• Medicare Part D Registration Deadline May 15
• Medicare Part D Costs To Rise in 2007
• Public Has Mixed Reaction to Medicare Drug Benefit
• Alliance 2005 Voting Record Gives Congress Failing Grade
• Drug Companies Spent $44 Million To Lobby State Officials in 2003-04
• Many Retired Executives Get Lifetime Health Benefits
• American Workers Not Ready for Retirement
• Therapeutic Lying and Other Ways To Handle Patients with Dementia
• Save on CDs
• Quote of Note
• Web Site of the Week: http://www.Genealogylinks.Net/

MEDICARE PART D REGISTRATION DEADLINE MAY 15
It’s just days before the May 15 deadline to sign up for the Medicare Part D drug benefit. Those who are eligible for the benefit and do not have creditable coverage should probably sign up for Part D in spite of the many serious flaws in the new benefit. If you do not have employer or state coverage as good as or better than Part D, you will pay a one percent penalty for every month after May 15, 2006 that you fail to sign up. For example, if you don’t sign up until May 2007 you will pay a 12 percent (1 percent x 12 months) penalty on your premium for as long as you stay in Part D. For information on how to sign up, visit http://www.medicare.org/ or call 1-800-MEDICARE. The AFT continues to work to improve coverage and extend the deadline, but so far, the White House and its allies in Congress have refused to accept any changes.

MEDICARE PART D COSTS TO RISE IN 2007
BNA's Healthcare Policy reports that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have updated the standard Part D drug benefit for 2007, increasing deductibles, out-of-pocket maximums, and other costs for seniors by 6.8 percent.  Beginning Jan. 1, 2007, the deductible for the standard benefit will increase from $250 to $265. In addition, seniors will have to spend $3,850 out-of-pocket before having 95 percent of their drug costs covered. In 2006, seniors have to spend $3,600 of their own money before the plan pays 95 percent of all drug expenses. The doughnut hole, the gap in coverage during which Medicare recipients must foot the bill for all of their drug costs while also paying an insurance premium, will also grow. In 2006, that gap is between $2,250 and $5,100, but in 2007 it is expected to be between $2,400 and $5,451.
 
PUBLIC HAS MIXED REACTION TO MEDICARE DRUG BENEFIT
According to an April Washington Post-ABC News poll, 41 percent of all respondents approve of the Medicare Part D drug benefit, and 45 percent disapprove; 56 percent of Republican respondents approve of the benefit, while 56 percent of Democrats disapprove; seven in 10 respondents ages 65 and older think the May 15 enrollment deadline should be extended; six in 10 respondents age 65 and older say they do not know much about the program; and 59 percent of respondents say the drug benefit will be important to their vote in the upcoming election. A Lewin Group study released April 12 finds that beneficiaries who were uninsured prior to the drug benefit will save money with Medicare Part D coverage. Beneficiaries who previously had no drug coverage and who have at least one of five chronic conditions—arthritis, diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis and respiratory illness—can save an average of 58 percent through at least one drug plan offered in their area compared with paying for the drugs out of pocket. 
 
ALLIANCE 2005 VOTING RECORD GIVES CONGRESS FAILING GRADE
The first session of the 109th Congress proved to be another direct assault on the quality of life for retirees, according the voting record released April 12 by the Alliance for Retired Americans, an organization of union and community retirees. Since issuing its first voting record in 2001, the Alliance has documented a disturbing trend of anti-senior sentiment in Congress. The trend continued in 2005. Fifty-three percent of the House and 56 percent of the Senate received scores below the 60 percent passing grade. Thirty-nine percent of U.S. representatives and 40 percent of U.S. senators scored zero, including a majority of Republicans. Notable politicians in this category included Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Rep. Katherine Harris of Florida, each of whom faces a tough Senate race in 2006. There was a clear distinction along party lines. While Republicans in both the House and Senate scored an average 6 percent, Democrats averaged 95 percent in the House and 98 percent in the Senate. The good news is that 35 percent of the House of Representatives and 40 percent of U.S. senators scored a perfect 100 percent. In Ohio, likely to be the site of several key races in November, Reps. Sherrod Brown and Ted Strickland, running for U.S. senate and governor, respectively, both scored 100 percent. To see how your representative and senators did, go to the Alliance Web site, www.retiredamericans.org/votingrecord. 

DRUG COMPANIES SPENT $44 MILLION TO LOBBY STATE OFFICIALS IN 2003-04
The pharmaceutical industry spent more than $44 million lobbying state governments in 2003 and 2004 and spent $8 million on candidates for state offices, according to a report released April 6 by the Center for Public Integrity. The report also found that drug companies gave state political campaigns an additional $18.5 million between 2001 and 2004. CPI's analysis of lobbying records found that the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the trade group of the large firms, was the most active drug lobbyist, spending more than $4.5 million in states. PhRMA and 14 major drug companies together accounted for 80 percent of lobbying in states on drug issues. Among drug companies, Eli Lilly had the highest lobbying expenditures, spending $4.3 million to lobby states in 2003 and 2004 and giving more than $2.2 million to state candidates and political parties from 2001 to 2004. GlaxoSmithKline spent $4.1 million on lobbying, Pfizer spent $4 million and Johnson & Johnson spent $3.1 million. In addition, Pfizer gave more than $3 million to state candidates, while GSK gave more than $2.2 million. More than half of the industry's campaign donations – over $11 million -- went to Republican groups or candidates. Democratic candidates and affiliated groups received about $7 million. The center found the majority of drug lobbying occurred in states with the most prescription drug dollars at stake or in which the industry has a significant presence, such as New Jersey and Indiana. California, which has the biggest state prescription drug budget, accounted for 20 percent of all lobbying expenditures -- the most of any state. The drug industry has begun to focus more of its lobbying efforts on states because states purchase about 16 percent of prescription drugs sold in the U.S. through Medicaid and other programs for state residents. In addition, two-thirds of states have passed laws to cut drug costs since 2003. In comparison, the drug industry spent $44.6 million at the federal level in the first six months of 2005, more than any other industry sector.

MANY RETIRED EXECUTIVES GET LIFETIME
HEALTH BENEFITS
Retired executives at many corporations continue to receive partial or full lifetime health coverage, despite the trend of reducing or eliminating health benefits for other retirees. A Wall Street Journal analysis of dozens of recent securities filings found that the trend spans many industries, and is common at airlines, which have been among the most aggressive in scaling back retirement benefits for the rank and file. For example, retired Continental Airlines chair Gordon Bethune and his dependents receive free healthcare, according to the company's proxy statement notes. Jane Banfield, a retired AT&T manager, said, "Executives are receiving multi-million-dollar pensions and are in a position to easily pay for their healthcare. Instead, they want the icing on the cake by also guaranteeing themselves free healthcare." According to the Journal, continued lifetime benefits for executives anger retirees who face rising healthcare premiums and co-payments and, in many cases, are losing their retirement health benefits entirely.

AMERICAN WORKERS NOT READY FOR RETIREMENT
According to a recent survey by the Employee Benefits Research Institute, only seven in 10 American workers are saving for retirement, and just 42 percent of that number have even tried to calculate how much they will need to save for retirement. More than half of workers saving for retirement report total savings and investments (not including the value of their house or any defined-benefit plans) of less than $50,000. The large majority of workers who have not put money aside for retirement, however, have little in savings at all: Three-quarters of these workers say their assets total less than $10,000. Many workers are counting on employer-provided benefits in retirement that are increasingly unavailable. Worker suppositions about their financial needs for retirement are also often unrealistic. While a majority of workers say they prefer a standard of living in retirement that is the same or better than in their working years (59 percent), half think they can maintain a comfortable retirement on 70 percent or less of their preretirement income. Workers are more than twice as likely to expect to work for pay in retirement (67 percent) as retirees are to have actually worked (27 percent). For more information, visit
http://www.ebri.org/publications/ib/index.cfm?fa=ibDisp&content_id=3630

THERAPEUTIC LYING AND OTHER WAYS TO HANDLE PATIENTS WITH DEMENTIA
If caring for an aged family member with dementia is making you lose your grip, caregiving experts have some advice: Go ahead and lose it. People with dementia can be unreasonable, agitated or aggressive, making caring for them a challenge. Trying to re-orient them to reality is exhausting and usually futile, a fact that is contributing to rising rates of depression and disability among family caregivers. Now, some caregiving organizations are promoting therapies that teach the opposite: Join patients in their mental world, play along with their memories and even lie, if necessary, to calm them. There's a method to the madness. Researchers and counselors believe these new therapies can ease the caregivers' stress and help people with dementia, too. Among the methods: "therapeutic lying," or going along with elders in their confusion to avoid conflict; Aikido, a way of empathizing named for a non-aggressive Japanese martial art; and "validation therapy," which entails joining patients in recalling buried memories and emotions. The techniques aren't for everyone. Sometimes the tactics demand too much of caregivers, or they risk isolating or offending the patient. Nevertheless, a growing number of caregivers swear by the techniques. All have one thing in common: They require the caregiver to give up trying to force the dementia patient to accept reality and surrender instead to the fact that the patient is living in another mental and emotional world. More information is available from the Alzheimer's Association (http://www.alz.org), the Family Caregiver Alliance (http://www.caregiver.org) or your area aging agency (http://www.eldercare.gov).

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QUOTE OF NOTE
"It was all about grass roots. We got out there, we talked to people. While the other side had money, our side had volunteers; they were working for something they believed in."

Ray Cummings, Vice president for political education
St. Louis Teachers Union

Commenting on union-endorsed candidates’ upset win over two business-backed incumbents who outspent the winners by more than 20 to 1 in a recent school board race.

WEB SITE OF THE WEEK: http://www.genealogylinks.net/
This Web site consists of 4,000 pages of more than 40,000 free genealogy links;  US, U.K., England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Records include parish registers, census, cemeteries, marriages, passenger lists, city directories, military records, obituaries and more.