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October 19, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
(Alliance for Retired Americans)SCHIP Veto
Override Attempt Falls Short
By a
vote of 273-156, an attempt to override President
Bush’s veto of expanded funding for
the State Children’s Health Insurance Program
(SCHIP) failed on Thursday. The tally
left Democrats 13 votes short of the two-thirds
majority of 286 needed to override the third
veto of the Bush presidency. Two-thirds
of the U.S. Senate would also have had to vote
for the funding in order to overturn the veto,
but 67 Senators had already voted for the bill,
H.R. 976, on September 27. A CBS News
poll released on Wednesday showed that 81% of
Americans favor expanding SCHIP, which provides
health insurance for children in families who
do not qualify for the low-income Medicaid
program, yet cannot afford private
coverage. Fully funding and expanding the
program would have added $35 billion to the
plan over five years, insuring an additional
four million children. Hundreds of
thousands of children will now lose their
health coverage - including basic check-ups and
immunizations - when the program expires on
November 15th, unless Congress acts to extend
the program for a few months. Given the
rising cost of health care, current funding is
not enough to sustain all of the children
already enrolled in SCHIP. “Thank you to
Alliance members, who contacted their elected
officials in droves, for your dedication and
activism on this issue,” said George J.
Kourpias, President of the
Alliance. “We did not fall short for
lack of effort.” In a press release,
the Alliance voiced disappointment that
partisan politics had trumped children’s
health care. “This temporary setback
will do nothing to deter our commitment to
health care for all, as we are heartened by the
strong inter-generational solidarity we’ve
seen around this issue,” Mr. Kourpias
stated. To see how your Member of
Congress voted, go to
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll982.xml.
Social Security
Benefits to Rise a Little in
January
This week, the Social
Security Administration announced that more
than 54 million Americans will see a benefit
increase of 2.3% beginning in January.
The cost of living adjustment means an extra
$24 per month for the average retired worker,
with monthly checks rising from the current
$1,055 to $1,079 in 2008. Typical retired
couples who both receive Social Security
benefits will receive $1,761, up $39 from the
current $1,722. Yearly adjustments are related
to inflation, based on prices from July through
September, and the decrease in energy prices in
recent months has resulted in the smallest
benefits increase in four years. “While
food and medical costs have risen steeply this
year and oil prices are currently on the rise,
these changes occurred too late in the year to
affect the cost of living raise,” said Ruben Burks,
Secretary-Treasurer of the
Alliance.
Insurance Industry Sponsors
Faux-Grassroots Effort on Medicare Advantage
America’s Health Insurance Plans
(AHIP) has launched a campaign, including
television ads and rallies, attempting to
encourage seniors to tell Congress that cuts to
Medicare Advantage would have a devastating
impact on them. In response to the
effort, Alliance Executive Director Edward Coyle
declared, “It is manipulative and
inappropriate for your health care provider to
be helping you lobby. If you don't get in
on the campaign, are you more likely to have
your claims denied?” In related news,
the House Oversight and Government Reform
Committee, chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman
(D-CA), released a report on Monday saying that
taxpayers and Medicare beneficiaries could have
saved almost $15 billion in 2007 if private
health insurers had cut expenses for
prescription drug coverage and negotiated
bigger discounts. According to The New York
Times, the Medicare prescription drug
benefits offered by private insurers operate
with "high administrative costs, sales expenses
and profits," the report said.
VEBA on the Horizon
at Verizon?
According to Bloomberg
News, AT&T Inc., the biggest U.S.
phone company, and No. 2 Verizon Communications
Inc. may follow General Motors Corp. in trying
to shift retiree health-care liabilities to a
union-run fund. The largest U.S.
automaker reached an agreement with the United
Auto Workers last month to transfer $50 billion
in such obligations to a Voluntary Employee
Beneficiary Association, or VEBA.
“Telecommunications are the next big group
that will be looking at VEBAs,'' said Howard
Silverblatt, an analyst at Standard
& Poor's in New York. Verizon and
AT&T both have a union that may set a
precedent for so-called VEBAs in separate talks
with GM that started last week. The
Communications Workers of America's industrial
unit is considering a union-run fund for a GM
plant it represents in Ohio. New
accounting rules this year force companies to
add retiree health-care costs as a liability on
their balance sheets.
Health Care Costs
Affected by Corporate Conflicts of
Interest
A recent report by the
AFL-CIO Office of Investment reveals directors
at major corporations often have serious
conflicts of interest, influencing the cost of
health care. While companies would be
expected to cut benefit costs through policies
such as including generic drugs as part of
prescription coverage, executives at big health
insurance and pharmaceutical companies who are
also board members at some of the country’s
largest non-health care related companies may
affect plans. Many have much greater
financial stakes in the health firms,
suggesting outside motives that may influence
benefits policies of these other
businesses. The report shows that 21
Fortune 500 companies with substantial health
costs for retirees, employees and dependents
have significant conflicts of interest, with
leaders also executives or directors at a major
health or pharmaceutical company. In one
case, the prescription drug Nexium was actively
protected and maintained as part of a health
plan by General Motors, while other
corporations substituted less expensive
generics. Percy Barnevik, retired CEO of
AstraZeneca, was a board member and chair of
GM’s Policy Committee at the
time.
Nevada Alliance Holds Its
Convention
Edward Coyle, along with Alliance
Executive Vice President Judy Cato and
Director of Government and Political Affairs
Richard
Fiesta, traveled to Las Vegas this week
to address the Nevada Alliance’s state
convention on Tuesday and Wednesday. The
following officers were elected to leadership
positions at the convention: Scott Watts,
President (re-elected); Amy Crane,
Recording Secretary; and Joetta Brown,
Treasurer.