Friday Alert
Friday, June 25, 2010(Alliance for Retired Americans)
Congress Delivers President Obama a
‘Doc Fix’ Bill
After realizing that
combining the 'Doc Fix' provision with a jobs
creation package was not politically feasible,
House Democrats promptly passed a six-month
solution to the ongoing cuts in Medicare
reimbursement rates to physicians. The
temporary fix passed the House late Thursday
night by a vote of 415-1. The Center for
Medicare and Medicaid Services had already
started to process Medicare claims at the
21%-lower rate, causing severe financial damage
to medical practices nationally. All
prior claims will be resubmitted and paid at
the new reimbursement rates. Additionally, the
bill allows for a 2.2% raise for physician
reimbursement rates. Despite this
small-scale victory, there were no celebrations
on Capitol Hill, as the same problem is on the
verge of occurring yet again. In
December, Medicare physicians are scheduled to
face a 23% cut in reimbursement rates,
increasing up to 30% by January. Policy
experts, Medicare beneficiaries, and doctors
alike are grateful for the fix, but believe
that a permanent solution must be
implemented. "The Alliance is pleased
that Congress has put politics aside in order
to protect the quality of care that seniors
receive," said Edward F.
Coyle, Executive Director of the
Alliance. "We hope that during the next
six-months, Congress will be able pass a
permanent solution to this recurring problem,
and we still hope for a jobs and economic
relief package."
America Speaks: National Meeting to
Take Place on Saturday
On June 26,
America Speaks, an organization its creators
describe as seeking to increase citizen
involvement in public policy, will be holding a
town hall meeting on the budget deficit in
twenty different cities around the
country. The participants will be
connected via interactive technology.
After the meeting, America Speaks and its
partners will put together a series of
recommendations; they will then present those
findings to Congress and the President's Fiscal
Commission, most immediately when the
Commission meets on June 30. The stated
goal of the forum is to grant the public the
ability to voice their opinions on how best to
deal with the country's financial
troubles. However, many senior advocates
fear that some will try to manipulate the
discussion in order to blame Social Security
unfairly for the national debt. "Social
Security has not added a single cent to our
debt. It is funded directly by payroll
contributions from workers and employers," said
Ruben Burks,
Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance.
Obama Warns Insurers About Rate
Hikes
An AFL-CIO blog post on
Tuesday repeated a warning from President
Obama that "health insurance
companies should not use the new heath care
reform law as an 'opportunity to enact
unjustifiable rate increases.'" The President
made his remarks at a White House ceremony
marking the 90-day anniversary of signing the
landmark bill, which he termed "a true
patient's bill of rights." The warning
came a day after a report by the Kaiser Family
Foundation (KFF) showed that health insurers
are raising prices by an average of 20% for
working-age adults who are not covered on the
job and who buy their own policies. At
the ceremony, Obama referred to Anthem Blue
Cross of California attempting to raise its
rates by 39%, before caving in to
pressure. Now, says Obama, "The CEOs here
today need to know that they’re going to be
required to publicly justify unreasonable
premium increases on your websites, as well as
the law's new website - healthcare.gov. As
we set up the exchanges, we'll be watching
closely, and we'll fully support states if they
exercise their review authority to keep
excessively expensive plans out of their
insurance exchanges." Under the law's new
rules issued Tuesday, Obama said the insurance
companies' "worst abuses will be banned
forever." For the full post, go to http://bit.ly/dxHBON.
States are Cutting Pension Costs in
a Variety of Ways, Hurting Retirees
A New York Times story on budget
cuts and pensions last Sunday stated that
Illinois has raised its retirement age to 67,
the highest of any state. Arizona, New
York, Missouri and Mississippi will be making
people work more years to earn pensions; and
Virginia is requiring employees to pay into the
state pension fund for the first time.
Nearly all of the cuts so far apply only to
workers not yet hired. An exception is
Colorado, which has imposed cuts on its current
workers, not just future hires, and even on
people who have already retired. The
retirees have sued to block the
reduction. Illinois is putting less money
into its pension fund now, starting with $300
million this year - raising the risk of a
collapse long before the real savings start to
materialize. Some other states are
raising employee contributions. New
Jersey officials are quietly looking into
whether it, too, could reduce the benefits that
current employees can expect to accumulate in
the future. To read the story, go to http://nyti.ms/d3d0bX.
Alliance Educational Fund Awards
Seidman Prize
The Alliance
Educational Fund awarded its fifth annual
Bert and Annabel
Seidman Prize for Advancing Social
Policy to National Labor College (NLC) student
Robert Auchard, a member of
the Sheet Metal Workers International
Association from San Jose, California.
Mr. Auchard was awarded the prize for his
senior project entitled, Passing the Torch:
Can Building Trades Retirees Help to Attract
New Members Through Volunteerism?
The prize, and its accompanying $3,000
honorarium, encourages NLC students to research
and analyze social policies that affect the
older population. The winning entry
conducted an in-depth analysis on how
intergenerational community service projects
can help bolster union membership.
Alliance President Barbara J.
Easterling said of Mr. Auchard's
paper, "Bert and Annabel Seidman were wonderful
people who were deeply committed to improving
and growing the Organized Labor
community. I can think of no better way
to honor their memory than Mr. Auchard's work
on intergenerational volunteerism, which will
undoubtedly help ensure a bright future for the
labor movement."
State Alliance Chapters Compare
Notes
State Alliances are working
closely on issues of common concern.
Earlier this month, Alliance representatives
from Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont
and Rhode Island met in Hooksett, New
Hampshire. Topics included chapter
history, growing and retaining membership, and
involving community based members. Also,
Alliance board member Sam
Burnett last week held a steering
committee meeting to plan a Midwest Regional
Meeting for this fall.