NLRN Joining Letter 7-22-08

"Teamwork is the fuel that allows Ordinary People to Achieve Extraordinary Results!"

Today, corporations and public institutions alike continue to break their promises by reducing, and even eliminating, retirement benefits. Far too often, the pensions and benefits that men and women worked so hard to acquire are disappearing as more companies than ever before withdraw and cancel benefits.

A horrific example of corporate broken promises is General Motors’ cancellation of medical, dental, vision, hearing aid, prescription drug, extended care coverage and a $76 per month Medicare B premium payment, for over 190,000 thousand salaried retirees age 65 and older, surviving spouses and dependents. In lieu of the healthcare benefits, GM will provide a monthly pre-tax pension increase of $300. This amount will only be a drop in the bucket for what it will cost retirees living on fixed incomes to purchase replacement insurance for the coverage lost.

It has reached the point where the best hope for retirement security is to gain federal legislation that ensures the fair treatment of retirees. Based in Washington, D.C., the National Retiree Legislative Network (NRLN) is the only organization in the USA dedicated to a single mission—the protection of retirees’ pensions and benefits through the enactment of federal legislation.

Retiree Associations and Grassroots Advocates Create Strong Voice

The NRLN is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose strength comes from a grassroots alliance of management and union retiree associations and individual members. Retirees from General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, AT&T, PAC/Nevada Bell, Ameritech, Southern New England Tel, US WEST/Qwest, Lucent, IBM, Boeing, Aetna, Prudential, Detroit Edison, GM, Ford, Chrysler, Raytheon, and others are among the current members. The NRLN Board of Directors, its Washington staff and tens of thousands Grassroots Advocates in all 50 states are dedicated to gaining passage of a legislative agenda to protect employer-sponsored pensions and benefits, plus keep Social Security and Medicare strong.

The NRLN’s lobbying on Capital Hill is based on the merits of its proposals. The NRLN does not spend one cent on wooing members of Congress or their staffs—no campaign contributions, lunches, trips, etc. The NRLN’s lobbying is performed by its staff and Grassroots Advocates, the constituents who write and speak to their U.S. Senators and Representatives about retirement issues.

The NRLN does not contact or talk with member association companies (GM) or otherwise engage in association business.

How GM Retirees Can Help Make A Difference

It is the individuals who sign up to be NRLN Grassroots Advocates who deliver the messages that have the best chance of influencing their elected representatives. Further, as grassroots members they get NRLN’s timely messages about what is happening that could affect them and what is going on inside the NRLN. When you enter your name, email address and U.S. Mail address in the Capwiz database by signing up at http://capwiz.com/abtr/mlm/signup/ you are joining a special group who want to make a difference in the lives of retirees.

The reason that email addresses are required for the Grassroots Network is so that the NRLN staff can send you email messages and progress reports on important retirement issues. Your contact information in the NRLN's secure database will only be used to send NRLN messages to you.

Your U.S. Mail address, including 9-digit Zip Code, is important because there are times when we need to identify the constituents of particular U.S. Senators and Representatives who should hear the views of retirees and future retirees from "back home" on bills before their committees. Capwiz uses Zip Codes to identify them by State, District and name.

With help from GM retirees, the NRLN can advance its mission of gaining federal legislation that provides for fair treatment of retirees. For more information about the NRLN, go to its website at www.nrln.org .

Like all other 22 NRLN retiree associations, OverTheHillCarPeople will retain its’ independence, mission, website and all member services. Our local GM clubs are encouraged to sign up individually as an NRLN association and individuals may become individual members. We will add strength to a nationwide retiree lobby.

OverTheHillCarPeople.Com encourages you to become an NRLN Grassroots Member and have your views heard in our nation’s capital.

If you choose not to contribute to the NRLN's membership fees that will be your choice. You can still use their web site resources, along with Overthehillcarpeople.com, to gain information needed to keep informed and express your views on your local interest and to your representatives. However, as with all groups, there are expenses and the NRLN’s agenda and ours can best be served by you becoming a member of their organization as well as overthehillcarpeople.com.

Folks, be assured, Overthehillcarpeople.com will continue to be a GM web site group and will continue to serve our members as we always have in the past. This combining of groups will benefit all concerned by strengthening our abilities to fight for our hard earned benefits and to be heard.

GM Retirees’ Healthcare Cuts – July 21, 2008

You have probably read or heard the news reports that on July 15th, General Motors announced a number of cost cutting measures that included the elimination of its health care plan for retirees age 65 and older who are eligible for Medicare. On January 1, 2009, GM will cancel medical, dental, vision, hearing aid, prescription drug, extended care coverage and a $76 per month Medicare B premium payment, for tens of thousands of retirees age 65 and older, surviving spouses and dependents.

GM’s announcement is the latest horrific example of the harm that a rule published by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is causing. The EEOC Rule allows employers to reduce or eliminate health care benefits to retirees when they become Medicare-eligible at age 65. The EEOC’s purported reasoning for creating the Rule was that by allowing employers to discriminate and treat older retirees less favorably, employers might have an incentive to continue to offer healthcare benefits for younger retirees and active employees. However, nowhere in the EEOC Rule or elsewhere is it written that those under age 65 have any assurances their benefits will not be reduced. The law does not protect them.

The thousands of GM salaried retirees who will lose their health care benefits are one of the largest retiree groups to be targeted. With the attention that GM’s announcement has received in the press, many other employers are most likely examining GM’s decision and giving consideration to taking similar action. Therefore, it is in the interest of all retirees and future retirees to write to their U.S. Senators and Representatives to request that legislation be passed to overturn the EEOC Rule and provide safeguards for retirement health care benefits.

We have called for this in letters faxed last week to the Democrat and Republican leaders of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives and the Chairs and Ranking Members of the Congressional committees that deal with retirement legislative issues. (Read my letter in the NRLN Website Latest News at www.nrln.org.) In these letters, we proposed the passage of the “Health Care Protection Act of 2008.” Under the act, should an employer reduce or eliminate health care benefits, retirees would receive a Maintenance of Cost Payment (MCP) equivalent to the cost of their defined health care benefits as of the date of retirement. With the MCP, corporations would know their costs for retiree health care would not grow. Retirees would be more secure in knowing they could replace benefits with the MCP fixed-payment dollars.

I am asking you as an NRLN Grassroots Advocate to use the NRLN’s sample letter to write to your U.S. Senators and Representative. Please go to http://capwiz.com/abtr/home/ and look for the Action Alert headline: GM RETIREES LATEST VICTIMS OF EEOC RULE. Click on “Take Action.” On the next screen, type in your zip code to identify the Senators and Representative to receive your letter. I encourage you to add your own personal comments to the sample letter. If you have a problem accessing the Action Alert with the above link, go to www.nrln.org and click on the “Take Action Now” headline at the top of the NRLN Website’s Home Page.

Send your letter today. It would also help to call the Washington, D.C. or state office of your Senators and Representative. Phone numbers for the offices can be found through the NRLN’s Capwiz website at http://capwiz.com/abtr/dbq/officials/.

The more constituents who write and call their Senators and Representatives, the better chance we have gaining their attention on retirement issues. Please share this email with your family and friends and encourage them to write and call their members of Congress. Also, encourage them to sign up in the Grassroots Network at http://capwiz.com/abtr/mlm/signup/ and become an NRLN Individual Member by making a personal annual contribution. Details are available at www.nrln.org.

Sample Letter Available To Email At: http://capwiz.com/abtr/dbq/officials/

I’m writing to urge you to right an enormous wrong that has been done to America’s retirees. I’m referring to the fact that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has published a rule that allows employers to reduce or eliminate health care benefits for retirees age 65 and older who are Medicare eligible. This is outright age discrimination! The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) that Congress passed in 1967 was intended to prevent things like the EEOC Rule from impacting older citizens.

The latest horrific example of the harm the EEOC Rule is causing is the recent announcement by General Motors. On January 1, 2009, GM will cancel medical, dental, vision, hearing aid, prescription drug and extended care coverages for tens of thousands of retirees age 65 and older, surviving spouses and dependents.

In lieu of the health care benefits, GM will provide a monthly pre-tax pension increase of $300. This amount will only be a drop in the bucket for what it will cost retirees living on fixed incomes to purchase replacement insurance for the coverages lost. Many retirees will not be able to afford the premium costs to replace these coverages. GM will end up paying nothing; they will use retiree pension money to pay the $300.

The National Retiree Legislative Network (NRLN) has proposed to Congressional leaders that a “Health Care Protection Act of 2008” be introduced. Under this proposal, should an employer reduce or eliminate health care benefits, retirees would receive a Maintenance of Cost Payment (MCP) equivalent to the cost of their defined health care benefits as of the date of retirement. With the MCP, corporations would know their costs for retiree health care would not grow. Retirees would be more secure in knowing they could replace benefits with the MCP fixed-payment dollars.

If you have a better idea than the NRLN’s proposal, I want to hear what it is. You need to sponsor legislation to reverse the EEOC’s Rule and protect retirement benefits. If you do nothing, it says to me that you don’t care about preserving the retirement benefits that I worked much of my life to earn. If this is the case, why would a retiree want to vote for any incumbent member of Congress? I’ve read that the public’s approval rating of Congress is even lower than the approval rating of President Bush. The partisan bickering between the Democrats and Republicans that I see on the news must stop. You need to wake up to what is happening to retirees and fix the problems before millions of additional Americans are added to the poverty rolls and even greater costs for health care are placed on taxpayers.

At age 65, all retired members of Congress and other retired Federal employees are guaranteed healthcare benefits as good as GM’s, including Prescription Drugs, Long Term Care and Catastrophic insurance coverage. My hope is that you will help me so that I can be treated equally under the law.

NRLN Calls Congressional Leaders

Attention To GM Action Against Retirees
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NRLN President Bill Kadereit faxed the following letter to Congressional Leaders calling attention to the General Motors announcement that it would cancel its health care plan for Medicare-eligible retirees, surviving spouses and dependents on January 1, 2008. The letters to Democrat and Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives and Chairs and Ranking Members of the Committees that deal with retiree issues asks for legislation to overturn the EEOC Rule. The Rule allows employers to reduce or eliminate health care plans for retirees age 65 and older.

601 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. South Building – Suite 900 - Washington, D.C. 20004-2601

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The Equal Employment Opportunity Commissions Rule (EEOC) published in the Federal Register on December 26, 2007 opened the floodgates for employers to reduce or eliminate healthcare plans for retirees when they turn age 65 and become eligible for Medicare. General Motors salaried retirees age 65 and older are now seeing their healthcare benefits swept away by the rush to ruin the retirement security of America’s retirees who had worked most of their lives to earn their retirement medical coverage.

As you are aware, GM announced on July 15, 2008 a plan to cut costs by $10 billion, suspend common stock dividends, and to sell up to $4 billion in assets in a bid to shore up cash and survive a slump in the automobile industry. Among the victims of GM’s restructuring plan are the salaried retirees who are currently on Medicare and those who will be in the future. According to a GM document, on January 1, 2009 retirees, surviving spouses and dependents age 65 or older will no longer be eligible to participate in the GM Salaried Health Care Program. At age 65, medical, dental, vision, hearing aid, prescription drug and extended care coverages provided under the GM plan will be cancelled. In lieu of health care in retirement, eligible retirees and surviving spouses, age 65 or older, will begin to receive a monthly pension increase of $300. This $300, of course, will be paid for with retiree pension trust funds, not GM operating cash.

The pre-tax $300 increase in pensions will not come close to paying the insurance premiums for the benefits that the retirees are going to lose. While the 65 and older GM retirees won’t know the full impact of the benefits that are to be eliminated until they begin trying to purchase similar coverage after January 1, 2009, here are some benefits that probably many GM retirees age 65 and older will not have in the future:

· Medicare does not include catastrophic coverage (out-of-pocket-maximum limits) The loss of catastrophic coverage is perhaps the largest single financial risk that will shift to retirees age 65 and older because it is most difficult to obtain and is very expensive.

· Corporate prescription drug plans that are dropped must be replaced through purchasing a 2009 Medicare D plan on the open market. This will mean paying a $295 deductible and being exposed to the “doughnut hole” requirement to pay for 100% of drugs once the $2700 initial threshold is reached and before $6153.75 is paid by the retiree. Medicare does not cover dental or vision care. These lost benefits would have to be purchased and alone would exceed $300/month after taxes.

· While most retirees’ spouses are covered as dependents under company plans, they are not under Medicare or under most carrier offerings. This change will have the effect of doubling coverage costs. Medigap coverage that pays deductibles and co-pays and offers extended (not catastrophic) coverage may cost $200 or more per person, per month.

In the letter that I wrote to you on behalf of the National Retiree Legislative Network (NRLN) on February 11, 2008, I stated the NRLN’s belief that the EEOC was running roughshod over the intent of Congress. Through its Rule, it made law rather than protecting older Americans as required by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) that Congress passed in 1967.

I am asking again what you as a Congressional leader will do to reverse the EEOC’s Rule. To do nothing is a statement by Congress that it cares little about defending the substance of the laws it enacts or safeguarding the citizens the laws were written to protect. It says a willing Administration under pressure from special interests can subordinate the intent of Congress through the writing of rules and regulations. Employers, such as GM, are using the EEOC Rule to single out older retirees as an easy, defenseless target.

The NRLN knows that ERISA protects pension benefits and assets held in pension trusts and acknowledges that ERISA unfortunately does not protect health care benefits. The erosion of corporate ethical and moral obligations to keep health care promises made to those who earned them is at the root of why ERISA itself must be modified to protect retirees’ benefits. Instead of protecting earned defined benefits, government has acted to shift corporate obligations onto the shoulders of retirees and taxpayers. Congress should recognize that being a non-competitive U.S company may have more to do with phasing out technologies, globalization, outsourcing, and inability of executives to manage competitively than it does with the cost of retiree benefits.

The NRLN proposes that Congress should introduce and enact the “The 2008 Health Care Protection Act.” Under the act, retirees would receive a Maintenance of Cost Payment (MCP) equivalent to the cost of their defined health care benefits as of the day of retirement. The MCP would pay for corporate plan benefits in effect on the retirement date. Corporations would benefit in knowing their bill for retiree health care would not grow. Retirees would be more secure in knowing that if a company reduced their benefits or shifted increased costs to them, they could replace benefits with the fixed payment dollars. Companies would have an incentive to retain defined benefits to the extent that pension plan asset transfers under Sec 420 of the IRS Code could offset MCP obligations. Companies who commit to retaining defined healthcare benefits would receive a tax credit equivalent to x% (say 25%) of the aggregate annual value of MCP payments offset by 401(h) transfers, instead of a taxable deduction for such costs. This proposal would be accretive with regard to Federal Tax Revenue.

In 1953, President Eisenhower selected General Motors President, Charles Erwin Wilson, as Secretary of Defense. During confirmation hearings before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Wilson stated, “…what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa." What General Motors is doing to retirees age 65 and older is NOT good for the country!

The NRLN would welcome the opportunity to work with your staff to develop legislation to overturn the EEOC Rule and provide protection for retirees’ health care benefits. While many corporate executives consider current retirees the “throwaway generation,” America’s retirees need to know that members of Congress still have a conscience for doing what is fair for them. Marta Bascom, the NRLN’s Washington Executive Director, can be reached at 703-863-9611. We will look forward to hearing from a member of your staff.

Retiree Associations and Grassroots Advocates Create Strong Voice

How GM Retirees Can Help Make A Difference

GM Retirees’ Healthcare Cuts – July 21, 2008

Sample Letter Available To Email At: http://capwiz.com/abtr/dbq/officials/

NRLN Calls Congressional Leaders

Attention To GM Action Against Retirees .

Attention To GM Action Against Retirees
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