• Medicare Part D Marketing Off to a Rocky Start
• Lawmakers Balk at Efforts To Cut Medicare, Medicaid
• Houston Retirees Provide Hurricane Relief
• Alaska Retiree Leader Appointed to State
  Pension Board
• Employer Healthcare Costs To Rise 8 percent to
  10 percent in 2006
• Aetna To Put 'ATM-Style' Drug Machines in
  Doctor Offices
• Lawsuit Challenges Pfizer's Claims for Lipitor
• Drug Giant Agrees To Pay $150.8m To Settle Suit
• More Than 40 Percent of Adults Have Problems
  Paying Medical Bills
• To Reduce Heartburn, Modify Your Diet, Eating Habits
• Read All About It and Save Money with AFT PLUS
• Quote of Note: At Seventy
• Web site of the Week:  http://www.heartburnalliance.org/index.jsp

MEDICARE PART D MARKETING OFF TO A
ROCKY START
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services stumbled getting out of the starting gate as the marketing of the new Medicare prescription drug plans got under way on Oct. 1. Their special insert in Parade magazine neglected to mention the “doughnut hole” of nearly $3,000 in coverage where people with Medicare will have to pay the full cost their prescription drugs. Then there is the mailing of 43 million copies of CMS’s annual handbook, Medicare & You. It contained a huge error, stating that low-income Medicare beneficiaries who qualify for an extra subsidy for their drug costs can choose any plan without paying a monthly premium. The truth is only 40 percent of the plans have no premiums. CMS says it has posted the correct information on its Web site and now includes it on its telephone hotline. CMS will also rely on insurance companies to get the correct information to the 35 million seniors who will receive the handbook. No wonder seniors are confused. A USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll taken in late September reports that 61 percent of American seniors don’t understand the new Medicare drug plan. Only 37 percent understand the program at least somewhat. CMS has said it hopes to sign up 30 million of the nation’s 42 million Medicare beneficiaries, but as the marketing began, 54 percent of those questioned in the latest poll said they did not plan to enroll. To help you make your decision, the AFT has created a set of key questions and answers about Part D (http://www.aft.org/retirement/downloads/
MedicarePartD_Q&A.pdf. In addition, we urge you to visit Medicare Interactive/AFT (http://www.medicareinteractive.org/aft), a special Web site created by the AFT and the Medicare Rights Center.

LAWMAKERS BALK AT EFFORTS TO CUT
MEDICARE, MEDICAID
With Democrats and moderate Republicans balking at cutting Medicaid, Senate Finance Committee chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is turning to Medicare to secure some of the cuts previously intended for Medicaid. Grassley is trying to balance providing medical care to survivors of Hurricane Katrina with billions of dollars in spending cuts in the very program that would be expanded for the Katrina survivors. As part of the FY 2006 budget reconciliation process, the committee has been charged with finding $10 billion in Medicaid spending reductions over five years. Specifically, pressure to reduce spending in Medicare has come from Sens. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who object to meeting the spending goal entirely through Medicaid. “What looked like a chance to talk up new programs is fast becoming a scramble to save the old ones," according to Robert Greenstein, director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "We've gone from a situation in which we might have a long-overdue debate on deep poverty to the possibility, or perhaps even the likelihood, that low-income people will be asked to bear the costs.” The White House continues to stall a bipartisan bill that would have extended Medicaid coverage to all low-income hurricane victims. Families USA, a healthcare advocacy group, is encouraging activists to call their members of Congress on Monday, Oct. 17th, and Tuesday, Oct. 18th, to urge them to vote against any budget reconciliation package that harms Medicaid beneficiaries. The toll-free number is 800/828-0498.

HOUSTON RETIREES PROVIDE HURRICANE RELIEF
Nearly a dozen retirees from the Houston Federation of Teachers helped staff that city’s AFL-CIO hurricane relief center on Oct. 11. The group, led by HFT retiree leader Annie Banks, took four-hour shifts directing Gulf Coast evacuees to jobs in union-sponsored training programs and to union-represented employers. “It was exhausting but rewarding work,” said Banks, who retired after nearly 40 years in the Houston public school system. AFT members and their families displaced by the hurricane still need your help. Please consider making a donation at http://www.aft.org/katrina.

ALASKA RETIREE LEADER APPOINTED TO STATE PENSION BOARD
Sam Trivette, president of the Retired Public Employees of Alaska and a member of the AFT national retirement committee, has been appointed to the board of the newly created Alaska Retirement Management Board by Gov. Frank Murkowski. The board will oversee operations of current defined-benefit public pension plans and the new defined-contribution plan that Alaska has established for employees hired after July 1 of this year. The plan was put in place after a prolonged battle with RPEA and the state AFL-CIO. Only severe arm twisting by the governor and senate president Ben Stevens pushed the change through a divided Alaska Senate.

EMPLOYER HEALTHCARE COSTS TO RISE 8PERCENT TO 10 PERCENT IN 2006
Two surveys of employers by leading health benefits consultants project increases in healthcare costs of 8 percent to nearly 10 percent next year. According to both surveys, while the increase in costs may be slowing, employees and retirees are shouldering more and more of the costs. The 2006 Towers Perrin Healthcare Cost Survey said U.S. employers are facing an 8 percent increase in their 2006 healthcare costs. Moreover, the cumulative effect of years of double-digit increases has produced a record high for employer-sponsored healthcare costs in America. In flat dollar terms, next year's gross healthcare expenditure is expected to rise by an average of $597 per employee, to an average total cost of $8,424 -- representing a 140 percent increase over the last 10 years. Overall, employers will pay 80 percent of premium costs and employees will pay 20 percent. A second report released Oct. 10 by Hewitt Associates projects a 9.9 percent increase in employer health insurance costs. This report found that employee contributions to health plans increased 65 percent from $877 per individual in 2002 to $1,444 in 2005.

More info: http://www.towersperrin.com/hrservices/webcache/
towers/United_States/press_releases/2005_09_28/2005_
09_28.htm

AETNA TO PUT 'ATM-STYLE' DRUG MACHINES IN DOCTORS OFFICES 
Aetna this week plans to launch a pilot program in which the company will place "ATM-style" machines that dispense samples of generic medications in doctor offices in Philadelphia. So far, Aetna has tested the machines in eight different regions, but the new program will be the broadest and the most rigorously analyzed for its effects on prescribing patterns. California-based MedVantx will supply and stock the machines, which in most cases dispense 30-day supplies of medications. The machines, which require doctors to input a security code, will include samples of as many as 20 generic medications for conditions such as diabetes, depression and high blood pressure. Under the program, Aetna and MedVantx will encourage doctors to dispense generic medications to all patients, regardless of their health plan. Neither Aetna nor MedVantx will provide doctors with financial incentives to participate in the program. The machines are intended to counter samples of brand-name medications distributed to doctors by sales representatives. These amounted to more than one billion brand-name drug samples, valued at nearly $16 billion in 2004.

LAWSUIT CHALLENGES PFIZER'S CLAIMS FOR LIPITOR A lawsuit filed last month by consumer advocates in U.S. District Court in Boston alleges that Pfizer marketed the cholesterol drug Lipitor to women and the elderly without proof that Lipitor reduces the risk of heart disease in those groups. The plaintiffs -- who include the advocacy group Healthcare for All and health plans for a New Jersey Teamsters union local, a Brooklyn woman and an elderly Massachusetts man -- allege that Pfizer's sales and marketing campaigns focused on cholesterol reduction and suggested that the medication protects against heart disease. According to the suit, however, there is no substantial proof that Lipitor's effect on cholesterol protects against heart attacks and strokes in women and the elderly with no prior history of the heart disease. The plaintiffs also allege that the company's marketing campaigns violated state consumer protection laws against unfair and deceptive trade practices. The suit states that, although studies show the medication is helpful in lowering cholesterol in men with a high risk of cardiovascular disease, no such proof exists for women or the elderly. The groups are seeking compensation for women and the elderly who paid for Lipitor and insurance companies that paid for the medication on their behalf.

DRUG GIANT AGREES TO PAY $150.8M TO SETTLE SUIT GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to pay $150.8 million to settle fraud allegations that it inflated average wholesale prices for two separate drugs. The prices are used to set Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement rates. The Department of Justice claimed that GSK purposely overcharged government healthcare programs for Zofran and Kytril, two injectable drugs used to prevent nausea for patients undergoing chemotherapy cancer treatment. The Justice Department said that GSK charged healthcare providers less than the reimbursement rate, making it more profitable for those providers to sell GSK drugs.  The department also alleged that GSK had a "double-dipping" billing scheme that encouraged customers to gather leftover vials of Kytril to create an extra dose, which then was rebilled to Medicare. The lawsuit related to sales of Zofran between 1994 and 2002 and sales of Kytril between 1994 and 2000.

MORE THAN 40 PERCENT OF ADULTS HAVE PROBLEMS PAYING MEDICAL BILLS
More than two of every five working adults in the U.S.--about 77 million individuals--had problems paying medical bills, had accrued medical debt or both in 2003, according to a study released in August by the Commonwealth Fund. According to the study, an estimated 27.7 million working adults had medical debt in 2003; 62 percent of those individuals were covered by health insurance. The report also found that more than three out of five respondents who reported problems with the payment of medical bills said that they did not seek necessary treatment because of cost concerns. Thirty-nine percent of women reported problems in paying medical bills compared with 25 percent of men.

TO REDUCE HEARTBURN, MODIFY YOUR DIET,
EATING HABITS
According to the American Gastroenterological Association, heartburn, also known as acid reflux or indigestion, afflicts 10 percent of the population at least once a week. While many over-the-counter and prescription medications are available to tackle the pain, dietary changes may also reduce your discomfort. Many foods can aggravate the problem by relaxing the muscle that acts as a “valve” between the esophagus and the stomach.  This allows the harsh stomach acid to “reflux,” or wash, back into the esophagus, causing that bitter aftertaste. Foods to avoid include orange and grapefruit juice, French fries and tomatoes. Coupled with dietary changes, the following commonly used home “remedies” could help reduce your symptoms. The group recommends eating smaller meals and stopping before you feel full; chewing gum but not mint flavors, which can aggravate acid; and eating dinner at least two to three hours before going to bed and not lying down right after eating.

READ ALL ABOUT IT AND SAVE MONEY WITH
AFT PLUS
As an AFT retiree member, you are eligible for savings of up to 50 percent on subscriptions to your favorite magazines. The AFT Subscription Services Program offers more than 1,000 titles that you can choose from. Popular offerings include Money, Newsweek, Prevention, Reader's Digest, Smithsonian, Golf Digest and New Yorker. The discount applies to gift subscriptions as well. To check if your favorite magazine is offered, call a friendly customer service representative at 800/877-7238. You can also view a current list of offerings online at http://www.buymags.com/aft.