Trahan talks Social Security and Medicaid with local seniors

METHUEN — Congresswoman Lori Trahan warned local seniors Thursday morning during a roundtable discussion that Republican-backed cuts to Medicaid and Social Security were a real possibility.

Meanwhile, Trahan defended other federal investments that have been maligned and targeted for cuts by the current presidential administration.

The panel also included state Sen. Pavel Payano, D-Lawrence; Rep. Ryan Hamilton, D-Methuen; and Rep. Estela Reyes, D-Lawrence, as well as state nonprofit leaders. They were there to listen to stories from the public about how these entitlement programs impact their lives. While Social Security benefits, which millions of elderly Americans rely on every month, have not been on the menu for cuts, panelists emphasized the catastrophic effects of the 7,000 workers the agency is looking to eliminate.

“They are not handouts, they are earned benefits,” said Trahan, a Democrat from Westford. “What really changes the conversion in Washington are your voices, your stories.”

Some House Republicans have also called for cuts to Medicaid, a government program that provides health insurance for low-incomes adults and children.

Herb Cabral, 73, of Clinton said his adult son, who has autism, got a letter two weeks ago telling him he longer qualified for his Social Security disability insurance benefits.

“No reason, no nothing,” said Cabral. “It puts a lot of things in jeopardy.”

“I am not in the creating alarm business,” Trahan said. “But we have heard stories from folks like you over and over and this is well documented.”

Marisa Melendez, 61, of Methuen said there has been a high level of fear among seniors due to disinformation.

Two weeks ago she went to the Social Security office in Lawrence to help an elderly parent.

“What I saw scared me,” she said. “Because there were a lot of elders there who were coming in because they had to come in and prove their identity.”

She said the only two sources of help in the main lobby were a security guard that had a sign that said to not ask them any questions about Social Security and a check-in machine.

Melendez said she personally helped a few people at the office check-in.

She added some seniors were scared and didn’t even realize that they didn’t need to do anything or be there in the first place.

Trahan said she often has to debunk disinformation her parents has seen.

She added administrative cuts have an impact on services including increasing hold times for callers.

“It’s a little insidious what is happening right now,” she added.

Trahan said after being on hold for so long seniors get anxious and go to their local Social Security office only to find the offices are being shuttered or shuffled.

Payano said the discussion at the state level right now was about how to insulate the state from federal cuts.

“How can we mitigate the immense damage that is currently being done,” said Payano.

He added that programs like food stamps and others that benefit the working class don’t just help their beneficiaries but stimulate the economy since that money is spent immediately.

Not everyone appeared against government cuts.

Ken Ackroyd, 78, asked Trahan why the federal government shouldn’t be cutting aid overseas or paring down funding to universities with multi-billion dollar private endowments.

Trahan said the millions of dollars the government sends to schools like Harvard fund vital medical research while overseas government aid helps to improve the country’s soft power. She added cuts would also likely be used to fund tax breaks that would mostly only benefit the richest Americans.

Another speaker prodded the panelists about alleged widespread waste in government programs like Medicaid, by the current presidential administration.

“There is not $880 Billions of fraud, waste and abuse in Medicaid,” said Trahan. “The last time a president actually undertook cutting fraud, waste and abuse, and balanced our budget, by the way, was Bill Clinton.”

She said President Bill Clinton conducted a review of every agency and laid off more than 400,000 federal employees.

“This is not that,” said Trahan. “This is cut first, ask questions later, and I am concerned about Social Security because of the way people in Washington are talking about Social Security.”

She promised to return again to the center.