July 2009 Retiree Notes

June 25, 2009

AFSCME retirees will fight for universal health care

AFSCME retirees nationwide are on board in the drive to win affordable health care for everyone in America.

AFSCME’s National Retiree Council is among 850 organizations in 46 states that are dedicating their efforts to winning universal health care and standing up to insurance companies who have so dominated the agenda in Washington. The groups are fighting the health-care battle under the banner of Health Care for America Now.

HCAN’s national grassroots campaign is pushing for health-care reform that gives a guarantee of coverage and the right to keep your private insurance plan or join a new public plan, freeing Americans from the grip of private insurers, who are now running the system for their own profit.

HCAN believes that unless big changes are made throughout the health-care system, workers and retirees can expect continued cuts in benefits as providers continue to shift the cost of uncompensated care to those who have insurance. The status quo is not sustainable.

“Endangered public-retiree health insurance and increased Medicare costs make our support for the Health Care for America Now campaign essential,” Chapter 31 president Virginia Yates said.

Yates and Hal Gullet are Illinois’ representatives on the AFSCME retiree council. They attended the group’s annual meeting, where retiree chapters from around the country gather to discuss major issues they are facing and the actions that can be taken together to fight against the attacks on retirement security.

“It makes you angry to hear how badly so many states treat their retirees,” Yates said. “Many retirees in Wisconsin saw a reduction in their pension payments as they do not have the same constitutional protections we have. And retirees in West Virginia and Pennsylvania were dumped into Medicare Advantage (private) plans by their state’s governors, just to see those plans dropped. It left them without any coverage.”

The universal health-care campaign is facing fierce opposition from the insurance industry, which is again trying to convince people that the government should not be involved. But it is easily demonstrable that the federal government does a much better job at keeping costs down — in both Medicare and the Veterans Administration — with administrative costs at 1 percent to 3 percent, while private plans have administrative costs of 15 percent to 30 percent.

“The insurance industry is so scared of losing their massive profits that they actually told the Obama administration that they would cut trillions in costs if the federal government stayed out of the insurance market,” Yates said. “But if they were able to do that before and didn’t, why should we trust them now? We need to start checking their greed.”

 

Free Choice would benefit retirees, too

Many retirees have been watching the debate over the Employee Free Choice Act from the sidelines, because they may not understand what it is about, or they do not think it involves them.

But with the economy unstable and so many Americans losing their jobs, it is becoming increasingly evident that retirees also have a stake in how the fight to pass this legislation comes out.

The Employee Free Choice Act is legislation that will help unions organize by making it harder for employers to intimidate workers. It will increase penalties for employers who violate workers’ rights and give workers the right to choose which union-selection method best ensures free choice in their workplace: a National Labor Relations Board election or majority sign-up (also known as “card check”). If employers refuse to negotiate first contracts, the act will foster a settlement through mediation and binding arbitration.

Five reasons retirees should get involved in lobbying Congress in favor of the Employee Free Choice Act:

• Stronger unions mean a stronger voice for retirees. Unions are the nation’s leading advocates for pensions, Social Security, employer-paid health-care coverage, Medicare and Medicaid.
• Unionized workers pump money into the economy. Union members earn 28 percent more, on average, than non-union workers, which means they can purchase more goods and services. This keeps the banks open, businesses running and national and local economies humming.
• Unions help the community. Union members make more, so they pay more in taxes. These taxes help maintain important public services such as education, hospitals, trash collection, water treatment, roads, buses and libraries, leading to higher living standards for everyone.
• Unions promote economic justice. Between 2000 and 2007, the median annual income for working-age households fell an unprecedented $2,000. Meanwhile, corporate profits more than doubled, and the average large-company CEO earned more in one work day than an average worker would get in 52 weeks. Greater unionization can help reverse these inequities and restore a strong middle class.
• Our children and grandchildren need good wages and benefits. Only 12 percent of workers today are unionized compared to 35 percent in the 1950s. If this trend continues, tomorrow’s workers will have lower wages, no pensions and little political power. Free choice will give working families a fighting chance to put the nation back on track.

 

Chester sub-chapter members turning out for answers, and more

Haunted by economic hard times and seeking some refuge from the anxiety they are feeling as a result, retirees are turning out in droves for Chester Sub-Chapter 56.

“For the last six months our sub-chapter has seen increasing numbers of retirees coming out to the meetings,” sub-chapter President Larry Brown said. “We started with our average group consisting of about 30, and now we are seeing between 60 and 75. The increase was so dramatic that I decided to ask the members what was drawing them out and the majority of members said the desire to be better informed.

“Many of our members think that since they put in the years on the job that they will get what they were promised upon retirement,” he explained. “Then, they start hearing rumors about legislation to cut their health care, underfunding their pensions or all of a sudden having to shell out more for medication. That’s when they want to get more information about their retirement benefits.

“We are all in this together, but when you are reading the newspaper or listening to the news at home, you often feel alone and unable to do anything to protect yourself. Then they come out to meetings and find not only political strength, but a fellowship. We gather at our meetings once a month and catch up.”

Retirees interested in finding the sub-chapter meeting in their areas can check out the local sub-chapter Meeting Information button on the AFSCME Council 31 web link http://www.afscme 31.org/retiree/index.asp

 

No Social Security COLA expected in 2010

Social Security recipients could possibly go without a cost-of-living adjustment next year for the first time in over 35 years, according to press reports based on preliminary analysis by the Congressional Budget Office.

The COLA is meant to ensure benefits rise with consumer prices, and while the COLA added 5.8 percent to Social Security benefits for 2009, the economic downturn and lower energy prices have led to low inflation over the last year.

CBO director Douglas Elmendorf has predicted low inflation for several more years, meaning the possibility of no Social Security COLA  perhaps until January 2013.

For approximately three-fourths of Medicare beneficiaries, Medicare and Social Security increases are linked, so they would see no change in their Part B premiums if there is no COLA. But the rest aren’t covered by such protections, leaving millions of them facing higher Medicare Part B premiums next year, with no compensating COLA increase.