Month of May Wrap Up

To close out the month of May I wanted to report on what I have accomplished in the last month and whats on tap for the next.

During our Eboard meeting we discussed and set a date for an Activists Training on August 18th. The focus of the training is to become a local community organizer to assist in building the Oregon ARA. More information to follow when I have training materials.

I attended meeting of three affiliates this month. Joint Council Teamsters Retirees president Bill Shatava invited me to speak to their group and I addressed over 50 members. We had an interesting conversation on the future of Medicare and some were inspired to call Sen Smith and demand action on the "Doc Fix Bill."

I attended a meeting of the Machinists Local 1005 and spoke briefly to introduce myself to the group and spoke afterwards with a member of the group about future joint activity. I also secured a chance to speak at a future meeting.

I spoke with the ROSE retirees of OSEA and we discussed the future of Medicare and the "Doc Fix Bill." I got one interested in our activist training day in August.

If you missed the membership meeting this month we had a good presentation on senior housing and senior friendly cities. I discussed Unionfacts.com and the doc fix bill. I got more interested in the activist training day.

In the month of June I will be speaking with SEIU, and Carpenter Retirees. I will also be beginning live online town hall meetings via web cam. Ill update when the logistics are in place.

The Facts on UnionFacts.com

Many of you may have been seeing anti-union commercials put out by a group called The Center for Union facts. The campaign is being funded to the tune of $8 million by the US Chamber of Commerce with other anti-union groups joining in. These commercials have been seen in other states and have proceeded or accompanied “right to work” campaigns. As reported by The Center for Union Facts website “Oregon is not a Right to Work state” and that a “Right to Work” initiative has been filed by Bill Sizemore and Timothy Trickey for the November 2008 ballot.

I generally don’t make it a practice of attacking the messenger in lieu of the message but in this case I’ll make an exception. The Center for Union Facts is led by Richard Berman. In addition to Union Facts Berman has fronted the Center for Consumer Freedom which attacked Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and the US Center for Disease Control on behalf of the alcohol, fast food, and tobacco lobbies. Berman’s American Beverage Institute fights laws designed to toughen drinking and driving laws. The Employment Institute fights minimum wage increases and Fishscam.com encourages pregnant women to disregard mercury guidelines and eat more tuna.

As for the message, anything I say here will only be preaching to the choir but if you are interested in more information you can go to aflcio.org, consumerdeception.com, sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Center_for_Union_Facts, epi.org/content.cfm/datazone_rtw_index, and you can watch Sen. Edward Kennedy rip apart a Union Facts advertisement on YouYube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcJ5lKq3GY0.

With potentially another right to work for less fight on the horizon be on the look out for more of these ads and commercials and be prepared with facts to fight back.

Action Needed This Week on Medicare Doc Fix Bill

Medicare is the subject of debate on the floor of the senate this month with a time sensitive piece of legislation. The debate is over what is being called the “Doctors Fix Bill”.

A Part of the Medicare Modernization Act is scheduled reductions of reimbursements to doctors for their treatment of Medicare patients. As a result, some doctors are choosing to drop their Medicare patients or refuse to take on additional patients. The purpose of the reductions is to entice recipients to opt into the Medicare Advantage plans which should cover the difference. Unfortunately, many of the recipients can not afford to participate in Advantage leaving these patients without a primary care giver and without care.

Currently the debate on the floor is focused on continuing and increasing the reimbursements to doctors. An 18 month temporary extension of the current level of reimbursements is the proposed and a likely out come of the legislation. The Alliance for Retired Americans is taking the position that the legislation is inadequate. The Senate Medicare bill must help beneficiaries in need, not just providers.

Some items the Alliance would like to see added or addressed in the bill include:

·The price of increased reimbursements to physicians will be passed onto recipients making Medicare less affordable. More assistance needs to be provided for low to moderate income recipients to aid in the new costs.

Programs designed to improve the lives of poor Medicare beneficiaries [including the Medicare Part D Low-Income Subsidy (LIS) and the Medicare Savings Programs (MSPs)], are broken and must be fixed.

The Senate bill should simplify and align Medicare low-income assistance programs, bring outdated asset limits in line with today’s cost of living, and improve outreach and participation for those currently eligible.

A Call to Action

The senate bill is in trouble even though the influential physicians lobby is behind the bill. President Bush has promised to veto any legislation that calls for changes away from those made by the Medicare Modernization Act. As it stands today, the senate is split along party lines making it vulnerable to the veto threat.

Oregon Senator Gordon Smith is one of those 49 currently in opposition to the bill. In the past, Senator Smith has tried to prove his independent and moderate credentials during election season. As recent polling suggests he faces a tight race for re-election this year. He once again may be in a position to listen to the concerns of seniors and those in need of healthcare.

So what can you do?

You can call or write Senators Smith and Wyden’s offices and ask them to support the “Doctors Fix Bill” and the added requests of the Alliance for Retired Americans. It is said that for every person who takes the time to call their representative, there are 25 others who feel the same way.

You can write a letter to the editor in your local newspaper. The editorial section is one of the most widely read sections of the paper and a great way to inform the readers about the issues that you care about.

You can inform your friends, family, social clubs of the issues and ask them to act as well.