How the new health care law benefits seniors

This is really important to me personally, since I will be retiring at the end of this year and my husband and I will switch from employer provided health insurance to Medicare.

HOW THE NEW HEALTH REFORM LAW BENEFITS SENIORS

Provides relief to seniors who fall into the Medicare “doughnut hole” to help you cover the cost of prescriptions Already, the first round of $250 rebate checks are in the mail to help seniors who have been hitting the gap in Medicare Part D prescription coverage. Next year, prescription drug prices will be cut in half for seniors who hit the coverage gap.

Protects guaranteed Medicare benefits

Guaranteed benefits are protected regardless of whether you are in Original Medicare or Medicare Advantage. You’ll also see new benefits and cost savings to help ensure you get the care you need.

Makes preventive care and annual physicals for seniors free of charge

Currently, seniors are forced to pay as much as 20 percent of the cost of preventive services such as colorectal cancer screenings and mammograms.

Curbs costs and strengthens Medicare by cracking down on fraud and waste

Reform will cut the rate of fraudulent Medicare payments in half by 2012, extending the life of the Medicare Trust Fund by 12 years and curbing costs for seniors.

Prevents insurance companies from instituting unreasonable rate hikes that pad their profits and increase Medicare costs for seniors The new law strengthens the administration’s and states’ ability to combat unfair insurance premium rate hikes.

Promotes affordable long-term care options for seniors

Reform institutes a voluntary program to help seniors and people with disabilities get support to remain in their homes for as long as possible.

Protects seniors by helping to eliminate elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation Health reform provides funding for projects that provide greater protection to those in long-term care facilities and requires the immediate reporting of suspected crimes to law enforcement officials.

Improves quality of care in nursing homes

The new law creates a standardized complaint form for residents and establishes a nationwide program for background checks of nursing home employees.

Local food

Are you hooked into the local food network in NH?  The "explosion" of farmers markets, small farms both organic and local, restaurants using local ingredients and providing fare we just don't find elsewhere - all a thing of wonder to someone who was looked at as if I had two heads when I raised the issue of local agriculture as economic development not so long ago.  No one thought there was any chance that agriculture would return to NH the way it has.  And wasn't there plenty of food from out west?  We weren't worried about transportation costs or natural disasters interfering with getting the food from out there to here.  Big agribusiness far away would provide us with cheap food.
But now food security is an issue, both getting it here and getting food that isn't going to make us sick.  And economic development is an issue.  And energy conservation, and climate change, and all these things make local food look very, very good.
And it tastes wonderful.  As a founding member of the Northwood Farmers Market, I can't tell you the joy I feel every Thursday afternoon when I visit our market, see all the vendors from the local area being so creative with their offerings, and hearing how much this market adds to the sense of community in a town that stretches out along Rt. 4.  It has been so much fun and I have met so many new great people.

Carol Shea Porter

I love my congresswoman!  She is courageous, caring, thoughtful and very, very hard working.  She is a power of example for me.  She is a public servant who works so hard to take care of all NH residents, as well as being a strong national advocate for human rights and dignity.  She is respected by her peers in Congress, her opinion matters and she shapes legislation.  She is a woman I can identify with, one of us, representing us. Thank you, Carol, for everything you do and stand for.

Who are those dogs?

My husband Ben and I live with several adopted animals.  Foxy, the foxy lady, is a Shiba Inu mixed with who knows what, and she was adopted at 6 months of age from Cocheco Valley Humane Society in Dover.  Morgan, the gentleman, is probably a very, very large Labrador retriever, and was adopted from the same place at the age of 6.  They both have the same birthday month and year, March, 1999.  The picture was taken at the Otis family cemetery on the Blue Hills Foundation lands in Strafford.
We also have a cat who was left in the entry way at our vet's place.  Sophie is a couple years old, we think, grey tiger and white, a ferocious mouser and the owner of the house.  We have had several other animals over the years, mostly adopted, and we support CVHS.

Why I am running

I am running for state representative in Rockingham District 1, the towns of Candia, Deerfield, Northwood and Nottingham.  I will bring my experience with the strengths and challenges of small town government to the legislature.  I have served as a selectwoman for Northwood, and on many of the town’s volunteer boards and committees.  I have participated in the visioning for the town’s Master Plan, the creation of a public access broadcasting program, and the establishment of the Northwood Farmers Market as a founding member of the market association.  I am part of a network of volunteers who keep a local newspaper available on-line and in print.

I bring the perspective of the small rural town to the table.  The past decade has been very hard on the smaller communities.  Many of our police and firefighters are in the National Guard and have served multiple tours of duty overseas, leaving the towns short-staffed.  The ever-increasing cost of education and the funding of schools with property taxes have made young families and the elderly especially vulnerable to economic shocks.  Attempts to keep the tax rates down have led to neglect of infrastructure, such as the roads and public buildings which are part of the assets of the community, not to mention the recurring damage from our recent severe weather events.  We face threats to our water supplies.  And New Hampshire has a lot of small towns like the ones in my district.

One thing that residents of small towns cherish is the rural character of the landscape and the history in every building, barn and stone wall.  I have worked for conservation of these priceless assets that make living here very special.  Finding ways to do economic development while keeping the character of the communities is a special challenge that I embrace.  I am particularly interested in the possibilities of a return to small farms for food security and local jobs.

I would, if elected, work with others to make sure the voice and the values of these communities would be heard, because we are a great deal of what makes New Hampshire New Hampshire.  There is more to this state than the “New Hampshire advantage” of our tax structure, and if we do not take care, the “New Hampshire advantage” may cause us to lose exactly what makes this state such a special place to live.  We must not let the short-sighted view rob us of a future that holds a great deal of promise for us, our children and our grandchildren, if we can only explore and create new ways of working together to meet our challenges today.