Members of Alliance for Retired Americans Meet with Lawmakers Over Recess

by Mike Hall, Feb 20, 2009

Activists from the Alliance for Retired Americans are wrapping up the last of nearly 70 meetings this week with U.S. Senate and House members who are on congressional recess back in their states or districts. The retired union members are speaking out about the need to strengthen Medicare as a cornerstone of health care reform.

In the meetings, Alliance members are outlining measures to lower the cost of prescription drugs, strengthen the Medicare Trust Fund and expand Medicare coverage for retirees ages 55-64.

Doug Hart, president of the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans, writes in a Tucson Citizen guest column this week:

Medicare has helped millions over the years, but lately it has been taking better care of drug and insurance companies than retirees.

In November, many of us went to the polls with one thing on our minds: Reform health care now. President Obama and Congress must act quickly before the special interests—who are making big profits off the status quo—stand in the way.

Alliance Executive Director Edward F. Coyle says there are several steps that should be taken to strengthen Medicare, which provides health care coverage for nearly 45 million seniors.

• Allowing Medicare to negotiate volume discounts with drug manufacturers. The Veterans Affairs does this and its prescriptions cost 30 percent less.
• Ending wasteful taxpayer subsidies to private insurance companies who run Medicare Advantage programs at a cost nearly 20 percent higher than Medicare.
• Providing early retirees the option to purchase Medicare coverage. Many of the 5.1 million Americans between ages 55 and 64 who lack health insurance are victims of mass layoffs.

Pointing to the private Medicare advantage programs, Hart writes Congress must

stop a law, set to take effect in 2010, that would turn even more of Medicare over to private companies. This creeping, back-door privatization benefits big corporations at the expense of retirees struggling with their medical bills.

Click here to read the full column.

While the meetings are focusing on Medicare and health care reform, Alliance members also are urging lawmakers to form Seniors Advisory Committees and to support the Employee Free Choice Act to help workers negotiate for higher wages and health care and retirement benefits.

Earlier this week, Barbara Easterling, former secretary-treasurer of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the AFL-CIO, took over the reins of the Alliance, succeeding George Kourpias who retired this month.

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