Daily Loaf

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is considering a proposal to raise Medicare payroll taxes on couples who make more than $250,000 a year.

The Nevada Democrat needs to find a way to find more money to pay for health care reform in the Senate bill, and he reportedley would rather do that than put a 40% tax on high-value insurance plans, which organized labor strongly opposes.

Reid also wants to find money to provide more extensive subsidies to help low- and moderate-income people.

Yesterday, Tampa area Congresswoman Kathy Castor and Florida AARP head Lori Parham spoke on a conference call about what the recently passed health care reform bill in the House will do for seniors.

The advocacy group for seniors has endorsed the House bill, though their support has cost them tens of thousands of members in 2009.

Castor said the new legislation would lower drug costs for seniors on Medicare by immediately getting rid of the so-called “donut hole.”

She also said that the legislation would bolster oversight when it comes to the ‘”egregious selling of Medicare Advantage Plans.” She said the bill would take on “unscrupulous” insurance salesmen who go into senior centers to sign up seniors for more expensive Medicare Advantage plans, and stressed that that aspect of the legislation would take effect immediately if it’s included in the final bill that’s signed by the president.

Lori Parham with AARP Florida said that there has been a lot of misinformation spread about what will happen to Medicare under Obamacare.  She said that there are more than 600,000 uninsured people in Florida between the ages of 50 and 64 who are “counting the days until Medicare kicks in.”

Both Parham and Castor reacted edgily to news that a conservative seniors group called The 60 Plus Association has announced that they intend to spend $1.5 million targeting 15 House Democrats who voted for health care reform, including Castor’s colleague, Ron Klein from South Florida.

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Hey, if you think it’s hard finding a job now, try being old.

According to a report by AARP, seniors have seen a 70 percent increase in unemployment over the last year. Despite decades of experience, the report says, the elderly can’t find gigs.

A story from 10connects.com quotes an AARP spokesman:

“When people are cutting back, they’re cutting back on a lot of the senior population,” said Bob Yakubisin of the American Association of Retired Persons Foundation Work Search Program.

On the bright side, Wal-Mart is one of the only retailers making money right now, and they love to hire seniors … for greeters.

(Photo Credit: Pedro/Flickr)