May-June 2010 Retiree Notes

AFSCME fights health care cost increases

 

INTENSIVE LOBBYING BY AFSCME Chapter 31 is sowing widespread doubts among legislators about Gov. Quinn’s plan to dramatically increase the cost of health care for state and university retirees. Quinn’s plan would require retirees to pay a premium of as much as $54 per month if they are currently on Medicare and as much as $500 per month if they are not yet eligible for Medicare.

 

AFSCME retiree activists from across the state have been meeting with their legislators in district meetings and traveling to Springfield to make clear how burdensome the proposed increases would be.

 

“So many retirees would be absolutely devastated by an increase in health care costs of up to $500 per month for an individual plan,” said Jeff Greenberg, member of Springfield Sub-chapter 86. “Many of us may end up losing the small pensions we have and paying the state just to keep the insurance. This was the first time I have ever lobbied legislators face to face. I believe that all of our visits and phone call have made an impact on legislators. I just hope they don’t give the governor new powers to run over retirees.”

 

He is referring to the proposal that Gov. Pat Quinn is floating called an Emergency Budget Act that would give him authority to make some unilateral budget cuts for one year, with an eye toward slashing $400 million from the state budget, according to Quinn’s budget director.

 

AFSCME has been leading the fight against the Emergency Budget Act because it is widely rumored that Quinn wants to use it to make the cuts to retiree health benefits that the General Assembly is not willing to support.

 

Health care reform benefits seniors

 

THE HISTORIC HEALTH INSURance reform law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed by President Barack Obama on March 23, makes health care coverage affordable for 31 million Americans who are currently uninsured. The act also introduces an array of cost-containment measures and insurance reforms that will help preserve coverage for Americans who now have it.

 

The law has many benefits for seniors because it strengthens Medicare and it will help preserve employer coverage for retirees, particularly those who retire early. In fact, older Americans are among the act’s chief beneficiaries.

 

“Misleading news reports, originating with opponents of health reform, have created a lot of misunderstandings, but the truth is, most Americans will keep on getting the same benefits they are used to, whether they come from Medicare, employers or Medicaid,” Chapter 31 coordinator Maria Britton said. “The good news is that cost-saving features of the new law will help ensure that we can always count on our coverage, and that more Americans will have a right to the same kind of affordable insurance that we enjoy.”

 

Not a penny of Medicare taxes or trust funds will be used for health care reform and there will be no cuts in guaranteed Medicare benefits. Beginning immediately, the following will occur:

• The donut hole in Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage will start to close, with a $250 rebate in 2010 to anyone who falls into the reimbursement gap. Beginning in 2011, those in the donut hole will get a 50 percent discount on name-brand drugs, and in 2020 the Part D donut hole will be eliminated.
• Preventive care services such as annual check-ups and cancer screenings will be free for those on Medicare.
• Employers who continue coverage for early retirees will get help from a newly created $5 billion federal re-insurance program for employer plans that cover retirees age 55 to 64.

As the law phases in, there will be incentives to create voluntary, employment-based programs that provide cash benefits for participants who need long-term care services in their homes.

 

Investments will also be made in chronic disease management. There will be savings from Medicare, however, that will strengthen the program by adding nearly a decade of solvency to the trust funds. The savings will come from cutting the big subsidies to private insurance plans in the Medicare Advantage program and by fighting waste, fraud and abuse.

 

The overpayments to Medicare Advantage plans began in the Bush Administration as a way to move Medicare toward privatization, and they’ve led to record profits for insurance companies. Phasing out the subsidies will save Medicare $120 billion over 10 years.

 

Also, since $3 out of every senior’s Part B premium helps pay for the subsidies, the reduced subsidies will mean lower premiums for all beneficiaries. Without the lower subsidies, federal outlays for private MA plans will be more in line with costs under regular Medicare. But the act protects MA-plan participants by barring plans from charging them copayments that are any higher than Medicare’s for the same services. It also requires plans to spend at least 85 percent of their government payments on actual health care benefits; they can no longer use that money for their administrative costs, advertising and profits.

 

DuPage County gets a charter

 

AFTER NEARLY A YEAR’S WORK BY the organizing committee, 700 AFSCME retirees who live in DuPage County now have their own sub-chapter.

 

“Its time that union retirees in DuPage County have a voice in the happenings of our community and of our state,” said Kim Johnson, the newly elected president of Sub-chapter 68. “Many of us were there when the union was first begun, and we are still here and still fighting.”

 

The group meets on the first Thursday of every month at 1 p.m. at the Old Country Buffet in Lombard.

 

“I am very happy with the numbers of retirees that have come out to participate in meetings and have been told that many were quite surprised at the array of different speakers and topics that we cover,” Johnson said. “One key reason for retirees to take part is that public- sector benefits have continued to be attacked and information and unity are the factors that will allow us to get the power we need to beat back the attacks.”

 

Retirees stay on front lines in Resurrection campaign

 

MEMBERS OF CHICAGO SUBchapter 60 have been playing a key role in Friends of HEART, the group supporting the Resurrection Health Care employees who are working to form a union in the eight-hospital Chicago-area chain.

 

“We retirees became involved in the organizing campaign at Resurrection about five years ago because of the serious problems that the employees at the hospital were having,” said Georgean Simmons, a Chicago sub-chapter executive board member. Simmons is one of many AFSCME retirees from Cook County that have joined in efforts to improve the jobs and working conditions of Resurrection employees and improve health care in the Chicago region.

 

“Some of those employees have been working for 20 or 30 years without decent pension benefits,” Simmons said. “If any of them bring up unionizing they are punished in some way. Those of us who have good retirement benefits must not only work to protect ourselves, but also to help others who work their whole lives to be able to retire with dignity.”

 

Retirees participating in Friends of HEART have built great friendships while also having some fun in actions targeting the corporate management. “We help show the union difference to Resurrection employees and express our solidarity with them, because we know how to fight for a strong union,” Simmons said.

 

Retirees Stand Up for Fairness

 

Hundreds of retirees played an important role in Responsible Budget Coalition events held in April. The coalition is aiming to gain legislators’ support for House Bill 174, legislation that would address the state’s huge budget deficit by bringing in new revenues.

 

“Our state needs new revenues to uphold its commitments to retirees to provide affordable health care,” Chapter 31 President Virginia Yates said. “We cannot afford to shoulder high costs because the state refuses to pass a responsible budget.”

 

With 15,000 RBC supporters marching on the Capitol, AFSCME Retirees were on the inside. When they delivered the message during a House session by silently standing and holding signs in support of a responsible budget, they were ejected from the gallery.

 

“These retirees did not act disruptively,” Yates said. “They stood so legislators would have to see the faces of the people who worked so many years and who are feeling the impact of the many cuts in services, the pushing back of payments to providers and the proposed cuts in the subsidy for health insurance.”

 

Chapter 31 retirees also joined with the AARP and the Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans in a series of Senior Lobby Days during March and April which focused on opposing the increases to state and university health care costs, as well as on Gov. Quinn’s plans to slash in-home care for seniors.