1. 815 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006
Richard Fiesta
Executive Director
@RFiestaARA
815 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006

2. Across the States
The Alliance has members in all 50 states and many territories, and we have 34 state affiliates
Affiliated states indicates elected leadership and, in most cases, staff presence      
Members in every state
34 State Alliance Affiliates and growing
Alliance in formation

3. Graham-Cassidy
Block grants state funding for exchanges and Medicaid expansion and redistributes a reduced amount. CA will lose $800 billion between 2020 – 2036.
Ends premium subsidies in 2020; Medicaid expansion in 2026
Decimates traditional Medicaid by turning it into a per-capita cap
More than 32 million Americans, including 4,552,000 Californians, lose coverage
Block grant funding for exchange and Medicaid expansion and redistribute funds. This will reward states that did NOT expand their Medicaid rolls. In essence, it penalizes blue states and rewards red states.
Subsidies for premium and cost-sharing reductions will terminate in 2020 and Medicaid expansion funds in 2026.
Changes the funding formula for traditional Medicaid from an open-ended program that provides guaranteed benefits

4. Graham-Cassidy and Older Americans
No protections against rising health costs or “age tax”
Ends protections for people with pre-existing conditions
Ends guaranteed coverage for home care and nursing home care
Ends essential health benefits, like mental health, drug and hospital coverage
Ends protections from annual and lifetime caps
In exchange for reduced funding, states will be given flexibility. Thus, states will determine whether pre-existing conditions are protected.
50 – 64 year olds with pre-existing conditions be subject to an “age” tax paying 5, 10 or more times more than a younger person.
States will also be able to determine what essential health benefits are covered, which means mental health services, prescription drug and hospital coverage could be eliminated.
Insurers can once again impose an annual and lifetime cap
States will received a lower and fixed amount through a per-capita cap for traditional Medicare, which will not keep up with medical inflation or take into account a recession or other catastrophic event. To deal with this states will be forced ration care by changing eligibility requirements or increasing costs to beneficiaries. Medicaid pays for 62% of long-term care costs.

5. Call Your Member of Congress

6. Tax Reform Proposal
Administration & Congress want huge tax cuts for corporations and wealthiest Americans
Reduce govt’s ability to provide basic services by decreasing revenue
Put pressure on programs important to seniors, including Medicare and Medicaid.
Republicans are planning to enact their tax reform through budget reconciliation, which only requires 51 votes rather than 60 votes.

7. Why Are These Tax Cuts Bad?
47% of cuts will go to top 1%
Decreases fed’l revenue by $2.4 trillion
Increases deficit by $7.1 trillion
Corporate profits at record highs but corporate taxes at record low
Eliminates most itemized deductions for lower-and middle-income Americans
Creates conditions leading to Medicare and Medicaid cuts
The top 1% will get over $200,000 in tax cuts a year, while the bottom 20% will get $110.
The Trump plan will reduce federal revenue making it difficult to fund programs. Congress will either have to raise taxes or cut programs, like Medicare and Social Security.
While Trump says that his tax plan will create jobs and improve the economy, his plan will increase the deficit. President Bush promised the same thing, but both of the Bush tax cuts (2001 and 2003) increased the deficit. According to the Joint Tax Committee, Trump’s plan will increase it by $7.1 trillion.
Big corporations are making record profits, but contributing less in taxes. Sixty years ago, 30 percent of total federal tax revenue was from corporations. Today it’s just 10 percent. This reduces funds to build roads and bridges, maintain our schools and fund the many other services government provides.
Corporations’ official tax rate: 35 percent. The average tax rate all corporations actually pay: 27.7 percent. And in 2010, large, profitable corporations paid only 12.6 percent. Companies like GE and Verizon have even figured out how to pay zero dollars in federal taxes in some recent years.
While President Trump doubles standard deduction (in 2016: $6,300 for singles and $12,600 for married couples; $9300 for head of household), he eliminates most itemized deductions, which will impact lower-and middle-income Americans.

8. Recent Seniors Polling

9. Majority of Seniors Believe The Country is on the Wrong Track; Attitudes Stable Recently

10. Seniors Divided on Trump Job Approval for Most of the Year, Now More Likely to Disapprove

11. Republicans and Trump Voters Still Largely Supportive, But Intensity of Approval has Fallen

12. Seniors Split on Generic Congressional Vote

13. Republicans Underperforming Among Seniors Compared to Previous Midterms

14. Seniors Were Close on the Vote At This Point in the 2014 Cycle As Well But Later Broke for Reps

15. Seniors Split on Democrats vs
Seniors Split on Democrats vs. Repubs/Trump on Social Security and Medicare

16. Persuadable Seniors Divided on Impact on AHCA Vote on Support for a Candidate

17. After Hearing Either Message, Seniors Say They’re Less Likely to Support a Candidate Who Voted for AHCA

18. Nearly Half of Persuadable, Republicans Shifted to Less Likely After Negative Message

19. Looking Ahead to 2018

20. Alliance Members and the Older American Vote
Clinton beat Trump 65% to 33% among Union Retirees
Retirees outperformed union voters who voted Clinton-Trump 56% to 37% nationwide (in 2012 Obama received 66% of union votes).

21. Alliance Members and the Older American Vote
Trump beat Clinton 53% to 45% among 65+ voters
Compared to 2012, a 4 percentage point improvement for the Democratic candidate. 65+ voters were the only age group that moved more Democratic.

22. SOURCE: National Exit Polls 2012, 2014, 2016
Recent Senior Vote
2010
2012
2014
2016
21% of electorate
16% of electorate
22% of electorate
Democratic
38%
44%
41%
45%
Republican
59%
56%
57%
53%
-21%
-12%
-16%
-8%
SOURCE: National Exit Polls 2012, 2014, 2016

23. National 32%* California 29.4% 2018 Projected Senior Vote
*10-point increase from 2014

24. Competitive California House Seats 2018

25. CA-1 Rep. Doug LaMalfa 3% Lifetime Alliance voting record
2018 Projected Senior vote 38.6%

26. CA-10 Rep. Jeff Denham 5% Lifetime Alliance voting record
2018 Projected Senior vote 28.1%

27. CA-21 Rep. David Valadao 10% Lifetime Alliance voting record
2018 Projected Senior vote 26.9%

28. CA-25 Rep. Steve Knight 5% Lifetime Alliance voting record
2018 Projected Senior vote 24.6%

29. CA-39 Rep. Ed Royce 6% Lifetime Alliance voting record
2018 Projected Senior vote 29.5%

30. CA-45 Rep. Mimi Walters 10% Lifetime Alliance voting record
2018 Projected Senior vote 28.5%

31. CA-48 Rep. Dana Rohrabacher 8% Lifetime Alliance voting record
2018 Projected Senior vote 32.2%

32. CA-49 Rep. Darrel Issa 4% Lifetime Alliance voting record
2018 Projected Senior vote 30.5%

33. Follow Online, Spread the Word
Facebook.com/retiredamericans
@activeretirees
Please visit and use resources from our website.
We are active on Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to follow us there.
If you want to check out videos and photos, see our YouTube and Flickr streams.
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