• Take Action Against Massive Cuts in Key Programs
• Hurricane Wilma Adds to Misery of Gulf Region
• New Internet Tools for Medicare Part D
• Bush Tax Panel Would End Breaks For State and Local Taxes, Home Mortgages;
  Make Employer-Paid Health Premiums Taxable
• Insider Urges Wal-Mart To Discourage Unhealthy Job Applicants
• Mark Your Calendar for Dec. 10 Rallies on Worker Rights
• CMS Approves Florida Plan To Cap Medicaid Benefits
• Shop Early and Union for the Holidays
• Quote of Note: The Post-Katrina Budget
• Web Site of the Week: http://www.fda.gov/diabetes

TAKE ACTION AGAINST MASSIVE CUTS IN
KEY PROGRAMS
Votes in the House and Senate are expected in the next two weeks on budget reconciliation bills lopping up to $53 billion in cuts from key federal programs, including Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps and student loans ostensibly to pay for massive aid to hurricane victims. In reality, the Republican budget blueprint calls for $70 billion in additional tax cuts targeted largely to the wealthy over five years. The net result would be to add tens of billions to the U.S. debt. Earlier, intense and targeted lobbying by AFT members and leaders supported a lobbying blitz in Washington by AFT leaders and legislative staff helped determine the fate of a key budget vote. AFT e-Activists generated more than 5,000 letters and hundreds of phone calls to nearly 300 Capitol Hill offices, reports Tor Cowan, director of the AFT’s legislation department. The cuts called for in these bills would have devastating consequences on those who need help most – hurricane survivors, students and seniors, including slashing $10 billion from Medicaid and Medicare, taking food stamps away from an estimated 300,000 people, and cutting off free and reduced-price school lunches and breakfasts for 40,000 schoolchildren. Send a letter to your members of Congress opposing this legislation, by visiting the AFT Legislative Action Center at http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/budgetrec.

HURRICANE WILMA ADDS TO MISERY OF GULF REGION
Many schools in South Florida still remain closed as residents struggle to recover from Hurricane Wilma, which swept across the state on Oct. 24. Damage to schools and college campus buildings was still being assessed, but widespread power outages are still keeping many students home. FEA president and AFT vice president Andy Ford estimates that some 50,000 FEA members in Broward and Dade, as well as Monroe, Palm Beach and Collier counties, were directly affected by the storm at either home or work. The AFT has announced a commitment to raise $3 million for members whose lives were turned upside down by recent hurricanes. “The true test of any organization is not its initial reaction to catastrophic events, important as that is,” said AFT president Edward J. McElroy. “Rather, it is over the longer term, when media attention has faded, that we can demonstrate that we are truly a family – responsible to and for each other.” AFT members have a long history of caring for our sisters and brothers, especially those who have lost so much. You can help by making a contribution to the AFT Disaster Relief Fund, which provides direct assistance to AFT members who are victims of natural disasters at http://www.aft.org/katrina. Or, you may send your contribution to: AFT Disaster Relief Fund, Attn: Connie Cordovilla, 555 New Jersey Ave., N.W., Washington, DC  20001.

NEW INTERNET TOOLS FOR MEDICARE PART D
On Oct. 18, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) launched two new tools on the Medicare Web site to help beneficiaries select prescription drug plans. The Medicare Prescription Drug Finder Plan allows Medicare beneficiaries to compare deductibles, co-payments and monthly premiums available under each prescription drug plan. CMS says it intends to add other information, such as data on prescription drug prices available under each plan, before the enrollment period begins on Nov. 15. The tool does not include information about the current prescription drug coverage of beneficiaries; CMS officials said that employers and unions had until the end of October to submit the data. CMS administrator Mark McClellan said that the full launch of the tool will occur after the agency completes personal records for all Medicare beneficiaries. “Right now [the Web site’s] main use is for training and familiarity purposes for those who work with beneficiaries,” McClellan noted. “It’s not yet time to use the tool to make your decision,” he said. The second tool launched provides information about which Medicare prescription drug plans are offered in different counties. The information includes the names of the plans, monthly premiums, annual deductibles, co-pays, gaps in coverage and data on mail-order services. Bill Vaughn, a policy analyst with Consumers Union, said, “All of the different volunteers need to roll up their sleeves and get ready for some massive education.” Check out the tools for yourself at http://www.Medicare.gov. You can find additional information about Part D and the other parts of Medicare on the joint AFT/Medicare Rights Center Web site: http://www.medicareinteractive.org/aft .

BUSH TAX PANEL WOULD END BREAKS FOR STATE AND LOCAL TAXES, HOME MORTGAGES; MAKE EMPLOYER-PAID HEALTH PREMIUMS TAXABLE
The tax advisory commission, appointed by President Bush earlier this year, agreed on Oct. 18 to recommend two alternative plans, both of which would limit or eliminate almost all existing tax deductions, including those for state and local income and property taxes. The plans would also sharply limit the tax break for home mortgage interest. The panel’s plans would substitute tax credits for many deductions. For example, the deduction for interest on a home mortgage, the biggest write-off for many taxpayers, would be replaced with a tax credit equal to 15 percent of the interest paid on one home. The credit would apply only to interest on first-home mortgages up to the limit for loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration. That level changes each year and varies depending on housing costs in each county, with a current maximum loan limit of $312,895, in communities where housing is most expensive, and a national average of about $244,000. The plans would be devastating for states like California and New York where real estate values have skyrocketed, and home-ownership is increasingly out of reach for more and more people. Employer-paid health insurance premiums above $5,000 a year for an individual and $11,500 for a family policy would be treated as income to workers and retirees and taxed accordingly. The proposal also would reduce the number of federal tax brackets. Today, there are six, ranging from 10 percent to 35 percent. Under the proposal, there would be four, ranging from 15 percent to 33 percent. The maximum corporate tax rate would fall to 32 percent from 35 percent. The proposal also calls for eliminating the alternative minimum tax, which raises taxes for a small but rapidly growing number of middle- and upper-middle-income taxpayers. Repealing the alternative minimum tax would reduce taxes for many Americans, but eliminating the deduction for state and local taxes would raise them for many more.

INSIDER URGES WAL-MART TO DISCOURAGE UNHEALTHY JOB APPLICANTS
An internal memo to members of the Wal-Mart board of directors recommends that the company hire more part-time employees and discourage unhealthy job applicants to help reduce healthcare costs.  In the memo, M. Susan Chambers, executive vice president for benefits at Wal-Mart, wrote, “Wal-Mart’s critics can easily exploit some aspects of our benefits offering to make their case; in other words, our critics are correct in some of their observations. Specifically, our coverage is expensive for low-income families, and Wal-Mart has a significant percentage of associates and their children on public assistance.” According to Chambers’ memo, 5 percent of Wal-Mart employees are enrolled in Medicaid, compared with about 4 percent for other national employers, and 46 percent of the children of Wal-Mart workers are uninsured or enrolled in Medicaid. In addition, Chambers wrote that 38 percent of Wal-Mart employees spent more than one-sixth of their income on healthcare in 2004. Chambers also wrote that Wal-Mart workers “are getting sicker than the national population, particularly in obesity-related diseases,” such as diabetes and coronary artery disease. She added that Wal-Mart employees tend to overuse emergency departments and underuse prescription drugs and physician visits. “The least healthy, least productive associates are more satisfied with their benefits than other segments and are interested in longer careers with Wal-Mart,” Chambers wrote. The memo recommends that Wal-Mart require all jobs include some physical activity (e.g., all cashiers do some cart gathering) to “dissuade unhealthy people from coming to work at Wal-Mart.” A few days earlier, the low-wage, anti-union firm, the nation’s largest employer, had touted new health benefits, which it claimed would be open to more workers.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR DEC. 10 RALLIES ON WORKER RIGHTS
AFT members are urged to participate in demonstrations and rallies in key cities across the country in early December to mobilize support for national legislation to protect workers’ right to organize. The rallies will be timed to coincide with International Human Rights Day, Dec. 10, which commemorates the ratification of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Among other fundamental rights, this declaration affirmed the right of people in every nation to come together into unions and to bargain contracts. In October, the AFT executive council approved a resolution, “Workers’ Rights Are Human Rights,” which chronicles the growing trend among employers to subvert free and fair union representation elections through harassment, intimidation, coercion and even firing of employees. AFT president Edward J. McElroy will be contacting AFT leaders in or near dozens of cities to ask for their participation in the events. More details on the mobilization will be released soon. For general information, go to http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/d10.cfm.

CMS APPROVES FLORIDA PLAN TO CAP
MEDICAID BENEFITS
U.S. Health and Human Services secretary Mike Leavitt Oct. 19 approved a waiver for a plan proposed by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) that would shift 2.2 million state Medicaid recipients to managed care and cap per recipient state expenditures to reduce costs. Florida will set aside a specific amount of money for each recipient based on health and past use of medical services and pay this amount to private insurers rather than providers. After Medicaid recipients reach the cap, the health plan will still be responsible for providing services to the consumer, but the state’s reimbursements will stop. Private health insurers and HMOs will also be able to limit “the amount, duration and scope” of services provided to Medicaid recipients. Health benefits for Medicaid recipients under age 21 and pregnant women would not be capped. The plan, which must be approved by the state legislature, could begin in July 2006 with 210,000 recipients in Broward and Duval counties. Leavitt said he expected the Florida plan will “be a model for many other states” to shift from the traditional Medicaid defined-benefit program to a defined-contribution program. Joan Alker, a senior researcher at the Health Policy Institute at Georgetown University, called the Florida plan “far reaching and radical.” She added, “The federal government and the states now decide which benefits people get. Under the Florida plan, many of those decisions will be made by private health plans, out of public view.”

SHOP EARLY AND UNION FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Every year you swear you will do your holiday shopping early so you can relax and actually enjoy the holiday season. Here’s your chance. Visit the Union Shop Online, the AFL-CIO’s retail store for activists, for union-made gifts that will please everyone on your gift list—and support good jobs for U.S. workers. Choose from a wide range of union-made products, including holiday cards and ornaments, Scrabble, hooded sweatshirts and denim shirts, and for the kids: a Rosie the Riveter 30-piece jigsaw puzzle, union-themed baby bibs, T-shirts and much, much more. See for yourself at http://unionshop.aflcio.org/shop/index.cfm.

QUOTE OF NOTE: The Post-Katrina Budget
“The House Republicans’ post-Katrina budget plan would add to the deficit, not reduce it because the required spending cuts don’t come close to paying for the at least $70 billion in new tax cuts provided for in the budget. . . . So a hurricane that exposed the disturbing problems of poverty in America could end up providing the justification to make even deeper cuts in the programs that provide an essential safety net for the poor.”

Editorial, Washington Post
Oct. 20, 2005

WEB SITE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fda.gov/diabetes
November is National Diabetes Month. Diabetes now affects nearly 21 million Americans or 7 percent of the U.S. population--and more than 6 million of those people do not know they have the disease. The overall number represents an additional 2.6 million people with diabetes since 2002. Another 41 million people are estimated to have pre-diabetes. Visit the FDA Diabetes Information Web site for information about new diabetes findings, new product approvals and other current information about diabetes care.  Download the “Take Time to Care about Diabetes” brochure (available in 13 languages) and several recipes available in English and Spanish at http://www.fda.gov/womens/taketimetocare/diabetes/