AARP an active voice in health care, Social Security debates

To the editor:
As the volunteer state president of AARP-RI, I would like to let your readers know how diligently AARP is working to improve the lives of not only our members age 50 and older, but the lives of all Rhode Islanders.
In the 2008 election, 71 percent of Rhode Islanders ages 50 and older voted, sending a clear message to Congress that it’s time for elected officials from both sides of the aisle to come together to solve our nation’s problems.
In Rhode Island, AARP and our legislative advocacy volunteers are working with Congress to support struggling workers by:
&#8226 Extending unemployment insurance for the 8,304 Rhode Islanders hardest hit by the economic crisis.
We are working with Congress to fix our broken health care system by:
&#8226 Making quality health care more affordable for the families and employers in Rhode Island now spending nearly $12,000 a year on premiums alone.
&#8226 Ensuring all Americans have access to care, especially the 13,429 uninsured Rhode Islanders ages 50 to 64.
We are also working with Congress to strengthen Social Security for current and future generations by:
&#8226 Reaching a balanced and bipartisan solvency agreement that will preserve Social Security’s role as a guaranteed floor of income security, as it now does, for 193,783 Rhode Islanders currently receiving Social Security.
We are working with Congress to ensure that every American has a simple, dependable way to save for retirement at work by:
&#8226 Enacting Voluntary Automatic IRA legislation, which would help many of the estimated 179,000 Rhode Islanders who currently do not have access to a retirement savings plan at work.
We are working with Congress to help people facing foreclosure so they can stay in their homes while paying off their debt, including:
&#8226 Allowing bankruptcy judges to restructure mortgage loans for primary residences, which would help 2,569 Rhode Islanders ages 50 and older who are in or near foreclosure.
I am proud to be associated with an organization that represents and serves 139,127 AARP members ages 50 and older in our state and lives by the motto of its founder, retired school principal, Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus – “What we do, we do for all.”
Anthony J. Regine, DDS (Ret.)
Middletown