Goodlatte hosts seniors conference at Lynchburg College

A seniors conference sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-6th District, attracted several people to the Lynchburg College campus Monday, along with almost 40 businesses and government agencies that cater to retirees.

People attending the event asked questions about everything from the new banking-by-cell-phone technology to health insurance for small-business workers.

Several questions involved threats to the financial privacy of senior citizens.

Older Americans’ best chance of getting their needs met is by becoming part of large groups such as retirement associations that can advocate on their behalf, Goodlatte said.

Being part of a large group can save money, Goodlatte said.

“Currently each of the 40 million Medicare beneficiaries represents a single-person buying entity,” Goodlatte said.

“That gives individual seniors no leverage to negotiate for better prices” for health care and drugs, he said.

“Medicare should be able to negotiate better prices for seniors,” he said, adding that the House of Representatives passed a resolution that would require the agency overseeing Medicare to negotiate with drug companies on the price of prescription drugs. The legislation “is still awaiting consideration by the Senate,” Goodlatte said.

Overall, he said, Medicare Part D has been improved since it was adopted in 2003 and “seems to be working for most people, not all but most, and our seniors are saving a substantial amount of money in most instances” on prescription drugs.

The first question from the audience involved insurance coverage for small businesses, and it came from Yvonne Behrens of Roanoke, who was one of the vendors providing information to seniors about her small company.

Behrens said she had heard of proposed legislation that would let small companies band together to purchase insurance at cheaper prices and wanted to know “what determines which companies could get together to purchase insurance?”

Goodlatte said the concept would allow companies in similar fields, such as manufacturing, to negotiate together for a single price from insurance companies.

“How far along is that initiative?” Behrens asked.

It’s pending in Congress, Goodlatte said, but has not been brought up for a vote. “I don’t want to tell you whether it will or will not,” he said.

“The problem you have in Congress is that everybody wants to do it their way,” and lots of members have different ideas about how health care should be handled, Goodlatte said. So far, they haven’t gotten together at a table, he said.

Another woman asked about a recent development that allows bank accounts to be accessed from a cell phone.

“Is that safe from fraud or theft?” she asked.

Goodlatte turned for an answer to Virginia’s deputy attorney general, Courtney Malveaux, who also spoke at the conference.

“I’m not sure,” said Malveaux, who is Virginia’s chief legal defender against electronic consumer fraud.

“That’s something that’s just new and kind of creeping in right now,” he said.

“But if I’m not sure, I don’t take a chance. I try to contact my bank directly,” Malveaux said.

“Cell phones are a way now where people are getting calls and text messages that are not legitimate. So that danger does exist. And if you’re not sure, I wouldn’t go that route,” Malveaux said.