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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is considering a proposal to raise Medicare payroll taxes on couples who make more than $250,000 a year.

The Nevada Democrat needs to find a way to find more money to pay for health care reform in the Senate bill, and he reporteadley would rather do that than put a 40% tax on high-value insurance plans, which organized labor strongly opposes.

Reid also wants to find more money to provide more extensive subsidies to help low-and-moderate income people.

Yesterday, Tampa area Congresswoman Kathy Castor and Florida AARP head Lori Parham spoke on a conference call about what the recently passed health care reform bill in the House will do for seniors.

The advocacy group for seniors has endorsed the House bill, though their support has cost them tens of thousands of members in 2009.

Castor said the new legislation would lower drug costs for seniors on Medicare by immediately getting rid of the so-called 'donut hole'.

She also said that the legislation would bolster oversight when it comes to the '"egregious selling of Medicare Advantage Plans".  She said the bill would take on 'unscrupulous' insurance salesmen who go into senior centers to sign up seniors for more expensive Medicare Advantage plans, and stressed that that aspect of the legislation would take place immediately if its included in the final bill that's signed by the President.

Lori Parham with AARP Florida said that there has been a lot of misinformation spread about what will happen to Medicare under Obamacare.  She said that there are more than 600,000 uninsured people in Florida between the ages of 50 and 64 who are "counting the days until Medicare kicks in".

Both Parham and Castor reacted edgily to news that a conservative seniors group called The 60 Plus Association has announced that they intend to spend $1.5 million targeting 15 House Democrats who voted for health care reform, including Castor's colleague, Ron Klein from South Florida.

The group's president, Jim Martin says, "“This bill adds hundreds of entitlements and only cuts one — Medicare. By voting 'yes,' these members betrayed seniors and the best interests of their district.”

But Castor was dismissive upon hearing about this, suggesting that the 60 Plus Association could very well be a front group for the insurance agency.

She called Martin's comments "false and untrue," and added "they're confused.  We're adding Medicare benefits, and they can spin it all they want. .. We're going after over payments to the insurance companies."

Parham called the comments "disingenuous."

Earlier on Thursday, the Florida Consumer Action Network and members of other local progressive groups held a news conference at the West Tampa Sandwich, where they publicly thanked Castor for her "yes" vote last Saturday night.

FCAN Director Bill Newton praised the tax credits that would go to small businesses with less than 25 employees  to help pay for insurance, mentioning the West Tampa eatery as well as his own organization as companies that would benefit from that provision.

Also on the conference call, CL followed up with Castor on her thoughts about the Stupak Amendment, which bars federal funding from subsidizing abortion.

Castor said, "federal law currently prohibits federal funds for abortion.  The Stupak amendment goes well beyond that and if enacted would interefere with what a family can do with their private money. That’s never been contemplated under the law…it’s antithetical to health reform withic which is to insure access."