Fact Sheets and Position Papers
Medicare Prior Authorization Pilot Program – September 2025
Medicare provides health insurance for over 68 million Americans, including 61 million who are 65 years of age or older and more than seven million with disabilities under the age of 65.
The Alliance for Retired Americans opposes all cuts to Medicare and any effort to reduce benefits or privatize the program. Older Americans earned their guaranteed Medicare health benefits over a lifetime of hard work.
The Alliance is extremely concerned about a recent Trump administration pilot program that is set to begin in January, 2026. Named the “WISeR Model” Medicare Pilot Program, it is planned for six states (Arizona, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and Washington) and is being carried out under the pretense of addressing “fraud, waste and abuse” in traditional Medicare.
Threats to Medicaid in Budget Reconciliation Package – July 2025
On Friday, July 4, President Trump signed the Republicans’ Budget Reconciliation bill into law. The law makes the largest cuts to health care and taxes in United States history, while adding at least $3.3 trillion to the nation’s deficit.
The law cuts nearly $930 billion from the Medicaid program while creating $4.5 trillion in tax breaks for corporations and wealthy Americans, putting the health care of more than 9 million older Americans, as well as hospitals and nursing homes, at risk.
Threats to Medicare in Budget Reconciliation Package – July 2025
The Republican budget signed into law by President Trump on July 4 harms the guaranteed Medicare benefits Americans have earned in three significant ways.
It triggers automatic, across-the-board Medicare cuts of $490 billion over 10 years starting in 2027.
This will affect all beneficiaries and every health care provider that accepts Medicare.
It also hastens the insolvency date for the Medicare Trust Fund by one year, from 2033 to 2032, and
weakens the law requiring Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices with drug corporations.
Threats to Retirees in Budget Reconciliation Package – July 2025
On Friday, July 4, President Trump signed the Republican Budget Reconciliation bill into law. The bill, which was passed along party lines, makes the largest cuts to health care and taxes in United States history, while adding at least $3.3 trillion to the nation’s deficit.
Debt Commission Legislation Fast Tracks Cuts to Social Security and Medicare – June 2025
On May 8, 2025 Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI), introduced H.R. 3289, the Fiscal Commission Act with 28 original bipartisan cosponsors.
The legislation establishes a 16-member “Fiscal Commission” appointed by congressional leaders. Twelve members of the commission would be members of Congress and the other four would be “outside experts.” It would make recommendations on how to balance the federal budget by
addressing the growth of discretionary and direct spending and revenues, while improving the solvency of Federal trust funds, including Social Security and Medicare, for at least 75 years. There is no requirement that the Commission’s deliberations would be open to the public.
Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s Biggest Lies About Social Security – March 2025
This fact sheet debunks the biggest lies being spread about Social Security by billionaire Elon Musk and President Donald Trump as they try to weaken the Social Security Administration.
Strengthening Social Security and Increasing Benefits – March 2025
To continue to provide retirement security for current and future generations, it is time to strengthen and expand Social Security and increase benefits. A growing number of people in Congress recognize the need for action and have introduced legislation to keep the Social Security system strong and ensure current and future Americans receive the benefits they earn over a lifetime of work.
Threats to Medicaid – March 2025
The Alliance for Retired Americans strongly opposes any plans to cut Medicaid. The Republican Party is proposing to put health care at risk for 72 million Americans, including: 8.3 million older adults, 9.1 million people with disabilities, and 31.5 million children.
Social Security Fairness Act – March 2025
On January 5, President Joe Biden signed H.R. 82, The Social Security Fairness Act which eliminates the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) into law. The bill was introduced by Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) and Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA), and the Senate companion bill was introduced by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) in the 118th Congress.
PRO Act Position Paper – July 2025
The labor movement has been, and continues to be, the leading force in the fight to strengthen Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, ensuring a measure of retirement security for all Americans. Our country, our democracy and our people benefit when workers have a strong voice at work and are able to join together to build a more secure future for their families and their communities.
To strengthen workers’ voices on the job, Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) reintroduced the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, H.R. 20, in the U.S. House of Representatives. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) reintroduced the bill, S. 852, in the U.S. Senate.
Social Security and Medicare Facts and Figures – April 2025
Nearly 184 million workers contribute to Social Security and Medicare through payroll taxes. Details like benefit amounts and premiums change each year.
Our fact sheet has the latest figures.
Social Security Current Facts and Figures – April 2025
Nearly 184 million workers contribute to Social Security through payroll taxes. Details like benefit amounts and premiums change each year.
Our fact sheet has the latest figures.
Threats to Retirees – January 2025
The Alliance has serious concerns about the “Department of Government Efficiency” or DOGE, and other potential threats to retirement security.
Although incoming President Trump has at times claimed that he would not cut Social Security, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a conservative think tank, released a report entitled “U.S. Budget Watch 2024,” wherein they forecast that the tax and budget proposals Trump advocated while campaigning in 2024 would decrease the Social Security Trust Fund by $2.3 trillion over ten years, and lead to automatic cuts in Social Security benefits by 33% beginning in 2035.
Project 2025 Fact Sheet – July 2024
In April 2023 the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C., published “Mandate for Leadership, the Conservative Promise, Project 2025.”
The 900-page policy blueprint provides a policy roadmap for a second Trump Administration, should he be elected in November. It was developed by a number of former Trump administration officials, and it reflects input from over 100 conservative organizations.
Project 2025 would dramatically reshape the federal government by placing the entire Executive Branch of the U.S. government under direct presidential control, eliminating the independence of the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Federal Communications Commission and all other federal agencies, as well as potentially firing thousands of federal government employees.
Of particular concern to older Americans, Project 2025 would make dramatic cuts and changes to Medicare, increase the price of prescription drugs, and allow states to eliminate or reduce Medicaid coverage for nursing home care.
Inflation Reduction Act Fact Sheet – January 2024
One in four people over the age of 65 report not taking at least one prescription drug as prescribed due to its cost. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical corporations are making record profits, lining the pockets of their executives and shareholders while patients struggle to afford the drugs they need to stay healthy.
To help reverse the pharmaceutical industry’s stranglehold on our health care system, on August 16, 2022 President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law. It means lower prescription drug prices for millions of Medicare beneficiaries.
Medicaid Fact Sheet – June 2023
Medicaid is a social safety net program that provides health coverage for pregnant women, children, the disabled and seniors with low-incomes.
