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Friday Alert July 6, 2007
Alliance for Retired Americans
888 16th Street, N.W. - Washington DC, 20006 - (202)
974-8222 - www.retiredamericans.or
Medicare Advantage, Re-importation Votes
Coming Soon
Both the U.S. House of
Representatives and the U.S. Senate could vote this month to cut
overpayments to Medicare Advantage private insurance plans, in
order to make improvements to the Part D drug plan and expand
children’s health coverage. “With the
nation’s economic resources so tight, we cannot afford to
be focused on subsiding insurance companies,” said
Edward F. Coyle, Executive Director of the
Alliance. Also, between July and September, the House of
Representatives is likely to vote on H.R. 380, the
“Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety
Act.” This bill, sponsored by Rep. Rahm
Emanuel (D-IL) and supported by the Alliance, would
legalize the importation of drugs with appropriate safeguards,
saving American consumers an estimated $50 billion over the next
decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Previously, in May, the Senate had voted 49-40 in favor of an
amendment from Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) that
required the assent of the Secretary of Health and Human
Services in order for re-importation to be allowed, which, in
effect, would stop any re-importation.
New Hospital Discharge Rules for Older
Patients
A law that went into effect Sunday
requires hospitals to better ensure that Medicare beneficiaries
know their rights before being discharged, and outlines how to
object when a patient or family member feels release is
medically premature. While the new rules are designed to
protect patients, they will require more paperwork and hours
from hospital employees, including additional administrative
visits to hospital rooms, which recovering persons may find
bothersome. A document has long been issued to inform
Medicare beneficiaries of their rights, but the old law’s
guidelines simply mandated it be provided within two days of a
patient’s admission – times often preoccupied by the
immediacy and stress of tests, procedures, and results.
The notification, an “Important Message from
Medicare,” now features a clearer explanation of
patients’ rights, and will be provided to families both
after arrival and before departure. Hospital staff
delivering the information must be able to answer questions
about the policy, and for the first time, patients or their
legal representatives must sign the paper. If a discharge
is contested, hospitals have until noon the next day to provide
detailed explanations of why a patient is ready for release and
how to continue an appeal.
Ideological Opposites Work Together on
Social Security
From opposite ends of the
political spectrum, Congressmen Charlie Rangel
(D-NY) and Jim McCrery (R-LA) have spent over
three months secretly working out a compromise on Social
Security reform, one of the most complex and contentious issues
in Washington. According to a recent report in
Fortune, while most Republicans are reluctant to
revisit an issue that President Bush was unsuccessful in
tackling two years ago, the pair genuinely believes they can
solve the problem. The partnership is particularly
significant as Reps. Rangel and McCrery are respectively the
chairman and ranking member of the House Ways and Means
Committee, the point of origin for legislation from tax policy
to entitlement reform. Recently, the two negotiated a
trade agreement reconciling free trade with new labor and
environmental standards. Many of their peers do not
believe the duo will be able to circumvent various objections to
tax increases, privatization and reductions in benefits, but
neither one has expressed any discouragement. No details
about the discussions have been disclosed, except that the White
House will have a limited role, if any, in the reform
effort. “The Alliance will be monitoring these talks
closely,” said Ruben Burks,
Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance. “We will be
ready to mobilize, especially if there are further attempts to
gamble away retirees’ money in private accounts or reduce
benefits.”
Simple Exercises May Improve
Seniors’ Driving
Drivers 70 years and
older who do daily 15-minute exercises focused on flexibility
and movement can speed, maintain, or slightly improve their
driving skills over those who do not do the calisthenics, a Yale
University study published recently in the Wall Street
Journal concludes. Such simple exercises as arm
stretches, neck and shoulder rotations, and even walking
resulted in the greatest improvement among the worst drivers,
with significant problems like disobeying traffic signs and
changing lanes without looking reduced by 37%.
YouTube Video Shows Arizona Homebuilders
Assaulting Demonstrators
On Friday, June
22nd, a group of construction workers released shocking video
footage of Phoenix’s largest homebuilder hosing down
picketers at a worksite in Florence, Arizona. The video,
posted on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml00gVWhSGY,
shows Pulte Homes’ representatives out of control,
frustrated at workers demonstrating at construction sites within
their developments due to poor working conditions, and the Pulte
drivers assaulting the protesters with high-pressure water from
Pulte’s own water trucks. Pulte/Del Webb "active
adult" communities, for adults 55-years-old and older, account
for 45% of the company's overall revenues. The Building
Justice campaign is seeking to improve working conditions and
pay at Pulte and its subcontractors, and the Sheet Metal Workers
and Painters unions, with the support of the AFL-CIO, are
focusing their efforts in Arizona and Nevada. “These
properties are targeted at senior consumers - this is an
opportunity for retirees committed to social and economic
justice to demand a higher standard,” said George
J. Kourpias, President of the Alliance.
“Workers deserve to be treated with respect, and the
Alliance calls on Pulte to raise the bar.” Alliance
members Sue and Bill Dolphin,
as well as Arizona Alliance Executive Director Joan
Serviss, supported the workers by turning out at the
press conference releasing the video.
Poll Results: Most Wish They Had Saved
More
A recent poll on the Alliance website
found that 62% of respondents would have saved more for
retirement if they could go back. Eight percent said that
they had saved enough, and 31 percent said that they had saved
as much as they could, therefore they would not have changed
their spending habits and financial planning. A total of
1,295 people voted in the poll. Visit www.retiredamericans.org
to vote in the new poll, asking: “Are you concerned that
your retiree health care and pension benefits from your employer
will not always be delivered as expected?”
Become part of a progressive grassroots movement!
Join the Alliance: www.retiredamericans.org/join
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Alliance for Retired Americans 815 16th
St, NW Washington, DC 20006 www.retiredamericans.org
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