Ohio Senate Race: Sherrod Brown, Bernie Moreno Talk Social Security, Medicare and More

Ohio voters will choose a U.S. senator Tuesday, Nov. 5, deciding between a long-time lawmaker and a political newcomer.

Democrat Sherrod Brown, 71, of Cleveland, has held the seat since 2007. He’s also served as a state legislator, Ohio secretary of state and U.S. representative. Republican Bernie Moreno, 57, of Westlake, is a tech businessman and former car dealership group owner. This is his second run for the U.S. Senate.

AARP spoke with the two candidates in July about issues important to older voters. Their answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.

On Caregiving

AARP studies show 48 million family caregivers provide at least $600 billion in unpaid care a year, many helping older loved ones continue to live independently. If elected/re-elected, how would you support family caregivers, many of whom are juggling work and family?

BROWN: I’ve supported measures to better support family caregivers, including the Credit for Caring Act and Alleviating Barriers for Caregivers Act, and supported the bipartisan Supporting Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Act. So it’s anything we can do to relieve the burden of caregivers ... [including] expanding access to home- and community-based services.

MORENO: I actually lived through that with my mom and my dad, and what we have to do is provide some sort of deductibility for taxes to make certain they’re not being penalized due to the fact that they can’t work.... Right now ... you can hire somebody to do it and Medicaid and veterans programs can alleviate that work.... There would be an opportunity to look at a program in which caregivers are able to get paid through [Medicare] as if they were an outside entity.

On Social Security

Social Security is expected to see a shortfall in approximately 10 years. If Congress doesn’t act, millions of Americans who are counting on Social Security may see cuts to the money they’ve earned. If elected/re-elected, how would you protect Social Security for the future?

MORENO: We have to make certain that Social Security is only for American citizens.... We have to expand the workforce. We have ... people that are currently not working, and receiving benefits, but are able to work.... We’re not going to move the retirement age.... We’re not going to cut benefits.

BROWN: I’ve ... strongly opposed privatization efforts that come up every couple years.... I’ve been endorsed by the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. I’ve led legislation to strengthen Social Security. I’ve opposed efforts to increase the retirement age.... I don’t accept the premise that we need to make cuts.

On Medicare

Medicare provides critical health coverage for older Americans. If elected/re-elected, how will you protect Medicare from benefit cuts, and how can the program be improved?

BROWN: I’ve opposed the effort to privatize Medicare.... A big part of this is what we do with the cost of prescription drugs. We’ve passed a bill that capped insulin prices at $35 a month [for Medicare beneficiaries]. The same bill capped [Medicare] out of pocket [drug] costs... at $2,000 a year. And ... for the first time, Medicare will negotiate drug prices directly with the drug companies.... You can’t strengthen Medicare without standing up to the drug companies.

MORENO: The system is absolutely broken.... Let’s block grant this money to states. Let states allow some experimentation, more entrepreneurship about how to run different programs... So we have to make the system dramatically more efficient ... reform the [pharmacy benefit manager] system, and make certain that we are incentivizing these health care providers to lower their costs.

On Prescription Drug Prices

Americans pay some of the highest prescription drug prices in the world. If elected/re-elected, how will you lower prescription prices for all Americans?

MORENO: We have to make the system dramatically more efficient. The reality is, the pharmaceutical companies do great work. They produce great medicines. But the way they’re incentivized and the way the insurance companies are incentivized is completely wrong.

BROWN: What we’ve already done [by capping insulin costs and out-of-pocket expenses for Medicare beneficiaries] .... Second, companies that increase their prices faster than the rate of inflation should pay a rebate. And third, we need to crack down on pharmacy benefit managers. Those are the three most important things we can do.

On Age Discrimination

Older workers often face age discrimination in getting or keeping jobs. If elected/re-elected, how would you combat age discrimination and help older workers who need or want to continue working?

BROWN: We need laws against age discrimination.… I think hard work should pay off for every American. One of the problems ... that older workers face is they’ve had their pensions taken away from them by a greedy Wall Street. I’m the leader of the Social Security Fairness Act, which [says] anybody that’s paid into Social Security—whether or not they get a public pension ...—should get full Social Security.

MORENO: I think most employers are desperate for good workers. Older Americans have enormous amounts of experience that ... make them very, very valuable.... There’s already laws in the books that make certain that there’s no age discrimination. I think there’s a lot of fear that you get penalized for working.

On Retirement Savings

Millions of American workers have no way to save for retirement through their employers. If elected/re-elected, what steps would you take to help American workers save for their retirement?

MORENO: A lot of the reasons companies don’t offer that is because the bureaucracy and the red tape around it is not something that most small, medium-sized businesses can afford. So you have to make it more accessible so that employers are incentivized to go out and do this.... When I say incentives, it’s not writing a check, it’s just making it easier for independent contractors, small business people with two, three, four, five employees, to be able to get this stuff done.

BROWN: I was the main sponsor of the Butch Lewis Act, which restored pension benefits to 100,000 union workers.... I’m working to pass the Susan Muffley Act with Congressman [Michael] Turner [an Ohio Republican], bipartisan, to restore 20,000 pensions for Delphi retirees.... I don’t give up on the pension system.... One answer to that is ... unionization so that workers have the opportunity to bargain for better pensions and bargain for stronger 401(k)s.

—Interviews by Sarah Hollander

Find more information on the candidates at sherrodbrown.com and berniemoreno.com.

As a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, AARP does not endorse candidates or make political donations.

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