Brian Babin is a life-long resident of East Texas. He was born in Port Arthur, Texas and grew up in Beaumont. He graduated with a bachelor of science from Lamar University and completed dental school at the University of Texas Dental Branch in Houston, Texas.
Dr. Babin served as an airborne artilleryman in the Texas Army National Guard and held various jobs to put himself through school, including merchant seaman, janitor, musician, disc jockey and U.S. Post Office letter carrier. Following his graduation from dental school, Dr. Babin was commissioned as a Captain in the United States Air Force and stationed overseas at Ramstein, Germany.
Social Security and Medicare are promises – a contract – between seniors and the federal government. According to the Social Security Administration both of these programs face significant budget challenges in the years ahead, Medicare sooner than Social Security. Thus, we must work to address the long-term solvency of these programs to ensure this promise is upheld for current and future beneficiaries.
We must also work to restore and save Medicare choices for the millions of seniors who have chosen to enroll in a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan. MA plans differ from traditional fee-for-service Medicare giving seniors greater choices and often at a savings to seniors and the Medicare program. Seniors should continue to have access to MA plans and I support reversing Obamacare’s cuts to MA plans.
Safeguarding Medicare also means approving bipartisan legislation to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). Obamacare created IPAB as an unelected 15-member panel empowered to cut Medicare services to seniors. They were empowered in such a way that their decisions could only be repealed with a supermajority of the Congress. IPAB must be repealed to safeguard seniors’ medical care and I have cosponsored legislation to do this.