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Friday Alert April 4, 2008
Alliance for Retired Americans
888 16th Street, N.W. - Washington DC, 20006 - (202)
974-8222 - www.retiredamericans.or
Prescription Drug Prices
Becoming More Unbearable as Economy
Slides
People with health insurance are
having more trouble paying for prescription drugs as higher
out-of-pocket costs for medications and a slowing economy strain
family budgets, according to surveys and health care
analysts. The Virginia-based National Patient Advocate
Foundation, which helps people pay medical bills, found that 31%
of the 44,729 people it aided last year cited drug co-payments
as their top medical-debt problem. In some cases, the
patient's share of drug costs ranges as high as 70% of the
total. Thirteen percent of insured Americans report that
paying for drugs is a serious problem, says a recent poll by
USA Today, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard
School of Public Health. That's up from 9% in a foundation
survey in 2000. The 31% reporting drug payments as their top
medical-debt problem to the patient foundation rose from 26% of
people in 2006 and 17% in 2005. Patient payments for
generic drugs rose 38% from 2000 to 2007, and some brand-name
drugs rose 48%, the Kaiser data show. Inflation rose 21%
during those years. Prescription drugs account for about
10% of all health care spending in the U.S. "I am appalled
that at a time when more and more Americans are struggling to
afford their prescriptions, drug company profits and CEO pay
continue to reach record highs. Our government keeps
looking the other way while these companies profit off of people
just trying to follow their doctor's orders," said
George J. Kourpias, President of the
Alliance.
Alliance Supports
American-Made Air Force Tanker
The Alliance
is concerned about a recent U.S. Department of Defense decision
to award an up to $100 billion contract for the construction of
Air Force refueling tankers to Northrop Grumann and the European
firm EADS, maker of Airbus. A tanker built by the U.S.
firm Boeing would have instead provided over 44,000
family-supporting jobs in America in over forty states.
The action leaves the U.S. relying on foreign countries to
provide the military hardware needed for national defense.
Time magazine reports that Sen. John McCain
(R-AZ) wrote letters and pushed the Pentagon toward
Airbus. The Alliance supports congressional efforts to
reconsider this decision on national security and economic
grounds. Mr. Kourpias said this issue
affects all of us, as there cannot be a strong, secure
retirement for American workers if our country does not have
solid middle-class jobs. Kourpias urged Alliance members
to contact their elected officials on this issue by clicking on
http://capwiz.com/iamaw/issues/alert/?alertid=11106876&type=CO.
CMS Actuary: Medicare
Advantage Raises Costs for All
Beneficiaries
Medicare Advantage (MA) plans
are shortening the solvency of the Part A Trust Fund,
Rick Foster, the Chief Actuary for the Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services, told the House Ways and
Means Health Subcommittee this week. At the hearing, the
chairman of the panel, Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA)
said, "When [Health and Human Services] Secretary
Leavitt appeared before the Subcommittee earlier this
year, he made alarmist statements about the future of Medicare
and told us to 'call the government actuary'. Well, we
did," said Chairman Stark, "and the Medicare Chief Actuary made
it clear time and time again today that overpayments to private
plans are a serious drain on Medicare's financing that undermine
the program's financial health and raise costs for all
beneficiaries." In the hearing, Mr. Foster testified that
if the law were changed such that benchmarks were set at
fee-for-service rates, then it would extend the solvency of the
Medicare Trust Fund by about 18 months. He also indicated
that overpayments increase premiums for all 44 million seniors
and people with disabilities by about $3 a month. When
directly asked if MA ever costs less than fee-for-service,
Foster flatly said, "No, not under current law."
Falling Stock Market, Home
Values Leading to Delayed
Retirements
According to The Wall Street
Journal, retirement planners are seeing large numbers of
older workers put off retirement, as the housing and stock
market troubles deepen. Many Americans hurt by the
economic downturn have had to change course abruptly. In
February, the ranks of those 65 and over in the work force rose
to 16.2% from 16% last April - meaning 212,000 more hands on
deck. With their homes worth less, fewer people feel
confident enough to retire, even if they plan to continue living
in them. And unlike younger workers, older employees don't
have years to make up for downturns in the stock market. A
recent Schwab survey of 1,006 financial advisers indicated that
nearly a quarter of their clients are considering working longer
specifically because of the economic fallout of the past 12
months. "This is a reminder of how many current retirees
feel they may be the last generation that gets to retire," said
Ruben Burks, Secretary-Treasurer of the
Alliance. "According to an Alliance poll taken last year,
only 12% of retirees believe their children will be better off
than they are."
Northeastern Regional Meeting
Less Than Two Weeks Away
The national
Alliance will hold its second regional conference of 2008, April
17-18 in Philadelphia, PA. The Northeastern Regional
Conference will provide a forum to work with other activists in
the region to learn how to increase grassroots advocacy, get
seniors and retirees registered and voting, and educate federal,
state and local legislators on the issues that concern
retirees. Join us to set the course for the Alliance and
for a country that cares about workers, retirees and their
families. For copies of the official registration form for
any of the three upcoming regional conferences, call
1-888-373-6497, visit www.retiredamericans.org,
or email Joni Jones at jjones@retiredamericans.org.
Locations and dates for later conferences are: Midwestern
Regional Conference, April 28-29, 2008 in St. Louis, MO; and
Southern Regional Conference, June 4-5, 2008 in Orlando,
FL. The Western Regional meeting took place in March.
Alliance Loses Family Member
in Lena Fransetta
Lena
Fransetta, 72, wife of Florida Alliance president
Tony Fransetta, passed away on Monday, March
31, during surgery. Mrs. Fransetta will be remembered as a
wonderful cook, seamstress and artist, and will be missed
greatly. "Since the inception of the Florida Alliance, we
have considered Lena as much a part of the Alliance family as we
have Tony," said Edward Coyle, Executive
Director of the Alliance. "Our thoughts and prayers go out
to the entire Fransetta family at this time."
Become part of a progressive grassroots movement!
Join the Alliance
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Alliance for Retired Americans 815 16th
St, NW Washington, DC 20006 www.retiredamericans.org
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