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Friday Alert
Friday, October 16, 2009(Alliance for Retired Americans)
As Insurance Industry Continues Its
Campaign of Lies...
Obama
administration officials and Congressional
Democrats fired back on Monday 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. White House officials
said the industry had ignored features of the
bill that would lower costs for consumers, like
subsidies for people who could not afford
insurance. Nancy-Ann
DeParle, director of the White House
Office of Health Reform, said she was surprised
by the report because she met last week with
Karen Ignagni, president of
America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), which
commissioned the report, and they vowed to work
together. 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." For example, Finance
Committee aides said, the study assumes that a
proposed 40% fee on insurers that offer
high-cost insurance, and more than $100 billion
in taxes on the health care industry, will be
passed directly onto consumers without forcing
any kind of behavioral changes by individuals
or companies. In essence, the study
looked at the worst-case scenario and failed to
consider mitigating forces such as tax credits
to purchase insurance, Democrats said.
"The misleading and harmful claims made by the
profit-driven insurance companies are
politicking for corporate gain at its worst,"
Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WV)
said in a statement. "Their recent statements
only further highlight that our focus here in
Congress must be on the inclusion of a public
health insurance option in the marketplace to
protect families and put more money back in
their wallets by creating greater competition
and driving down costs."
...Alliance Members and Their Allies
Strike Back
"The AHIP report is yet
another example of the insurance industry's
scare tactics campaign against seniors," said
Barbara J. Easterling,
President of the Alliance. "The insurance
industry wants to preserve its large profit
margins, so savvy seniors need to do their
homework, separate fact from fiction, and
educate their neighbors." New Mexico
Alliance for Retired Americans members and
their allies fought back on Wednesday in
Albuquerque by protesting in front of Humana,
calling on Humana and the insurance industry to
stop their audacious attempts at scaring
seniors about health insurance reform.
Humana was recently sanctioned by a federal
agency for mailing seniors false information
about health insurance reform, and the protest
came on the day that AHIP launched a
multimillion-dollar ad campaign targeting
seniors. In West Palm Beach on Thursday,
Alliance members joined "Floridians for Health
Care," the national "Mobilization for Health
Care for All" and "Health Care - NOW!" in
staging a sit-in demonstration at the Humana
Corporate Offices. They demanded that
Humana stop its abuse and immediately approve
all doctor-requested care for patients with
life threatening conditions.
Alliance Lauds Obama Support for
$250 Payment to Seniors
On
Wednesday, White House officials announced
support for a one-time $250 payment to Social
Security recipients and other retirees in
2010. This is in lieu of a cost of living
allowance (COLA) that would have been $0.
The payment would be modeled on the stimulus
payment earlier this year: it is a one time
payment, and the money would come from general
revenues, not the Social Security Trust Fund,
so there would not be any solvency
issues. There is no timeline yet, but the
payment is expected to be made early in the
year. “Retirees are grateful for
President Obama's call for an extension of the
$250 payment to help those who are struggling
in this current recession," said Edward
Coyle, Executive Director of the
Alliance. "This generous act of
compassion will help 49 million Social Security
recipients, many of whom have seen their
retirement savings and home values badly shaken
by this economic crisis." For the average
Social Security recipient, this would be the
equivalent of a 1.8% increase for 2010.
Bipartisanship in the Senate Finance
Committee as They Vote on Health
Reform
On Tuesday, Republican
Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine
cast her vote with Democrats on the Finance
Committee, as the Committee voted on
legislation to reform heath insurance.
The Committee approved the bill by a vote of
14-9. Next up: negotiations will begin
with Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid (D-NV) and White House staff to
merge the bill with the Senate Health,
Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP)
Committee bill. The merged bill will
likely go to a vote at the end of this
month. "The Alliance congratulates Sen.
Snowe on her show of bipartisanship. We
will work to persuade Sen. Snowe and all other
Senators who are truly interested in health
insurance reform to incorporate many of the
provisions of the HELP Committee bill into the
final Senate bill," said Ruben
Burks, Secretary-Treasurer of the
Alliance. "The public option that is included
in the HELP bill but not the Finance Committee
bill is vital."
Future Alliance Events: Conference
Call, Las Vegas Convention
You are
invited to join Alliance members across the
country for a national conference call and
health care reform legislative update on
Wednesday, October 28 at 2:00 pm EDT. To
participate in the call, please RSVP by email
to araorganizing@retiredamericans.org
or call 1-888-633-4435 to be sent the call-in
details. RSVP's must be made by Friday,
October 23rd at 5:00 pm EDT. Please join us to
discuss the critical components that must be
included in any successful health care reform
legislation. The call will identify key
legislators to contact; discuss advocacy
strategies for November and December; and
include questions and comments from the
field.
Also, mark your calendars for April 5-8, 2010 for the Alliance's National Convention in Las Vegas, where we will kick off our grassroots efforts for the important 2010 elections. We will have workshops and training sessions to strengthen our organizing and advocacy skills, and hear from leading experts in public policy, health care and aging, and the media. Convention attendees will be electing officers for the Alliance. Watch for more details in an upcoming Friday Alert.