Friday Alert   October 13, 2006
Alliance for Retired Americans
888 16th Street, N.W. -  Washington DC, 20006 - (202) 974-8222 - www.retiredamericans.or

As New Report Shows Senior Vote Will Be Crucial in November...
Older Americans are perhaps the most coveted voting block by candidates of both parties, and a new report by Democracy Corps shows just how critical the senior vote is.  According to the research, two-thirds of seniors are expected to turn out at the polls this November.  Seniors are also significantly more likely to say they are interested in this year's election, with nearly 7 in 10 rating their interest as level 10 on a 1-10 scale, compared with 58% of the overall electorate.  Less than a quarter of those surveyed have warm feelings toward Congress, positioning the Democrats to win the senior vote with their positions on easing the financial pressures on older Americans.  Although seniors favored President Bush by a 5-point margin in the last presidential election, the Democracy Corps report found the Democrats leading the senior vote by 4 points, 45% to 41%.  "These findings are not surprising to the 3 million members of the Alliance," said Edward Coyle, Executive Director of the Alliance.  "We know who created the complicated Part D plan.  We know who wants to rip the three-legged retirement stool out from underneath us.  We will not let the party that works to weaken Social Security, pensions and retirement savings win in November."

...GOP Braces for Losses
There is now a 21-point difference between the percentage of likely voters who say they plan to vote for Democrats over the percentage planning to back Republicans on November 7.  According to the latest CNN poll, 58% of likely voters expect to support Democrats, while 37 percent say they will pick the GOP candidate for Congress.  The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that in the midterm elections, some Republican campaign officials currently expect to lose at least 7 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, and perhaps as many as 30.  A loss of 15 seats would give Democrats control of the House.  To keep the Senate, the Republican National Committee is investing heavily in races in Ohio, Tennessee, and Missouri as a "firewall" strategy to maintain the majority.  A loss of six seats by the GOP would cost the party control of the Senate.  Democratic candidates for both the House and Senate have been campaigning widely on lowering prices for prescription drugs by negotiating on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries, and on promising to fight any plan to privatize Social Security, in whole or in part.

Know Your Voting Rights
The Alliance website "Voter Rights" section includes guidelines for volunteering to be a poll watcher on Election Day, as well as rules for voting in Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin.  For example, in Nevada, the law requires that first-time voters who registered by mail and did not provide an ID with their registration application bring an ID on Election Day - and an expired drivers license would not be accepted.  New this week in this section of the Alliance website are listings of AFL-CIO "Voter Protection Program" contacts in eight of the key states, in case there are any problems at the polls. "Election Protection," the nation's largest non-partisan voter protection coalition, also provides direct voter assistance through a toll-free hotline, 866-OUR-VOTE, and through legal field programs in targeted states.  For additional voter rights advice, go to the League of Women Voters website, and click on the "5 Things You Need to Know Card" at the bottom of the page.

Settlement Forces Major Restructuring of Rx Drug-Pricing System
The Prescription Access Litigation Project (PAL), which includes the Alliance as a member, announced a settlement last week in a nationwide class-action lawsuit against First Databank, Inc., the most widely-used publisher of prescription drug prices in the United States.  The deal will result in a $4 billion savings for health plans that have been overcharged for prescription drugs.  PAL is a national consumer coalition devoted to challenging high drug prices.  The case alleged that from 2002 to 2005, First Databank conspired with leading prescription drug wholesale provider McKesson Corp., to increase arbitrarily from 20% to 25% the markups between what pharmacies pay wholesalers for prescription drugs and what health plans and insurers reimburse pharmacies for those drugs.  This is called the "spread," or the pharmacy's profit on each prescription.  The artificial increase on the spread of hundreds of drugs benefited McKesson's customers and the purchasers of First Databank's pricing guides.  Under the milestone settlement, First Databank has agreed to "rollback" the spread to 20%, which will reduce what health plans pay pharmacies for 95% of the nation's retail branded drugs.  "Not only will this settlement result in a major savings for the nation's health care dollar, it will also likely result in a shift to a more transparent and accurate way of paying for prescription drugs," said Ruben Burks, Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance.

Alliance Activities Across the Country
Executive Director Edward Coyle traveled to Pennsylvania this week to attend a membership event with Alliance-endorsed congressional candidate Lois Murphy in suburban Philadelphia.  Members of the Pennsylvania Alliance will also be releasing their Medicare Education Project report.  In Connecticut, Ohio, Florida, Nevada, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Missouri and Colorado, Alliance members will participate in a wide variety of Medicare events, rallies, town halls, and health care forums.  The Wisconsin Alliance hosts a candidate forum in Appleton on Wednesday.  The Indiana Alliance continues to hold doughnut hole events, and also countered First Lady Laura Bush in South Bend on Thursday.  Members in all states are active in campaign walks, phone banks, and various other activities geared toward the November elections.  "It is gratifying to see Alliance members in so many different places working together to make sure senior issues are front and center this year," said George J. Kourpias, President of the Alliance.

Did You Know...
CEOs now make 411 times the pay of the average worker, according to recent calculations by the Institute for Policy Studies.  In 1980, they made 42 times as much.

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