• Hurricane Season Begins, Disaster Relief Still
  Urgently Needed
• CMS: No More Drug Plan Logos on Medicare Cards
• Medicare HMOs Good for the Healthy, Bad for the Sick
• CMS Fails To Penalize Nursing Homes for
  Safety Violations
• Justice Dept.: Abbott Labs' Fraud Cost
  Government Millions
• Middle-aged Britons Healthier than
  American Counterparts
• Texas Becomes 25th Chartered State Alliance
• Long Fight Ends in Big New Mexico Organizing Victory
• Workers’ Freedom Act Picks up Support
• Dental Discounts for Members and Their Families
• Quote of Note: House Hearings on Prescription Drugs
• Web site of the Week: www.arthritis.org

HURRICANE SEASON BEGINS, DISASTER RELIEF STILL URGENTLY NEEDED
AFT president Edward J. McElroy has made a direct appeal to state federations to continue their work in raising money for the AFT Disaster Relief Fund, which urgently needs contributions. The AFT to date has raised more than $1.5 million for the Disaster Relief Fund, but the union has already spent more than $5 million in relief aid in the form of $500 cash grants sent to more than 10,000 AFT members who were affected by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma last September. At its October 2005 meeting, the AFT executive council authorized a major disaster relief fundraising campaign, headed by AFT vice president Herb Magidson, which established minimum fundraising goals for each state federation. In a May 17 letter to state federation presidents, McElroy acknowledged the state federations that have already achieved their goals, as well as those that are close. "Even with these tremendous efforts, however, our need for donations is still great," said McElroy in his letter. "Moreover, the next hurricane season will soon be upon us, and it is imperative that we replenish our Disaster Relief Fund in case the unimaginable happens again." The hurricane season begins June 1. To make a tax-deductible contribution, go to http://www.aft.org/katrina. Every penny goes to hurricane relief, and all donations from members will be credited to their states' totals.

CMS: NO MORE DRUG PLAN LOGOS ON
MEDICARE CARDS
Insurers sponsoring drug plans under the Medicare prescription drug benefit will no longer be permitted to put outside organizations' logos on beneficiaries' prescription drug cards, CMS deputy administrator Leslie Norwalk said last week in discussing next year’s proposed Part D guidelines. For 2006, insurers were permitted to co-brand with chain drug stores, state pharmaceutical assistance programs and seniors' groups such as AARP. For such plans, both the name of the drug plan and the co-brand are listed on a beneficiary's Medicare card. Norwalk said the practice confused some beneficiaries who mistakenly thought they could fill prescriptions only at the pharmacies listed on their cards. For 2007, Medicare will still be allowed to partner with outside organizations to promote their products and can co-brand promotional materials. Medicare cards, however, cannot bear the outside organizations’ logos. Drug plans that form co-branding relationships for 2007 must include the phrase "other pharmacies/physicians/providers are available in our network," the proposed guidelines say.

MEDICARE HMOs GOOD FOR THE HEALTHY, BAD FOR
THE SICK
A new report by the Commonwealth Fund, a non-profit public policy foundation, finds that in 2005, annual out-of-pocket costs for Medicare Advantage (HMOs) plan members ranged from under $100 for beneficiaries in good health to more than $6,000 for those in poor health. Costs for beneficiaries in poor health would actually have been higher than fee-for-service in 19 of the 88 MA plans examined despite the high payments, relative to fee-for-service costs, that MA plans receive from Medicare. The paper says that such plans may not always be a good deal for sicker beneficiaries who use more health services. Brian Biles, a professor of health policy at George Washington University, recently presented data showing that the sickest 5 percent of Medicare beneficiaries pay 43 percent of total costs, while the healthiest 50 percent pay 4 percent of total costs. Medicare overpays for healthy beneficiaries by $180 annually and underpays for the sickest beneficiaries by $4,200, according to Biles. He recommended loosening the one year lock-in requirement for plan members so they could choose plans best suited to their current condition.

CMS FAILS TO PENALIZE NURSING HOMES FOR
SAFETY VIOLATIONS
CMS often does not penalize nursing homes that place the safety of patients at risk or that have long-term problems, according to a report released May 17 by the HHS Office of Inspector General. According to the report, CMS should have canceled the contracts of 55 nursing homes between 2000 and 2002 but failed to terminate contracts in 30 of those cases. In some cases, states did not refer problems with the nursing homes to CMS before the required termination date, the report finds. In other cases, CMS gave violators a free pass. CMS regional staff reported that they did not want to displace patients when they believed the facilities would return to compliance with federal rules, according to the report. The study also finds that in 28 percent of 706 cases between 2000 and 2002, CMS failed to deny Medicare reimbursements for new patients when nursing homes took more than three months to return to substantial compliance with federal rules. CMS administrator Mark McClellan said his agency had significantly improved performance since the period in question and that his major concern was avoiding forced relocation of thousands of nursing home residents. Senate Finance Committee chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) responded, "I'm sympathetic to the argument that termination would displace residents. But residents in immediate jeopardy at a nursing home need to be somewhere safer. They're the most vulnerable to abuse and neglect. Termination has to be real and enforced, or troubled nursing homes may have no other incentive to clean up their act.”

JUSTICE DEPT.: ABBOTT LABS' FRAUD COST GOVERNMENT MILLIONS
The Justice Department is accusing Abbott Laboratories of vast price inflation as part of a fraudulent billing scheme that cost Medicare and Medicaid more than $175 million from 1991 to 2001. Abbott jacked up the price of the intravenous antibiotic vancomycin to as much as 18 times what it charged healthcare providers, knowing that the Medicare and Medicaid programs would reimburse the providers based on the manufacturer's price, according to a whistleblower lawsuit unsealed May 25. Abbott, based in Chicago, participated in the scheme because hospitals, pharmacies and other providers could pocket the difference and would be more likely to prescribe the company's products in the future, the Justice Department stated. Other Abbott solutions used in administering IV drugs and to replace fluids in the body also were alleged to be part of the arrangement.

MIDDLE-AGED BRITONS HEALTHIER THAN
AMERICAN COUNTERPARTS
U.S. residents over age 55 are much sicker than people in Britain in the same age group -- with higher rates of diabetes, heart attack, stroke, lung disease and cancer--according to a study published in May in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers from University College-London studied U.S. and British health surveys to compare the health of people ages 55 to 64, as well as their social and economic status. The researchers found that diabetes was about twice as prevalent in the U.S. as it was in Britain, and hypertension was 10 percent more common in the U.S. In addition, they found that obesity rates were much higher in the U.S. than in Britain, although the British were more likely to be heavy drinkers. The researchers found that about 20 percent of people ages 55 to 64 in both countries smoked. According to the researchers, both countries' wealthier and better-educated populations were much more likely to be healthy than their poorer and less-educated populations. Differences in socioeconomic groups between the two countries were so great that those in the top education and income level in the U.S. had similar rates of diabetes and heart disease as those in the bottom education and income level in England. Researchers added that when minorities were removed from the study and adjustments were made for education and income, whites in Britain were healthier than U.S. whites. The U.S. spends about $5,200 per person annually on health care, while Britain spends about half that much.

TEXAS BECOMES 25TH CHARTERED STATE ALLIANCE
The Texas Alliance for Retired Americans became the grassroots labor and community organization’s 25th state chapter. Becky Moeller, secretary-treasurer of the Texas AFL-CIO, greeted 60 attendees at the founding convention on May 20. Elected officers include Victor Pauly, president; AFT Corpus Christi retiree Elaine Jones, secretary-treasurer; four union vice presidents; and one community-based vice president, each of whom was chosen at the caucuses. Houston Federation of Teachers retiree leader Annie Banks is also a TARA board member.

LONG FIGHT ENDS IN BIG NEW MEXICO
ORGANIZING VICTORY
A long-delayed effort by the AFT to organize teachers and PSRPs in Gadsden, N.M., finally came to a successful conclusion on May 3, when the AFT local there was certified as the bargaining agent for a unit of almost 2,000 school employees. The 2003 law that restored collective bargaining to public employees in New Mexico includes a provision for card-check recognition, and the AFT local in Gadsden had filed for recognition by the state labor board with a majority showing of interest through cards. The school district, however, appealed—and established its own labor board to claim jurisdiction. The district also pushed for an election. Even after the state labor board finally conducted a card count in January and declared the AFT the bargaining agent, the district appealed yet again. The AFT local, along with the state federation, mounted a community campaign both to elicit support for employees' right to a voice in the workplace and to expose the high costs the district was incurring through its protracted legal battles. Ultimately, four of the five school board members were recalled, which opened the opportunity for a new board to recognize the union.

WORKERS’ FREEDOM ACT PICKS UP SUPPORT
The effort to pass legislation to strengthen workers’ freedom to choose union representation continues to build. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) agreed recently to co-sponsor the Employee Free Choice Act, bringing the number of co-sponsors to 43 in the Senate and 216 in the U.S. House. The act would require employers to recognize unions after a majority of employees sign authorization cards. It also would provide for mediation and arbitration of first-contract disputes and authorize stronger penalties for violation of labor law when workers seek to form unions. The bill follows the model established by employers such as Cingular Wireless, which have agreed to be neutral and respect their employees’ choice. As a result, a year after its merger with AT&T, some 17,000 former AT&T employees have joined the Communications Workers of America. Union membership increased in New Jersey last year, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Observers said the increase in union membership could be due to several factors, including increased efforts to organize service workers and a state law signed in 2005 allowing workers to obtain union representation by signing an authorization card. Even though some 57 million workers say they would join a union, according to research by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, employers routinely mount virulent anti-union campaigns and use the federal union elections process to coerce workers to vote against the union. Last year, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Center for Urban Economic Development reported that when faced with organizing drives, 30 percent of employers fire pro-union workers, 49 percent threaten to close a worksite if the union prevails and 51 percent coerce workers into opposing unions with bribery or favoritism. Despite support from 259 members of Congress, Republican leaders aren’t likely to allow a vote on the Employee Free Choice Act even if it does gain majority support.

DENTAL DISCOUNTS FOR MEMBERS AND
THEIR FAMILIES
The AFT PLUS Family Dental Plan gives members and their families comprehensive dental care at substantial discounts through a growing network of participating dentists. Savings include 20 percent to 60 percent on most dental procedures; 20 percent on orthodontics and 20 percent reductions on most dental specialty care. The program fee is only $99 a year for AFT members, their spouses or partners and family members. It offers a 45-day risk-free trial. More than 30,000 providers nationwide are available for members to choose from. Call 888/949-8184 or visit www.aftdental.com to start saving on your dental care.

QUOTE OF NOTE: HOUSE HEARINGS ON PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
"I am. . . disappointed that the majority refused to allow the committee to hear from any witness who would give a beneficiary perspective on pharmacy issues. We will hear various perspectives from the business community and the administration, but not a word from the people these programs are designed to help and whom the pharmacists serve."

U.S. Rep. John Dingell,
Ranking Member, Committee on Energy and Commerce
May 23, 2006

WEB SITE OF THE WEEK: www.arthritis.org
The Arthritis Foundation offers information from A to Z on this common ailment, including Tai Chi for people with arthritis, diet, exercise and the latest drugs.