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Friday Alert
Friday, March 14, 2008
(Alliance for Retired Americans)
New
Hampshire Alliance Members Greet Sen. McCain
with Protests…
On the eve of
Senator John
McCain's Tuesday visit to Exeter, New
Hampshire, the New Hampshire Alliance for
Retired Americans united outside the Concord
Legislative Office Building to protest his plan
for Social Security privatization. Local
seniors urged McCain and his Senate colleagues
John
Sununu and Judd Gregg to keep their “hands
off my Social Security.” Participants
in the event included John Mendolusky, President of the
New Hampshire Alliance for Retired Americans,
several state legislators, and members of the
groups New Hampshire Citizens Alliance for
Action, Working Families Win, and Americans
United for Change. In an interview
appearing in the March 3 edition of The Wall Street
Journal, Sen. McCain said, “As part of
Social Security reform, I believe that private
savings accounts are a part of it -- along the
lines that President Bush proposed.”
The proposal that Sen. McCain favors is the
same George W. Bush privatization plan rejected
by the American people in 2005 for jeopardizing
the economic security of current and future
retirees and ravaging guaranteed benefits for
seniors and the disabled. Pictures from a
second Alliance event, last week’s Arizona
Social Security protest, are available at www.retiredamericans.org/ht/d/Gallery/pid/335.
…As the U.S. Senate Rejects Social
Security Privatization Again
On
Thursday night, the U.S. Senate voted 57-41 to
reject an amendment to the FY 2009 Budget put
forward by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) that would have
funneled surplus Social Security funds into
risky private accounts rather than keeping them
in the Social Security trust fund. Sen.
McCain did not vote. “Sen. DeMint tried
and failed for the third year in a row to
privatize Social Security,” said Edward Coyle,
Executive Director of the Alliance.
“Three strikes and you should be out, but
I’m sure he’ll keep trying.”
Complete results of the Senate vote are
available at www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=2&vote=00065.
IRS to Mail out Information Assisting
Seniors with Their Stimulus Rebates
Starting next week, information packets
will be mailed out to recipients of Social
Security or Veterans Affairs benefits to help
them in filing for their 2008 stimulus
payments, the Internal Revenue Service
announced on Monday. According to
Reuters, the 10-page tax package -- specially
designed for people who may qualify for an
economic stimulus payment but who normally do
not file tax returns -- will contain everything
seniors will need to file a 2007 tax form
immediately. Under the recently enacted
economic stimulus plan, individuals may be
eligible for the minimum payment of $300 and
$600 for married couples, even if they do not
normally file a tax return. To qualify
for the minimum economic payment, individuals
or couples must have at least $3,000 in any
qualifying government income from retirement,
disability or survivors' benefits.
“Seniors need to pay close attention so they
don’t lose out on their rebate,” said Ruben Burks,
Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance.
Facts about the stimulus bill are also
available on the Alliance website at http://www.retiredamericans.org/ht/a/GetDocumentAction/i/6066.
Hospitals Turn the
Tables on Insurance Companies, Offer
“Favorability” Ratings
Hospitals
are hitting back at some of the country’s
biggest health insurance companies, who have
recently started rating facilities and
providing the results to beneficiaries for use
in deciding where to seek treatment. The
Los Angeles
Times reports that a group of medical
centers has commissioned a survey of 113
executives from more than 500 hospitals,
approximately 10% of all hospitals in America,
to “help consumers shop for
coverage.” The results of interviews
designed to measure relationships between
health care centers and insurers found that
three of the five largest insurance companies
in the nation had approval ratings that were
more negative than positive. UnitedHealth
Group Inc. received the worst score, attaining
an “unfavorable” opinion from 91% of
respondents, and “favorable” marks from
only 8% of executives. WellPoint Inc. and
Cigna were the other two corporations receiving
the poorest ratings. “This survey
confirms some of what we have always suspected
about some of this country’s biggest
insurance companies – that dealing with them
is increasingly difficult and complex, and that
they do not have the patients’ best interests
in mind,” said George J. Kourpias, President of
the Alliance.
Social Security Changes Mean More
Seniors Are Delaying Retirement
A
study published in February by the Social
Security Administration found that Americans
are postponing their retirement dates due to an
increase in Social Security’s full benefits
retirement age (FRA). The moving FRA has
created a shift in the large number of
retirements that generally occur when workers
may begin receiving their full Social Security
benefits. Eighteen percent of men and 12%
of women born in 1937 claimed payments at age
65, when they were able to collect full
retirement checks. But for Americans born
in 1940, the peak retirement age moved to age
65 and 6 months. In addition to raising
the age to become eligible for full Social
Security benefits, the change resulted in a
greater benefits decrease for retirees who
begin collecting at age 62. The study concluded
that as a result, people who might otherwise
have retired early were more likely to delay
taking Social Security until their FRA, to
avoid a reduction in benefits.
Regional Conferences
Less Than Two Weeks Away
U.S. Rep.
Shelley
Berkley (NV-01) will address Alliance
members from across the west at the national
Alliance’s first regional conference of 2008,
March 24-26 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The
Western Regional Conference will provide a
forum for activists to work together and
prepare for November’s Presidential election
while learning how to increase grassroots
advocacy. Locations and dates for later
conferences are: Northeastern Regional
Conference, April 17-18, 2008 in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania; Midwestern Regional Conference,
April 28-29, 2008 in St. Louis, Missouri; and
Southern Regional Conference, June 4-5, 2008 in
Orlando, Florida. For copies of the
official registration form for any of the four
regional conferences, call 1-888-373-6497,
email Joni
Jones at jjones@retiredamericans.org,
or visit our website at www.retiredamericans.org.
EDITOR’S
NOTE: THE NEXT FRIDAY ALERT WILL BE PUBLISHED
ON THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2008.