Drinane, Suleika Cabrera - Institute for the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Elderly, Inc.

Instituto Puertorriqueño/Hispano Para Personas Mayores, Inc.
Institute for the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Elderly, Inc.
105 East 22nd Street - Room 615
New York, N.Y. 10010
Tel(212) 677-4181; Fax:(212) 777-5106
Statement By Suleika Cabrera Drinane, Executive director, Institute For The Puerto Rican/Hispanic Elderly, Inc., For The Conference Publication, White House Conference On Social Security, To Take Place On December 8, 1998, In Washington, D.C.

Hello! I am Suleika Cabrera Drinane, Executive Director of the Institute for the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Elderly, Inc., the largest and major Hispanic non-profit organization serving Hispanic and other ethnic/racial minority seniors and their families in New York City and environs. The Institute provides direct assistance services to over 15,000 individual seniors a year, and informational/referral services to another 125,000. For low-income seniors, Social Security payments represents 50 percent or more of their income. Their Social Security benefits are low, since the larger number of those seniors worked in lower-occupational, lower-wage jobs and only receive small monthly payments. Due to a lifetime of no access to quality healthcare (or any healthcare in many cases), Hispanic and other ethnic/racial minority seniors have relatively poorer health than other seniors, and an alarmingly high number are at serious risk by age 60. Seniors are outraged. It is hard for them to understand how our government seems to have turned its back on the poor and low-income communities, and no longer accepts responsibility for the health and welfare of the people. The same communities that have defended this country in foreign wars and provided the physical labor in its industrial age development.
The Social Security Program was and is among the greatest social accomplishments of our democracy. Social Security is not just a retirement program, but rather a national insurance program which for a very low premium protects American citizens from economic misfortunes at every stage of life. To&y, 3.8 million children, and 5.2 million widows and widowers currently collect Social Security survivors benefits. Another 4.5 million disabled workers collect Social Security disability benefits. Today, Social Security provides retirement income to workers in commerce and industry, eligible at age 62 for reduced benefits and at age 65 for full benefits. It provides a continuing income for a family in which a worker has died, become disabled or has retired. Some nine out of ten people age 65 and over receive monthly re-retirement benefits - four out of five workers under age 65 can receive monthly disability benefits if they are unable to work - and nine out of ten families would receive monthly survivors benefits if a worker dies. Social Security is provided by government at a cost far below the abilities of private companies to compete, There are many who say that they will find cheaper ways to "save" Social Security from failure, by privatizing it or by letting Wall Street get its hands on the sizable Social Security revenues through individual taxpayer accounts or Social Security Trust Fund investments.
We heard how those same people were going to save Medicare and reduce costs, and now we are faced with Medicare Managed Care providers crying poverty and losses, and closing out their Medicare Managed Care programs for both new applicants and current members in 20 states. In some cases, even discontinuing coverage on a month's notice. They pillaged the system and now throw it out. The same fate could await Social Security if left in the hands of Wall Street or other self interested parties.
There has been talk of raising the eligibility age, means testing benefits, changing indices and COLAS, and increasing payroll contributions. Under current laws, the eligibility age will rise to 67 years in the next couple of years. Hispanics and other ethnic/racial seniors often at risk at age 60, would most likely never see a penny of their contributions over the years when eligibility ages are raised to 67 years, much less even higher. Other seniors would also suffer from the "gaps" between their retirement and the receipt of benefits. With the out-of-pocket cost of health care now at 20 percent of income, and rents reaching 40 percent of income, low and low-middle income seniors would have a hard time if they or the government were to gamble with Social Security funds by playing the stock market and if FICA payroll contributions were raised too high. Social Security is a contract between beneficiary and the government, whose eligibility should not be based on means testing.
Those same interest groups are trying to divide and conquer, by propagandizing that the elderly are taking money away from the younger taxpayers, and that younger taxpayers can make out better through privatization. The Baby Boomers may have thought that 30 years ago, but now they are fighting to preserve Social Security. You know why? Because they will need it. Selfish interests would destroy the security in Social Security for our children and grandchildren.
Depending on what is in it for them, their political affiliation, their own claim to wisdom and honest opinions, all kinds of experts have come forward pleading gloom and doom or claiming that there is no significant problem that cannot be resolved with small adjustments. It is a wonder that all of the parties have access to the same information and come up with so many different opinions. I say, don't fix it till it's broken. There is no immediate problem, and the rising costs of providing Social Security Benefits can be overcome through adjusted FICA payroll contributions for both taxpayers and employers. Certainly some of the government surplus can be used to make some adjustments. We do not need experts to help fix a machine that has been working well for a long time without them. Please leave Social Security alone. Thank you.