanted to drop a particular service or treatment they could.  Under this approach, older adults could lose services and protections guaranteed currently under Medicare.

It is difficult to see how fifty Medicare programs could work.  A New Hampshire resident traveling or moving to another state might discover the care they need is unavailable.  How would New Hampshire negotiate the price of prescription drugs?  Or could it choose not to offer them?  The history of Medicare is that it developed because the states were unable to meet the needs of older people.  Going back to a failed past does not seem a promising prescription for the future.

Ovide also would like to turn Medicaid over to the states.  The bulk of these funds go to individuals needing long-term care, including nursing home care.  This obviously is of concern to older adults.  Ovide should specify before the election exactly how this would work.

Finally, it is worth noting that in 2010 Ovide expressed strong support for Paul Ryan’s “Roadmap for America.”  Among other things, this roadmap called for partially privatizing Social Security (http://roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/issues/issue/?IssueID=8521).  Ryan no longer talks about this, most likely because he recognizes it is extremely unpopular. 

In 2010, 19.4 percent of New Hampshire residents received Social Security, and 15.8 percent received Medicare.  Twelve percent received Medicaid.  These individuals can hardly find Ovide’s record reassuring.

(Stephen Gorin is Executive Director of the New Hampshire Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.)