• Deadline To Address Medicare Doctor Payments Draws Near
• AFT Council Hears about Positive Democratic Prospects for the Fall
• FDA Will Monitor Records of Medicare Beneficiaries To Identify Potential Prescription Drug, Medical Device Safety Problems
• Saving for Retirement:  The Gender Gap Is Closing
• South Florida Accounts for 20 percent of Medicare Fraud Cases
• Sen. McCain Opposes Full Tuition GI Bill
• Save on Dental Care with AFT +
• Quote of Note: The Long Primary Season
• Web Site of the Week

DEADLINE TO ADDRESS MEDICARE DOCTOR PAYMENTS DRAWS NEAR

With the temporary extension of current rates due to end June 30, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee met in late May to discuss upcoming Medicare legislation, including tighter rules for Medicare Advantage plans. Committee Chair, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), later said that the committee had found some areas of agreement surrounding physician payments and "stopping unscrupulous marketing of plans to Medicare beneficiaries." However, he also said that the committee was unlikely to reach an agreement soon that would improve preventive care, increase access to the prescription drug benefit and settle other areas of controversy. He added that he expected legislation increasing doctor payments to move directly to the Senate floor in early June. Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Herbert Kohl (D-Wis.) are pushing to have a nursing home bill, which they have introduced, included in the package of changes. Their bill would upgrade nursing home care and increase the penalties for violations of federal standards, including higher fines for violations resulting in a patient's death. Under the bill, nursing homes would increase transparency by providing consumers and the government with more information about their owners and any individual or company that has a role in managing their operations. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials have been frustrated in identifying the owners of some nursing homes that are providing substandard care.

The AFT and the Alliance for Retired Americans continue to push for a reduction in subsidies to private Medicare Advantage plans to offset the cost of providing the  increase in doctor’s payments. Many doctors have threatened to stop taking new Medicare patients if the scheduled 10.5 percent reduction in doctors’ fees goes into effect. President Bush has threatened to veto any legislation that protects Medicare payments to doctors at the expense of the added subsidies for private insurers. Stay tuned.

AFT COUNCIL HEARS ABOUT POSITIVE DEMOCRATIC PROSPECTS FOR THE FALL 

"It's good to be a Democrat today," Liz Smith, director of the AFT's political department, told members of the AFT executive council at their May 22 meeting in Washington, D.C. The reason, Smith explained, is that all the conditions are in place for the Democrats to pick up substantial numbers of seats in the U.S. House and Senate, even in some districts and states where Republicans have dominated for years. Smith's optimistic prognosis was part of a broader political report that included updates on the presidential campaign and recent legislative activity in Congress. John Ost, the AFT's director of political and legislative mobilization, said that the long Democratic primary has pushed the AFT to run campaigns in states that almost no one expected would be in play a year ago. "It's been a great dry run for the fall," he said, noting that the AFT expects to mount active campaigns in 34 states leading up to the November elections. The effort during the Democratic primary has helped the AFT engage huge numbers of members and volunteers in every division of the union.

FDA WILL MONITOR RECORDS OF MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES TO IDENTIFY POTENTIAL PRESCRIPTION DRUG, MEDICAL DEVICE SAFETY PROBLEMS

On May 22, the U.S. Department of Health and Humans Services (HHS) announced the creation of a new program that will allow the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), state agencies and academic researchers to use medical record data to ensure that drugs and medical devices are safe for consumers after they have been marketed. The program, which is called the Sentinel Initiative, will begin by allowing access to data from more than 25 million Medicare drug benefit beneficiaries. HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said that the FDA also is speaking with private insurers about allowing their plans' data to be included. The FDA currently uses voluntary self-reporting to discover adverse reactions. According to the Los Angeles Times, self-reporting from healthcare providers reveals an estimated 1 percent to 10 percent of problems with drugs and medical devices. Kerry Weems, acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the initiative also could help reduce the $900 million spent annually to treat the outcomes of adverse drug events. He added that data collected by Sentinel will be used for the comparative effectiveness of similar drugs. Federal officials made repeated assurances that FDA and other agencies with access to the data would not have access to personal information of Medicare beneficiaries.

SAVING FOR RETIREMENT: THE GENDER GAP IS CLOSING

According to the 2008 Retirement Confidence Survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, women working outside the home (58 percent) are nearly as likely as employed men (64 percent) to contribute to a workplace retirement savings plan [401 (k) or 403 (b)]. Men and women are equally likely statistically to say they and/or their spouse have an individual retirement account (IRA) opened with money saved outside of an employer’s retirement plan—not money rolled over from an employer’s plan. Women are more likely than men to have no savings at all. Twenty-five percent of women do not have retirement or other savings, compared with 18 percent of men. However, when controlling for household income, women and men are equally likely to report having no savings. Seventy-two percent of those surveyed saved: 76 percent (men), 68 percent (women); 64 percent of the total were currently saving for retirement: 70 percent (men), 59 percent (women). Women currently average about 77 percent of what men earn.

SOUTH FLORIDA ACCOUNTS FOR 20 PERCENT OF MEDICARE FRAUD 

Twenty percent of all federal Medicare fraud prosecutions are filed in South Florida, U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey said at a news conference on May 28. A special federal strike force established last year has brought 120 criminal and civil cases against more than 200 defendants in South Florida who have been charged with more than $638 million in fraud. Fraud cases involve such things as billing Medicare for unnecessary medical equipment and prescriptions, billing Medicare for services never provided, and stealing information from physicians and hospitals and submitting false claims to Medicare. South Florida has long been described as one of the nation's hotbeds of Medicare fraud, along with the Los Angeles area. Mukasey said the strike force is intended to be a model for other cities.

SEN. McCAIN OPPOSED FULL-TUITION GI BILL

Some 38 percent of AFL-CIO members are veterans, so veterans’ benefits like healthcare and education are important issues for union members. The American Federation of Government Employees has launched a campaign to persuade Sen. John McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee, to change course and support fully funded public services for veterans and a new GI Bill to expand college access for returning veterans. Saying he believes the package is too generous, the Arizona senator opposes a bill that gives returning veterans an educational benefit equal to the cost of full-time attendance at a public university in their home state. The Congressional Budget Offices estimates the cost at $5.18 billion per year. Instead, McCain supported a less generous bill, which would have upped benefits by $400 a month. On May 14 the Senate rejected the McCain alternative. Twenty-five members of his party, along with most Democrats, have announced support for the more generous package. In spite of his distinguished military background, McCain has consistently voted against increases for veterans’ healthcare and education. For more information, visit www.aflcio.org/issues/politics/mccain_vets.cfm.

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QUOTE OF NOTE: THE LONG PRIMARY SEASON

"This is all about winning the election in November. The real goal is to stop another four years of a Bush-like administration. We're going to make sure we do all the things necessary to make that happen."

Edward J. McElroy, President
American Federation of Teachers
May 21, 2008

WEB SITE OF THE WEEK:
www.consumerreports.org/health/doctors-and-hospitals/hospital-home.htm

This new site from Consumers Union evaluates approximately 3,000 hospitals nationwide. View graphs that rate the intensity of care provided by the facilities from the most conservative treatment to the most aggressive treatment, including time spent in the hospital, number of physician visits and average out-of-pocket costs for nine serious medical conditions, including cancer and heart failure, treated during the last two years of life.

Contributors and sources: Bill Cunningham, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, South Florida SUn-Sentinel, Florida Times-Union, Associated Press, Employee Benefit Research Institute, CQ HealthBeat, AFL-CIO Now, Alliance for Retired Americans Friday Alert, Kaiser Health Policy Report. Frank Stella, editor; Laura Baker, copy editor; Cassandra Bouknight, design.