the hhhart line

Seniors Face Growing Credit Card Debt Crisis

According to two recent studies, seniors are facing an alarming, and growing, debt crisis. A report from AARP’s Public Policy institute and Demos, a research organization, compared the amount of credit card debt held by different age groups. The report found that Americans over the age of 50 carried an average balance of $8,278, while those under the age of 50 had a comparatively lower average balance of $6,258. A second study, from the Employee Benefit Research Institute, found that the percentage of income that Americans over 75 spend on debt payments substantially increased from 4.5 percent to 7.1 percent in just three years between 2007 and 2010. Experts pinpoint medical expenses as one of the primary causes of the increased debt. To read the New York Times write-up on that issue, go to http://tinyurl.com/chc7snk.

According to CNN, approximately 93% of payments are now being made electronically. However, about 5 million checks are still mailed each month -- representing an additional $4.6 million in monthly costs, since each mailed check costs 92 cents more than a direct deposit transfer, Treasury officials said on Tuesday. The agency said if it didn't push for the switch to electronic transfers, it would cost taxpayers another $1 billion over the next 10 years. Anyone who fails to make the change will still receive paper checks, but will be the target of more aggressive communication efforts, such as additional mailings, said Walt Henderson, a Treasury official. He warned that after March 1, Social Security beneficiaries receiving paper checks are not in compliance.

Labor unions are preparing to challenge the devastating union-busting bill signed into law this week by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. The law, which affects public and private sector workers, takes effect in early April and does not change existing contracts. In other words, if a contract does not expire until 2015, that's when the new law will take effect.

Union leaders are already working to muster public support for overturning this law, which was criticized by President Barack Obama, AFT President Randi Weingarten and many others such as AFT.

Congress is back in Washington this week and negotiations are under way right now to reduce the federal deficit.  Retirees need to act now and in a loud voice to tell Congress not to balance the budget on the backs of retirees who have earned their guaranteed benefits after a lifetime of hard work.

Please click here to send a letter to your U.S. Senators and Representative today.

Social Security has not added one penny to the deficit.  Medicare and Medicaid have also improved the lives of millions of Americans of all ages.  These vital programs have not caused the deficit the country faces.  Instead, reckless tax cuts and loopholes for the wealthiest and greedy Wall Street behavior have. It’s time for us to tell Congress hands off on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.  Make those who caused the deficit pay for it.

Click here to send a letter to your U.S. Senators and Representative today.  They need to hear from you and thousands of other retirees as soon as possible.  Together we can create one loud voice to preserve Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for our own and future generations.

NYSHIP Empire Plan Medicare Rx change Jan. 1
NYSHIP Empire Plan retirees who have Medicare as their primary insurance will automatically be enrolled in a Part D Medicare prescription plan on Jan. 1, 2013, unless they cancel coverage. The co-pays and list of covered prescriptions will be the same or better than that offered to the in-service members. There is no coverage gap ("donut hole"). The reason for this change is the Empire Plan's ability to benefit from a 50 percent discount for brand-name drugs as part of the Affordable Care Act.

There is much at stake for people with Medicare in the presidential, senatorial, and congressional elections. The Medicare Rights Center developed the following Five Medicare Questions for Candidates to help current and future Medicare beneficiaries, their friends and their families learn more about where their candidates and elected officials stand on Medicare and related issues.

1. Background: People with Medicare, half of whom earn $25,000 or less per year, already spend 15 percent of their income on health care, which is three times as much as the non-Medicare population. The share of income spent on health care is even higher for those who are sick. For example, a Medicare beneficiary with cancer spends 23 percent (median) of their total income on out of pocket health care costs; someone with Alzheimer’s disease spends 26 percent and someone with congestive heart failure spends 25 percent.

Question: What is your plan to make Medicare more affordable for older Americans and people with disabilities, half of whom earn $25,000 or less per year? In addition to affordability, what other improvements will you make to Medicare?

2. Background: Medicare is at the center of the deficit reduction debate, but growing costs in Medicare are a symptom of growing costs in the health care sector overall. Despite this, many proposals would achieve savings for the government by shifting greater costs to beneficiaries, half of whom earn $25,000 or less per year, and they do not address the root problem of growing health care costs. However, there are plans that achieve savings to Medicare without shifting costs to beneficiaries, such as negotiating or otherwise obtaining lower prices for drugs under Medicare. In addition, increasing revenues from the wealthiest Americans would avert the need for deeper cuts to Medicare in the name of deficit reduction.

Question: What is your plan to strengthen Medicare’s finances? If you had to choose between the two, would you support proposals that would increase out of pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries or proposals that would increase revenues from the wealthiest Americans?

3. Background: Over the past year, there have been many Medicare proposals that may be described using different terms, including privatization, vouchers, premium support and defined contribution, but they all would significantly change the Medicare program. 
One such proposal, authored by Congressman Paul Ryan and passed by the House of Representatives, would end the Original Medicare program as we know it today. 
Instead, it would provide Medicare beneficiaries with a capped amount of money, otherwise known as a voucher, to buy insurance offered by private companies or Original Medicare. This proposal will significantly increase out of pocket costs for beneficiaries because the “voucher”, or premium support, would be inadequate to cover health costs and would become more inadequate over time.

Question: Would you support a proposal that would privatize or partially privatize the Medicare program, or change Medicare into a voucher, premium support or defined contribution plan?

4. Background: Medicare does not cover long term care and Medicaid is the single largest source, and for many the only source, of long-term care coverage in the nation. On average, nursing homes costs $72,000 per year, assisted living facilities cost $38,000 per year, and home health services cost $21 per hour. For example, 15 hours of home health care per week would cost $16,380 per year. This is a tremendous cost burden not only for people who require long term care but for their families who support them as well. Cutting Medicaid will put long term care services and supports out of reach for many, which will put their health and lives at risk.

Question: What is your plan to make long term care available and affordable for people who need it? Do you support cuts to Medicaid and block grants that would result in cuts to long term care services and supports and potentially longer waiting lists for services? What is your plan to make long term care services available to people in the community so they can age and/or receive treatment at home instead of an institution?

5. Background: People with Medicare have heard a lot of conflicting information about the Affordable Care Act (ACA). However, there are some important improvements to Medicare included in the ACA that help people with Medicare better afford treatment. Perhaps most significantly, the ACA closes the Medicare prescription drug coverage gap, also known as the doughnut hole, and eliminates cost sharing for many preventive services. In addition, the ACA creates incentives for providers to emphasize care quality to help avoid overuse of inappropriate treatments without shifting more costs to beneficiaries.

Question: Do you support the full repeal of the Affordable Care Act, including the repeal of provisions that close the Medicare prescription drug coverage gap, offer certain preventive services free to Medicare beneficiaries and other provisions that improve care coordination and the quality of care that people with Medicare receive without increasing cost-sharing?

Union's endorsements listed online, coming in NYSUT United

The NYSUT endorsements for the November elections are onNYSUT.org and will be printed in the September issue of NYSUT United. Here's the list of incumbents and challengerswho the union has determined will advocate for working families while fighting against policies that would harm students, their public schools and colleges, and organized labor.

The endorsements come from the Board of Directors following an intensive endorsement conference.

"We are living in extraordinarily complicated political and fiscal times. That was certainly reflected in the passion and resolve expressed by activists during our discussions," said NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi in the news release announcing the endorsements. 

"Activists sorted through the 'bad votes' on Tier 6, record budget cuts and the undemocratic property tax cap, but they also weighed the important 'wins' -- balancing votes that legislators cast on the millionaires' tax; killing a proposed $250 million competitive grant program for school districts; dramatically increasing funding for SUNY, CUNY and community colleges; and protecting the privacy of teacher evaluations," Iannuzzi said. In addition, just this week, the governor signed the NYSUT-backed law to allow BOCES to accept students from other states.

Won't Back Down, a fictional account of parents seeking to transform a school in Pittsburgh, opens in theaters across the nation on Sept. 28. The movie is produced by Walden Media, which produced the notorious Waiting for Superman.

Like Superman, Won't Back Down negatively depicts teachers and their unions, and is already being used by so-called "reformers" -- Michelle Rhee included --to leverage the star-power of this much-discussed film to push for anti-union and anti-public education laws across the country. However, unlike the Superman movie, this is a big extravaganza with top Hollywood actors and millions of dollars invested to ensure box office success. Screenings of the film already have been held at conferences and fundraisers across the nation, and other major events are planned to promote the film prior to its Sept. 28 premiere.

Meanwhile, Walden Media and Walmart have partnered to put on a high-profile benefit concert around the movie. The Aug. 14 concert -- "Teachers Rock" -- hosts a number of big names from the music and film industries and will raise money for groups such as Donors Choose and Teach for America. CBS is scheduled to televise the Los Angeles show, which is expected to further promote the movie and its anti-union, anti-public education message.

Over the next few days and weeks, NYSUT -- with the assistance of the National Education Association -- will share strategies to assist locals with addressing members' concerns and the issues raised in the film. The resources are also designed to help engage parents and community members in a discussion that brings attention to real partnerships among unions, educators and parents to improve schools across the country. These resources will include:

• suggestions for an overall strategy to proactively engage key audiences (e.g. members, parents, community members) around the movie;
• suggestions for tactics to undermine anti-union attacks attached to the movie;
• suggestions for tactics to inform allies (particularly parents) on pro-private education policy, school choice and other issues raised in the movie; and
• message guidance, talking points and materials in support of these tactics.

The labor movement's monumental fight against Gov. Cuomo's Tier 6 pension proposal mitigated, but failed to prevent, a pension deal that significantly slashes benefits to new public employees. 

"It is very simple: Those who chose this path are requiring the 99 percent to pay for the sins of the 1 percent," said NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi. "We thank those who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with organized labor and the hard-working middle class. This was an opportunity for every legislator to stand with labor and not pander to the 1 percent who are funding the non-stop attacks on labor. Sadly, not all understood that responsibility." 

Here's NYSUT's statement on the deal. 

The Senate and Assembly passed legislation creating Tier 6 in a marathon session that lasted all night. NYSUT leaders and staffers kept vigil, working to mitigate damage in concert with the AFL-CIO, which coordinated labor's pension defense. 

Some of the worst features of the governor's original proposal were beaten back or softened in reaction to a furious and coordinated AFL-CIO campaign. The national AFL-CIO put out this statement condemning the legislation. Here's NYSUT's detailed analysis of the provisions of the new Tier 6 law. This setback is even more reason to redouble our efforts. Pallotta said: "We are coming in to the home stretch in our year-long campaign to turn around the devastating cuts of the last three years to schools, colleges and universities, and libraries. Our thanks go out to each and every one of you who have taken the time to advocate for the proper funding of public education." 

On the budget front, our grassroots advocacy has already shown promising results. The Assembly and Senate have proposed one-house budgets that would redirect $200 million of the governor's proposed competitive grants to formula school aid. Both houses have proposed community colleges aid increases and partial restorations of vital aid to SUNY's teaching hospitals. We have momentum on the budget front and need to finish strong.