• AFT Says Medicare Rx Bills Hard To Swallow
• Drug Industry’s 675 Lobbyists Help Boost Record Profits
• Caring for the Uninsured Costs $65 Billion to $130 Billion a Year
• Medical Benefits Victory for Retirees in Alaska
• Lipitor Recall Expanded
• Walgreen Helps Itself
• CALPERS Board Approves Big Healthcare Premium Hikes
• Maine Governor Signs Universal Healthcare Bill
• Illinois Governor Okays Senior Drug Discount Program
• Dine Out and Save
• Quote of Note
• Web Site of the Week: http://www.elderhostel.org/

AFT SAYS MEDICARE Rx BILLS HARD TO SWALLOW
On June 27, the House and Senate passed Medicare prescription drug bills that may do more for members’ political health in the 2004 election than the long-range health of America’s seniors. The vote in the Senate was 76 to 21; the House barely passed the measure 216 to 215, with all but nine House Democrats opposing the bill. A House-Senate conference committee, which will hammer out a final bill, will be named in July. Both new bills rely on private insurance companies and HMOs to deliver the benefit. Both leave seniors with major coverage gaps and fail to provide adequate incentives for employers to continue retiree drug coverage. The Senate bill retains a back-up plan if private insurance companies refuse to participate. However, private insurance companies, not Medicare, have the first option to provide coverage. The House bill has no backup plan, and, as a result, seniors in some areas of the country may not have access to a prescription drug plan. Most seriously, the House bill paves the way for privatizing the entire Medicare system beginning in 2010. In the last five years, private Medicare HMOs have dropped more than 2.5 million seniors. The AFT, AFL-CIO and the Alliance for Retired Americans generated thousands of e-mails and phone calls backing amendments to strengthen the Senate bill, but lawmakers rejected them. As a result, the AFT, most labor unions and the Alliance opposed the final bills. Nearly 400 participants, including AFT retiree activists and staff, joined more than a dozen congressional leaders to protest the prescription drug plans and potential privatization of Medicare at a June 25 rally on Capitol Hill sponsored by the Alliance for Retired Americans. Earlier, AFT president Sandra Feldman joined by six other union presidents wrote the entire Senate that, as currently constituted, the [Senate bill] “will represent an enormous and irreversible blow to the employer-based system that is the backbone of our nation’s health care system.” The union is urging members to contact their U.S. senators and representatives at home during the fourth of July recess (June 30 to July 4) to tell them to oppose the privatization of Medicare, improve incentives for employers who now provide retiree health coverage and oppose means-testing the catastrophic benefit. Activists are urged to visit the AFT Web site (www.aft.org) and click on the Legislative Alert or call their senators and representatives in their state and district offices or toll free on AFT's toll-free number: 800/839-5276.


DRUG INDUSTRY’S 675 LOBBYISTS HELP BOOST RECORD PROFITS
The drug industry spares no effort to ensure that Congress doesn’t do anything to reduce its hefty profits and the high prescription prices that support them, according to a Public Citizen report released in June. The watchdog group found that the drug industry hired 675 different lobbyists from 138 firms in 2002. The industry spent a record $91.4 million on lobbying activities in 2002, an 11.6 percent increase from 2001. Public Citizen’s new study, The Other Drug War 2003, found 26 former members of Congress in the ranks of drug industry lobbyists and 342 lobbyists (51 percent of those employed by the industry) have revolving-door connections with the federal government. The Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which represents more than 100 brand-name prescription drug companies, shelled out $14.3 million last year, a 26 percent increase from 2001 and nearly double what the group spent in 2000. PhRMA hired 112 lobbyists in 2002, 30 more than the year before. Brand-name drug anufacturers spent more than 20 times as much on lobbying as generic drug-makers--$76 million versus $3.4 million. In 2002, pharmaceutical industry soared past other business sectors--raking in profits five-and-a-half times greater than the median for all industries represented in the Fortune 500.


CARING FOR THE UNINSURED COSTS $65 BILLION TO $130 BILLION A YEAR
The estimated 41 million U.S. residents who lack health insurance cost U.S. taxpayers between $65 billion and $130 billion per year in lost productivity, according to a report released on June 17 by the Institute of Medicine. The report, found that each uninsured U.S. resident loses between $1,645 and $3,280 per year in wages and benefits and in the value that improved quality of life and longer lifespan would provide. The estimated cost in the report does not include the cost of medical care. According to the study, the United States spends about $35 billion per year to provide uninsured residents with medical care, often for preventable diseases or diseases that physicians could treat more efficiently with earlier diagnosis. Uninsured U.S. children face a higher risk of developmental delays than those with health coverage. The costs of state healthcare programs fall disproportionately on the local communities where care is provided. Public programs, such as Medicare, Social Security Disability Insurance and the criminal justice system, almost certainly have higher budgetary costs than they would if the U.S. population in its entirety had health insurance up to age 65.

More info:
http://www.citizen.org/congress/reform/drug_industry/
contribution/articles.cfm?ID=9922
 

MEDICAL BENEFITS VICTORY FOR RETIREES IN ALASKA
Public employee retirees secured an important victory June 13 when the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that the state could not diminish retiree health benefits. The ruling affects more than 20,000 retired public employees covered by Alaska’s Public Employees’ Retirement System and Teachers’ Retirement System. “This ruling means the state can’t take away what it promised to provide,” says Bruce Ludwig, business manager of the Alaska Public Employees Association, an affiliate of AFT Public Employees. The APEA’s retiree affiliate, the Retired Public Employees Association, initiated the lawsuit in 2000 in response to benefit cuts in the group health plan for retired public employees. NEA-Alaska and the Alaska State Employees Association also filed lawsuits protesting the benefit cuts. The three lawsuits were later combined.

 
LIPITOR RECALL EXPANDED
The Food and Drug Administration is trying to track down counterfeit versions of Lipitor, used to lower cholesterol. The expanded recall involves products repacked by Med-Pro Inc., of Lexington, Neb., and distributed by Albers Medical Distributors Inc., of Kansas City, Mo. The recall came as researchers found the Pfizer drug helps reduce strokes and heart attacks in patients with Type II diabetes.

More info: http://atsh.org/news/lipitor.html 
 

WALGREEN HELPS ITSELF
ConsumerAffairs.com has learned that Walgreen, the nation’s largest drug chain, is charging consumers a minimum fee of $8.99 for prescriptions, even when the cost of the medication is less than $8.99. This overcharge is not disclosed to the consumer and may be a violation of consumer protection laws. Anyone who has had this experience is encouraged to file a consumer complaint to help build a case against the giant retailer.

More info: http://consumeraffairs.com/php/a_report.php
 

CALPERS BOARD APPROVES BIG HEALTHCARE PREMIUM HIKES
The board of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System on June 17 approved an increase in 2004 health insurance premiums of 16.7 percent to 18.4 percent for those enrolled in HMO and preferred provider organization plans. Medicare plans’ premium increases will range from 23.4 percent to 27.8 percent; all premium increases depend on details of CalPERS’ contracts with the insurers. CalPERS provides healthcare coverage for California state and local government retirees. The board also approved an increase in emergency room fees and prescription drug co-payments. For members enrolled in Kaiser Permanente health plans, prescription drug co-pays will increase from $5 to $10 for generics and from $15 to $20 for brand-name drugs. All other plans’ co-pays will increase from about $30 to $45 for brand-name medications. Members of Blue Shield of California, Kaiser or Western Health Advantage in 2004 will begin paying a $50 emergency room fee--an increase of $25 for members under age 65, and an increase of $50 for members over age 65, who now pay nothing for emergency room visits. The 1.2 million CalPERS members will likely pay most--if not all--of the rate increase.

More info: http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=18365

 
MAINE GOVERNOR SIGNS UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE BILL
Maine Gov. John Baldacci (D) on June 18 signed into law a bill that will establish the first universal health insurance program in the nation. The law seeks to expand access to affordable health insurance by 2009 to the 136,000 to 190,000 state residents who lack coverage for at least part of the year. Under the program, Maine will contract with private health insurance carriers and compete with current health plans to offer coverage to employees who work at least 20 hours per week. Employers will cover as much as 60 percent of the cost of the premiums, and employees will pay the remainder. The state will provide premium subsidies on a sliding scale to program participants with annual incomes less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level. The Governor’s Office of Health Policy and Finance estimates that the plan will cost less than $300 per month for individuals. The state will offer employers subsidies to encourage participation. The program will take effect in July 2004. The law also will expand eligibility limits for adults under MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program, to 125 percent of the federal poverty level for adults without children and to 200 percent of the federal poverty level for adults with children. The measure will: place voluntary caps on expenditures and profit margins for healthcare providers and health insurers and establish a not-for-profit insurance company in the event that commercial health insurers decide not to participate. The state will fund the provisions in the law with new fees of as much as 4 percent on the gross revenues of health insurers; more than $50 million in federal funds; premiums paid by employers and individuals who participate; and federal Medicaid funds. Maine expects to save $80 million per year through the elimination of unreimbursed care for the uninsured.

More info: http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=18367
 

ILLINOIS GOVERNOR OKAYS SENIOR DRUG DISCOUNT PROGRAM
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) on June 16 signed into law a bill (HB 209) to establish a prescription drug buying club that would provide seniors and residents with disabilities with 20 percent to 30 percent discounts on the price of their medications. Pooling state residents ages 65 and older and those with disabilities with state agencies that purchase prescription drugs, the program will allow the state to negotiate larger discounts with pharmaceutical companies. Participants in the program must pay a $25 annual fee and will receive a membership card that will allow them to obtain discounts on prescription drugs at most pharmacies statewide; about 1.5 million state residents will qualify for the program. The new program will likely take effect by January 2004. Blagojevich estimated that the new program would save the state about $120 million per year.

More info:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=18316
 

DINE OUT AND SAVE
Save money as you dine at your favorite restaurants this summer. As an AFT retiree member, you can dine out and save up to 20 percent on everything you order – including all beverages, food, taxes and tip at over 7,500 restaurants across the country. To start saving, register up to three credit cards with iDine Prime. Then use them to pay the bill at any participating restaurant. Add the tip and sign. Your monthly credit card statement will show 100 percent of your charges--along with a credit of your savings. AFT members pay just $29 a year iDine Prime benefits, a savings of $20 off the regular membership fee. Check out iDine Prime benefits and a complete list of participating restaurants by visiting http://www.idine.com/. Call 1-877-491-3463 and mention code AFT7 to sign up and get the special AFT discount rate. Please have your credit card handy when you call.
 

QUOTE OF NOTE
“Up in Washington, D.C., I don’t think they care a rip about the senior citizens. If I went up there and had that bill written tomorrow, I would fix it to where senior citizens had their prescription drugs paid for. Not partial, but all of it."

--Vela Fox
Retired Teacher
Nashville, Tenn.