Washington Report, April 1987

VOLUME 1 NUMBER 6 WASHINGTON, D.C. APRIL, 1987 Dear Friend: This is my first special newsletter for 1987 devoted to issues affecting Nevada's seniors. Periodically, as issues affecting seniors arise, I will be sending you a newsletter to keep you informed. I would like to begin by telling you about someone my office was able to assist, and then describe how we can help you in similar circumstances. Next, I will be discussing with you several Congressional measures to be considered this legislative session which could directly affect seniors. Finally, I am including several other helpful items, such as important telephone numbers and addresses. Please take a few minutes to review this material. I would enjoy hearing from you concerning these issues or any other matters of interest to you. Sincerely, An Elected Official Is A Servant of the People One of my greatest privileges as a United States Senator is to be able to help people just like you. I would like to tell you about a couple we were able to assist with a very tough problem. This couple came into my office in Reno on November 14, 1986. They had not received their railroad retirement check, because the computer system of the Railroad Retirement Board of Chicago was mis-takenly listing the husband as deceased. After several letters and phone calls we were able to correct the problem, and they were soon receiving their rail-road retirement checks again. LAS VEGAS 300 Las Vegas Blvd. South Suite 420 Las Vegas, Nevada 89101 RENO 300 Booth Street Suite 2014 I have district offices Reno, Nevada 89509 in Reno, Carson City, and Las Vegas to assist you with similar problems. Please feel free to write to me at any one of the fol-lowing three addresses if I can help you in any way: CARSON 308 North Curry Street Room 201 Carson City, Nevada 89701 (continued) FLAGS (Con't) Or, you can write to me here in Washington at the following address: Senator Chic Hecht United States Senate 302 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Did you know that you can own an American flag which has been flown over the United States Capitol? An official certificate will accompany your flag. Just make your check payable to "Keeper of the Sta-tionery" and send it to me at the following address: Senator Chic Hecht 302 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Attention: Flags Here is a list of the prices and there is no sales tax: 3 X 5 nylon = $7.50 5 X 8 nylon = $17.50 3 X 5 cotton = $8.00 5 X 8 cotton = $18.25 Nylon is best for out-door use and 3 X 5 is the most popular size. Once you place your order, it will be 5 to 6 weeks before you receive your flag. Please indicate if the flag is for a special occasion and I will ensure that the official certificate is ap-propriately worded. If thfe flag is for someone else, I will send it directly to that party if you so desire. GENERIC DRUGS SAVE MONEY You have probably no-ticed a big difference in the price of prescription drugs these days. Well, one of the reasons for the difference in prices con-cerns generic drugs. When drug manufacturers first develop a drug, they as-sign it a generic or chemi-cal name. The manufac-turer also gives the product a shorter brand name which it uses for ad-vertising purposes. Once the patent expires, other manufacturers can produce the drug using their own brand name. As you are probably aware, generic drugs generally cost from 30 to 50 percent less than their brand-name equivalent. A Federal Trade Commission survey found American consumers who used generic drugs instead of brand names saved be-tween $130 million and $236 million in 1984 alone. Despite the price differ-ence, generic drugs must meet the same Food and Drug Administration stan-dards of purity, strength, and quality required of brand name drugs. In 1984, Congress passed a law which reduced FDA approval time for generic copies of brand name drugs. This law ex-panded the generic drug market by more than $2 billion a year. Since 1984, brand name drug manufac-turers have sought to off-set the law's effects by questioning the safety and effectiveness of generic drugs. It might interest you to know that in a recent case, a brand name com-pany was charged with un-fairly disparaging its gener-ic competition and ended up settling out-of-court for $1 million. Legislation affecting the patent process of the generic and brand name drug market may be in-troduced during the 100th Congress which could cause even more changes for drug manufacturers. I will try to keep you posted on any legislation of this kind which may come up during this legislative session. 2 SOCIAL SECURITY INDEPENDENT AGENCY QUESTION DEBATE Social Security is an issue which deeply affects all of us. The Social Secu-rity Administration (SSA) is currently the largest agen-cy within the Department of Health and Human Serv-ices (HHS) and the sixth largest agency in the Fed-eral Government. Legisla-tion to make SSA an agency independent of HHS has recently been in-troduced by Senator Moy-nihan. Senate Bill, S.34, entitled the Social Security Administrative Reorganiza-tion Act, would establish SSA as an independent agency and create a bipar-tisan governing board. This board would administer the old age, survivors, and dis- CATASTROPHIC HEALTH CARE The high cost of Med-ical care is a critical problem for all Nevadans especially older Nevadans. President Reagan recently commented on the high cost of catastrophic ill-ness, "For too long, many of our senior citizens have been faced with making an intolerable choice, a choice between bankruptcy and death." The catas-trophic health insurance plan, which I am support-ing, seeks to eliminate this choice by providing a measure of security against catastrophic ill-ness. For this reason, I am a cosponsor of S.754 which was introduced by Senator Dole on March 17, 1987. This health insurance legislation would be ability insurance program and the supplemental security income program. The board would also ad-minister the Medicare Program. Supporters of this legislation contend that an independent SSA would in-sulate Social Security from everyday political and budgetary decisions. They feel that this insulation would be more likely to oc-cur if SSA were run by a bi-partisan board. They also feel the increased sta-ture that independence would give the agency would lead to more management continuity and result in a better-run organization. financed by adding approx-imately $9.00 to the $17.90 monthly premium which Medicare recipients cur-rently pay. Medicare op-tional coverage would be broadened to provide up to one full year of hospitaliza-tion, at a cost of no more than $1,800 for covered hospital and doctor ex-penses and with a limit of one hospital deductible a Senator Moynihan's legislation is now being considered by the Senate Committee on Finance. Hearings on S.34 are ex-pected to take place some time this year. Providing adequate benefits for those on So-cial Security is one of my highest priorities as a Unit-ed States Senator. I strongly support the com-mitment which our govern-ment has made to all those receiving Social Security benefits. I will do everything in my power to ensure that those who paid into the Social Security fund during their working years will receive expected benefits. year. Medicare currently stops paying hospital costs after 150 days, and there is no limit on how much a recipient may end up spending for care. I am cosponsoring this catastrophic health care legislation because I believe that it will be a sig-nificant step in reducing health costs in Nevada. Senator Hecht having lunch with senior citizen interns, Gertrude Walenta (Reno) and Rachael Gibson (Las Vegas). Also pictured is Mrs. Carol Laxalt. 3 HELPFUL TELEPHONE NUMBERS State Aging Services. This agency functions in the areas of provision of services through grants, program evaluation, techni-cal assistance, program coordination, legislative ac-tion, and acts as an advo-cate for senior citizens. There are two locations for the State Aging Services: Carson City 505 E. King Street Room 101 Carson City, Nevada 89710 Phone 885-4210 Las Vegas 1050 E. Flamingo Road, Suite 242 Las Vegas, Nevada 89119 Phone 386-5323 Reno Senior Citizen Center. Provides nutrition pro-grams serving lunches daily, medical clinic 31/2 days a week, gift shop for seniors to sell handiwork on consignment, legal services, foster grandpar-ents program, retired senior volunteer program, home care support system, arts and crafts instruction, recreation. Phone: 785-5910 soon to be changed to 328-2575. Location is 1155 E. 9th Street, Reno, Neva-da 89512-2896. Open week-days 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Las Vegas Senior Citizen Centers - two locations: 450 E. Bonanza Road, Las Vegas, NV 89101. Phone 386-6454. Open weekdays 9:00 am. to 4:00 p.m., Mon-day through Friday. Pro-vides recreation, socializa-tion, arts and crafts, physi-cal fitness, trips, information and referral, social services, health and informational seminars, senior law project. Dr. Herbert A. Derfelt Satellite Senior Center, 3330 W. Washington (Lorenzi Park), Las Vegas, NV 89107. Phone 799-6601, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Offers recreation, socializa-tion, arts and crafts, edu-cation. Social Security Office Numbers If you have any general questions concerning So-cial Security in Nevada, here are several numbers you may call. In Reno the number is 784-5221. In Las Vegas the number is 388-6314 and in North Las Vegas the number is 388-6581. UNITED STATES SENATE WASHINGTON, D.C. 20510-2802 PUBLIC DOCUMENT OFFICIAL BUSINESS DO NOT FORWARD-ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED RETURN POSTAGE GUARANTEED u.s.s. BLK. RT. CAR-RT-SORT ATTENTION POSTMASTER - OCR - PLEASE DO NOT MARK ON OR ABOVE THE LABEL U