• AFL-CIO, AFT Gear Up To Defeat Social Security Privatization
• AFT Speaks Out Against Medicaid Cuts
• Did Bush Push Canada on Prescription Drugs Limits?
• Less Than a Third of Seniors Have Ever Gone Online
• New Preventive Care, Flu Benefits under Medicare
• Two Governors Revoke State Employee Bargaining Rights
• AFT Relief Fund To Help Tsunami Victims
• AFT PLUS Announces Our New CD Discount Program
• Quote of Note
• Web site of the Week: www.worstpills.org
• Editor's Note

AFL-CIO, AFT GEAR UP TO DEFEAT SOCIAL SECURITY PRIVATIZATION
President Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security and cut guaranteed benefits is running into trouble. A Washington Post-ABC News poll released in December found that although 53 percent of Americans support a voluntary stock market option for Social Security, support drops by more than half, to 24 percent if it means $2 trillion in borrowing. Sixty-two percent of Americans say they would not participate in private accounts. Only 25 percent believe the president's claim that Social Security is in crisis. Even Wall Street firms, which stand to realize billions in fees from private accounts, were cool to Treasury Secretary John Snow’s pitch last week in New York, fearing that the $2 trillion borrowing needed to pay current beneficiaries would run up the deficit, stall the economy by driving up interest rates and cost the firms real money today. The AFT, AFL-CIO and the Alliance for Retired Americans are all gearing up to fight the Bush administration’s privatization initiative, which would cut guaranteed benefits and subject Social Security to stock market risk. We need your help: Talk to your family and friends and get them the facts: President Bush is trying to manufacture a Social Security “crisis” using scare tactics and cooking the books just like he did with Medicare prescription drugs. He wants to replace guaranteed Social Security benefits, the most successful federal program in American history, with a roll of the dice in the stock market. Remember the old saying, “You don’t bet the rent money.” It’s as true today as it was then.

AFT SPEAKS OUT AGAINST MEDICAID CUTS
The AFT has joined nearly a thousand state and national labor, community, healthcare, civil rights and advocacy groups in a Jan. 12 letter to the White House urging President Bush not to cut Medicaid by capping federal payments to the program or turning it into block grants to the states. “More than 53 million Americans rely on Medicaid for their healthcare including long-term services,” the coalition wrote. “Any cuts in this critical program will impair the benefits these vulnerable Americans receive, diminishing the program’s ability to meet the growing need for health coverage for low-income children, parents, seniors, pregnant women and people with disabilities.” Medicaid cuts or funding caps would shift billions of dollars in healthcare costs to state and local governments, stretching already hard-pressed state budgets. Medicaid has been the only heath insurance for millions of Americans who lost their jobs during the 2001-04 economic slump. It also provides more than 50 percent of all nursing home funding.

DID BUSH PUSH CANADA ON PRESCRIPTION DRUGS LIMITS?
On Jan. 6, Canadian Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh announced that he plans to ask for regulatory limits on mail-order pharmacies in the country. The decision came after a series of negative comments by the minister following November trade negotiations with the U.S. Dave MacKay, executive director of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association--a group of Canadian mail-order pharmacies--has alleged that during the negotiations, U.S. officials negotiated concessions for Canadian products such as beef and lumber in exchange for increased opposition to reimportation. According to MacKay, a high-level Canadian government source informed him that President Bush delivered an ultimatum on the issue to avoid having to veto a bill that would legalize reimportation in the U.S. if Congress passed such legislation. The White House acknowledged that President Bush had raised the issue during negotiations with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin but denied that the president had pressured the prime minister.

LESS THAN A THIRD OF SENIORS HAVE EVER GONE ONLINE!
There's more bad news for the Bush administration’s Medicare prescription drug benefit, which relies so heavily on Internet for comparisons of competing drug programs. A new survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation reveals that only 31 percent of seniors have used the Internet, and just 21 percent have searched for health information online. Among all seniors, 13 percent have researched prescription drugs; 9 percent have researched nutrition, exercise and weight issues; and 7 percent have researched cancer, according to the survey, which was conducted last year. The poll found that income was a large factor in whether seniors have used the Internet. Sixty-five percent of seniors with annual household incomes of $50,000 or more have used the Internet, compared with 15 percent of those with annual household incomes of $20,000 or less. Level of education also plays an important role in the degree of Internet savvy, according to the survey, with college-educated seniors much more likely to go online than others.

NEW PREVENTIVE CARE, FLU BENEFITS UNDER MEDICARE
Several new Medicare preventive care benefits took effect Jan. 1. They include: physical exams for new enrollees, screenings for diabetes, hearing, vision, cholesterol and blood pressure. Medicare will cover blood tests every five years to screen for cholesterol, lipid and triglyceride levels. The program will pay 100 percent of approved amounts for these tests, even if beneficiaries have not yet met the Part B deductible of $110. Medicare already covers screenings for breast and colon cancers and osteoporosis, as well as annual flu and pneumonia vaccines. New enrollees are eligible for the entry physical exam for up to six months after enrolling in Medicare Part B. Beneficiaries must pay 20 percent of exam costs after the $110 Part B deductible is met. CMS officials on Jan. 7 announced that until May 31 the program will pay 80 percent of Medicare beneficiaries' cost for up to two antiviral medications intended to treat the flu virus. The pilot program is intended for beneficiaries in the Medicare Part B program who do not have prescription drug coverage. The four FDA-approved antiviral medications are amantadine, rimantidine, oseltamivir and zanamivir.

TWO GOVERNORS REVOKE STATE EMPLOYEE BARGAINING RIGHTS
On Jan. 11, newly inaugurated Republican governors in Indiana and Missouri repealed collective bargaining rights for state employees, canceling current contracts for thousands of workers. In Indiana, governor Mitch Daniels revoked the collective bargaining rights and contracts of 23,000 state employees, including 14,000 workers represented by the Unity Team, a joint local of the AFT and the United Auto Workers. Indiana state employees gained collective bargaining rights in 1989 through an executive order signed by governor Evan Bayh. All three previous governors have honored that order, which permits state employees to negotiate pay, benefits and work rules. Governor Daniels’ action affects some 35,000 executive branch employees, two-thirds of whom are represented by unions, including the Unity Team and AFSCME. “This is a dark day for the people of Indiana,” said AFT president Edward J. McElroy. “Collective bargaining is a process that benefits taxpayers as much as it does state employees. It brings with it higher-quality services, more efficient government and improved quality of life for all of Indiana's citizens.” McElroy pledged that the AFT would continue to represent members through all means available. Missouri's newly elected Republican governor Matt Blunt repealed a 2001 executive order issued by his predecessor Bob Holden (D) granting bargaining rights to state employees. About 9,000 state employees are represented by AFSCME and SEIU in Missouri.

AFT RELIEF FUND TO HELP TSUNAMI VICTIMS
AFT members and affiliates are invited to support relief efforts for teachers and other education and public sector employees in countries around the Indian Ocean that were devastated by the recent tsunami disaster. The union has created a tsunami relief fund through the AFT Educational Foundation (AFTEF) to provide direct humanitarian assistance. The AFT is working through three organizations--Education International, Public Services International and the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center--to provide support for union colleagues and their families affected by the Dec. 26 natural disaster. Tax-deductible contributions should be made payable to the AFTEF and sent to the AFT Educational Foundation, 555 New Jersey Ave., N.W., Fourth Floor, Washington, DC 20001. Please write "tsunami relief" on the memo portion of the check.

AFT PLUS ANNOUNCES OUR NEW CD DISCOUNT PROGRAM
AFT members now have access to unbeatable savings on CDs. The program has more than 15,000 CD titles representing rock, pop, R&B, jazz, rap, classical and Latin music as well as many other genres. Single CDs are only $9.99 each, and double CDs are only $15.98. Buy two and get the third CD free! Standard shipping is always free. To learn more or to view CD selections, go to www.unionplus.org/music.

QUOTE OF NOTE
“We simply cannot solve the Social Security problem with Personal Retirement Accounts alone.... If we borrow $1 trillion to $2 trillion to cover transition costs for personal savings accounts and make no changes to wage indexing, we will have borrowed trillions and will still confront more than $10 trillion in unfunded liabilities. This could easily cause an economic chain reaction: the markets go south, interest rates go up, and the economy stalls out.”

Peter Wehner, Deputy to Karl Rove
Leaked White House memo
Jan. 6, 2005

WEB SITE OF THE WEEK: www.WorstPills.org
Public Citizen has launched a new Web site that provides consumers with comprehensive information about 538 prescription drugs and warns them of 181 drugs that are unsafe or ineffective. Users can search by drug, medical condition or by drug-induced disease. A one-year subscription costs $15, which includes a monthly e-newsletter and electronic updates about dangerous prescription drugs.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Thank you faithful readers of AFT Retiree e-news for your good wishes and kind words after my recent surgery. They helped a lot. My shoulder should be good as new in a few weeks, and, as you can see, I’m back banging out copy again.

Frank Stella