October 20, 2009

• The AFT on Healthcare Reform
• AFT Members Push Hard for Lasting Health Reform
• Retiree Leaders Lobby and Learn at AFT Conference/Lobby Day
• Medicare Premium To Rise 15 Percent in 2010 for Some
• White House Calls for Another $250 Payment to Seniors Next Year
• Healthcare Update
• Health Costs To Increase by 7 Percent in 2010
• TV Ads Drive Rx Drug Spending
• Trumka Outlines Ambitious Agenda for Labor Movement
• Save on Dental Care with AFT +
• Quote of Note
• Web Site of the Week 

THE AFT ON HEALTHCARE REFORM

•  Affordable, accessible, high-quality care for Americans
• No taxation of health benefits
• Public insurance plan option
• All employers pay their fair share
• Stronger Medicare
• Adequate staffing to provide high-quality care

AFT MEMBERS PUSH HARD FOR LASTING HEALTH REFORM
With more than 30,000 contacts with members of Congress by phone, mail and e-mail and five lobby days since June, the AFT is playing a major role in the historic drive for healthcare reform. As House and Senate leaders seek to merge committee bills in both chambers, the action will only heat up. Now more than ever, we need your continued help in getting our members of Congress to pay attention and do the right thing. The AFL-CIO is also continuing its major mobilization. Newly elected AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka has put lawmakers on notice that the labor movement will challenge those who fail to support a robust public option in a healthcare overhaul bill. On Oct. 7-8, more than 100 leaders of AFL-CIO unions from 27 states, including about a dozen from the AFT, delivered some 42,000 handwritten letters stressing labor’s reform message. The federation’s Oct. 7 national call-in day produced 20,000 calls from members to their senators, including 750 from AFT activists. On Oct. 14, 27 AFL-CIO unions, including the AFT, repeated the unions’ message, calling for a much stronger bill than that passed by the Senate Finance Committee. New Mexico Alliance for Retired Americans members targeted health industry giant Humana in demonstrations at corporate offices in Albuquerque and West Palm Beach, Fla. Humana was recently sanctioned by a federal agency for mailing seniors false information about health insurance reform.

RETIREE LEADERS LOBBY AND LEARN AT AFT CONFERENCE/LOBBY DAY
Some 120 AFT retirees from 23 states attended the AFT Retiree Leadership Conference, Sept. 30-Oct. 2, in Washington, D.C., to network, lobby and learn. The major focus of the conference was lobbying for AFT’s principles for healthcare reform, with special emphasis on strengthening Medicare. Conference participants made some 90 lobbying visits to more than 35 senators and 55 representatives. In the last two years, more than 25,000 members have joined the ranks of AFT retirees, bringing the total number to more than 255,000. Conference speakers, including AFT president Randi Weingarten, emphasized retirees’ key role in mobilizing and organizing members and returning AFT to its roots as an organizing union, to strengthen both the union and the overall labor movement to face today's massive challenges. During the conference, retiree members honored NYSUT Retiree Council 17 (Nassau County) co-president Sheila Goldberg as the 2009 Retiree of the Year. The three-day conference also featured workshops focusing on recruiting new retirees (and those who are near retirement), leadership skills, communication and advocating for members. "The stakes are high. You are here on some very crucial days for healthcare reform," AFT president Randi Weingarten told the retirees just before they left for Congress. "It's important for you to go to the Hill and let them know your reality."

WHITE HOUSE CALLS FOR ANOTHER $250 PAYMENT TO SENIORS NEXT YEAR
Last week, President Obama announced his support for an additional $250 Economic Recovery Payment to seniors, veterans and people with disabilities. These groups are struggling to make ends meet in the midst of the deepest recession since the 1930s, with seniors particularly vulnerable since the value of homes and retirement savings have not fully recovered from their losses over the first year of the recession. The absence of a 2010 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment and rising healthcare costs make the move especially welcome news to more than 40 million older Americans. Recently, seniors have seen about one-third of their Social Security checks go to ever increasing healthcare costs. In the last five years, healthcare costs have risen at about three times the rate of overall inflation. Public employee retirees whose employers do not contribute to Social Security will receive a $250 credit on their 2010 income taxes, just as they did for the 2009 tax year. Funding for the $250 payment/credit would come from general revenues, not the Social Security Trust Fund. For the average Social Security recipient, this would be the equivalent of a 1.8 percent increase for 2010. The proposal requires congressional action. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have both expressed support for the measure. Retiree e-news will keep you posted on developments.

MEDICARE PREMIUM TO RISE TO 15 PERCENT IN 2010 FOR SOME
The basic Medicare premium will shoot up next year by 15 percent, to $110.50 a month, for about 12 million people, or 27 percent of Medicare recipients, federal officials said October 19. Among those who face higher premiums next year are new Medicare recipients, individuals with adjusted gross incomes of more than $85,000, individual, or $170,000, joint, and those whose Medicare premiums are paid by Medicaid. The increase means that monthly premiums would top $100 for the first time, a stark indication of the rise in medical costs that is driving the debate in Congress about a broad overhaul of the healthcare system. The other 73 percent of recipients will be shielded from the increase because, under federal law, their Medicare premiums cannot go up more than the increase in their Social Security benefits, and Social Security officials announced last week that there would be no increase in benefits in 2010 because inflation had been extremely low. Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, urged the Senate to approve a bill, already passed by the House, to block the scheduled Part B increase. She cited the additional significant burden on individuals and state and federal governments, which pay Medicaid costs.

HEALTHCARE UPDATE
Democrats, White House Work To Meld Two Senate Reform Bills: Senate Democrats have begun the process of melding healthcare overhaul plans produced by the Finance Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The White House team includes chief of staff Rahm Emanuel; budget director Peter R. Orszag; health and human services secretary Kathleen Sebelius; and healthcare policy coordinator Nancy-Ann DeParle. The group hopes to retain the support of Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), the only Republican to support any healthcare bill so far, and add additional supporters from the other side of the aisle. The Wall Street Journal reports that Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine has signaled a willingness to work with Democrats on reform. Republican Party leaders, however, continue their strong opposition to all current health reform bills.

Where Medicare Savings Come From: Seniors have expressed concern about Medicare changes, especially the $500 billion in proposed savings. Part of that $500 billion will come from more aggressively attacking waste and fraud (approximately 25 percent of all treatments don’t work), while other savings will come from giving providers such as hospitals and home healthcare agencies less of an increase each year. The nation's hospitals agreed this summer to contribute $155 billion over 10 years toward the cost of insuring the uninsured, about $100 billion of which will come from lower-than-expected Medicare and Medicaid payments. Major drug companies have also agreed to $80 billion in cuts over 10 years for Medicare recipients in the doughnut hole—and unions, such as the AFT, are pushing for much more. With more patients insured, hospitals are banking on less uncompensated care. In addition, estimates range from $110 billion to $190 billion in savings from a phase out of the 14 percent overpayment to Medicare Advantage plans, which is currently supported by $3 per Medicare recipient, whether or not they participate in MA.

Reid Wants Public Option: Although the Senate Finance Committee failed to include it in its bill, Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters Oct. 14 that he would stress the need for legislation that makes healthcare coverage affordable, strengthens Medicare and includes a public option. House speaker Nancy Pelosi has already promised a public option in that chamber’s final bill.

Insurance Industry Cooks the Books: Obama administration officials and congressional Democrats fired back Oct. 12 at a misleading insurance industry report that said premiums would climb sharply with the passage of comprehensive health legislation. The report, by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, was attacked on several fronts. Critics said that the industry had ignored features of the bill that would lower costs for consumers, such as subsidies for people who could not afford insurance. PriceWaterhouseCoopers acknowledged that numbers in the report could be misconstrued. "America's Health Insurance Plans engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers to prepare a report that focused on four components of the Senate Finance Committee proposal," the company said in a statement. “As the report itself acknowledges, other provisions that are part of health reform proposals were not included in the PwC analysis.”

HEALTH COSTS TO INCREASE BY 7 PERCENT IN 2010
Health benefit costs for U.S. workers are likely to increase by 7 percent in 2010 over 2009, according to survey results released Oct. 8 by consulting firm Towers Perrin. In its annual survey of healthcare costs among 300 large employers with multiple U.S. locations, Towers Perrin said an average of $10,212 per employee would be spent on health benefits next year, with about 78 percent of that amount, or $7,920, paid for by the employer, and the rest—$2,292, or 22 percent—covered by employees. Employee contributions to healthcare premiums will rise by about 10 percent in 2010, the report said, compared with the 8 percent increase seen in 2009. The affordability gap for employees continues to grow as wages lag significantly behind healthcare cost increases. The survey pointed to health reform legislation passed by the Senate Finance Committee, including a proposed 40 percent excise tax on health programs with combined coverages valued at more than $8,000 per year for individuals or $21,000 per year for families. If current cost trends continue, Towers Perrin said, more than 50 percent of companies would hit these caps within the next three years. Private employers are moving toward segmenting their employee populations and using a broad range of personalized approaches to influence employee behavior and decision making, the report said. For example, by 2012, 71 percent of high-performing respondents planned to have health advocates manage employees' chronic conditions or serious illnesses, and 64 percent said they planned to offer lifestyle coaching.

TV ADS DRIVE Rx DRUG SPENDING
The average American gets 12 prescriptions a year, and this number grows larger by the year. Prescription drugs are the third most expensive part of U.S. healthcare spending. Estimates from the Nielsen Company, which tracks TV viewing, indicate that an average of 80 ads for brand-name drugs appear every hour of every day on American television. Those ads clearly produce results: “Something like a third of consumers who've seen a drug ad have talked to their doctor about it,” said Julie Donohue, a professor of public health at the University of Pittsburgh who is considered a leading expert on this subject. “About two-thirds of those have asked for a prescription. And the majority of people who ask for a prescription have that request honored.”

TRUMKA OUTLINES AMBITIOUS AGENDA FOR LABOR MOVEMENT
In his first remarks to AFT leaders since his September election, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka outlined ambitious plans for the labor movement at the Oct. 14 executive council meeting. Despite the country's continuing financial problems—and partly because of them—Trumka said union members have a tremendous opportunity to promote a progressive agenda that helps create an economy that works for everyone. Right now, the No. 1 issue on that agenda is healthcare reform. The same day Trumka spoke to the AFT executive council, the AFL-CIO placed full-page ads in the Washington Post, USA Today and Politico pointing out that the reform legislation the Senate Finance Committee passed a day earlier is "deeply flawed." As various versions of healthcare reform move forward in the House and Senate, the AFL-CIO and its affiliates will continue to push for their key priorities, including a public option to compete with the big insurance companies, reform that eases the cost burden on individuals and families, a requirement that employers pay their fair share, and no tax on health benefits. Another key to turning around the economy is to put more money in the pockets of workers, Trumka said, and expanding collective bargaining to more workers is the best way to do that. Specifically, that means passing the Employee Free Choice Act. A compromise bill is expected to be introduced in the Senate soon after healthcare legislation is wrapped up. While the legislation probably won't include everything the labor movement would like—majority sign-up through authorization cards is likely to be absent—it should provide for a faster election process, stiff penalties for employers who intimidate or fire workers, and arbitration in the event that a first contract can't be reached.

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QUOTE OF NOTE

“[The U.S. Senate Finance Committee bill] was developed with good intentions, but it has serious defects that could jeopardize insurance affordability for both the insured and the uninsured... The mark of true healthcare reform is that it is affordable, accessible and encourages—not discourages—good and continued coverage for the already insured. These goals cannot be achieved without a public option, nor can they be achieved by increasing the tax burden on middle-class workers with employer-provided coverage.”

Randi Weingarten
AFT President
Oct. 14, 2009

WEB SITE OF THE WEEK:
http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/state/olderamericans.html

Fall and winter can be exciting and less crowded times to travel abroad. Whether you’re headed for an off-the-beaten track adventure or planning a tour from your armchair, this site offers practical information on everything from health coverage to what to pack.

Contributors and sources: Bill Cunningham, Lauren Luchi, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Dallas Morning News, National Public Radio, Marketplace, The Hill, Inside AFT, BNA Healthcare Daily Report, Alliance for Retired Americans Friday Alert, Kaiser Health Policy Report. Frank Stella, editor; Mary Boyd, copy editor; Janelle Bowe, design