While most people have their annual physical and semi-annual trip to the dentist on their calendars, many overlook an annual eye exam as part of their preventive health routine. Yet an annual eye exam is just as important—even if you think your vision is fine.
The American Optometric Association recommends that adults between the ages of 18 and 60 have their eyes examined at least every two years, and people over the age of 60 take an annual trip to their eye care professional. It’s essential to make a complete eye examination part of a total health care routine, whether or not vision correction is needed. Many diseases that may be easy to miss in their early stages are evident with a thorough eye examination.
A comprehensive eye health exam may also uncover early signs of a systemic condition, such as diabetes, elevated cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, arteriosclerosis, brain tumors, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, neurological impairments, thyroid disease and vitamin deficiencies. Discovery of such valuable information during a routine eye exam enables the patient to obtain early treatment.
UUP understands the importance of vision care. That‘s why our members have an annual benefit for eye exams and glasses.
Members can schedule an appointment with an ophthalmologist—a medical doctor who specializes in examining, diagnosing and treating eyes and eye diseases. This visit is usually covered under the medical component of your health care coverage. You may choose to visit an optometrist, who is not a medical doctor, but who is trained to diagnose and treat most of the same eye conditions as an ophthalmologist, with the exception of treatments involving surgery. Visits to the optometrist are covered under your vision benefit through Davis Vision.
Now that we are in the routine of a yearly exam, we also need to take it a step further. Just as you wear a seatbelt to protect yourself, it’s a good idea to protect your eyes. Here a just a few tips:
• Protection from the sun—Wearing sunglasses is high on the list of ways you can care for your vision. Buy sunglasses with ultraviolet (UV) protection to use whenever you’re in the sun. UV light causes long-term damage to the inner structures of the eye, but wearing sunglasses can help prevent conditions such as cataracts and macular degeneration. Remember prescription sunglasses are a covered benefit; you can alternate every other year.
• Eat what is good for you and your eyes—Vitamins A and E, folic acid, selenium and zinc are beneficial for the health of your eyes. Flaxseed oil and fish oil contain important dietary fatty acids that have multiple health benefits, including prevention or control of dry eyes. Check with your physician on nutritional tips to help preserve your eyesight.
• Wear protective eye gear—It is a good habit to get into wearing some type of safety glasses when working around flying objects and hazardous chemicals, or when participating in contact sports.
• Prevent eye strain—Minimize eye strain by wearing up-to-date corrective lenses; and make sure you have adequate lighting levels for the task you are performing. But don’t go overboard. Bright light can cause eye strain as well.
• Give your eyes a break—For every 20 minutes of concentrated close-up work, take a 20-second break by looking at something 20 feet away.
Remember your eyes are the windows to the world, and the windows to your health.
— Doreen Bango, Manager of Member Benefits and Services
The NYSUT Member Benefits Corporation Board of Directors is pleased to announce the endorsement of two new discount plans, the Motivano SmartSavings Online Discount Marketplace and National Car Rentals.
The Motivano Discount Marketplace offers best-rate travel deals and unique, creative gifts for special occasions at specially negotiated prices. From discount theater and amusement park tickets, to deals at The Sports Authority, Costco and more, the marketplace is a great way to stretch members’ hard-earned income.
Bargaining unit members and their family members can shop from well-known vendors in categories such as apparel; beauty and fragrance; computers and electronics; flowers and gifts; health and wellness; and travel and leisure. Sales and discounts are offered for name-brand clothing, computers, flowers, jewelry, books, movies, dining and much more.
Sample merchants include 1-800-Flowers, HP, Walt Disney World, Hotels.com, Ice.com and many more.
Members can search the site for discounts at their favorite stores, print coupons and suggest new vendors to be added to the program.
With the recent addition of National Car Rentals, members have a wide variety of discount car rental options to make price comparisons and secure their best deal.
To access these programs and receive the NYSUT Member Benefits discount, go to www.memberbenefits.nysut.org and click on Discounts.
For information about these programs or about contractual expense reimbursement/endorsement arrangements with providers of endorsed programs, please call NYSUT
Member Benefits at (800) 626-8101, visit www.memberbenefits.nysut.org or refer to your NYSUT Member Benefits Trust Summary Plan Description.
Agency fee payers to NYSUT are eligible to participate in NYSUT Member Benefits-endorsed programs.
“Problems come in many forms. So does the help NYSUT provides.”
That phrase sums up NYSUT Social Services, a confidential and comprehensive referral and resource information program for in-service and retired UUP bargaining unit members and their families.
“In keeping with our mission to improve the social and professional lives of our members and their families, NYSUT has developed this program to provide expert guidance in coping with some of life’s unexpected complications,” according to NYSUT promotional literature. “You make the call; we’ll do the research to find the piece of information or the service in your community that can make the difference to you or your family. There is no charge and there is no limitation on use. There is no question or concern that is unimportant to us.”
Working with agencies and providers around the state, NYSUT Social Services can help members:
• Manage hospitalizations, planned or unexpected;
• Find support groups or mental health services to fit members’ needs;
• Locate specialized services for persons with disabilities;
• Arrange assistance for victims of violence;
• Connect with services for the aging, such as geriatric centers and home companions, and provide guidance in care giving;
• Find information about specific diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, high blood pressure and diabetes;
• Locate debt counseling services; and
• Find help for marital and relationship problems or child rearing concerns.
For more information or assistance, contact NYSUT Social Services at (800) 342-9810 ext. 6206 or by e-mail at socsvcs@nysutmail.org.
There is a wolf in sheep’s clothing in the Senate’s recently approved health care reform package.
And if nothing is done, the wolf is going to take a financial bite out of many middle-class workers who, like UUP members, happen to have solid health coverage.
The Senate’s bill, which passed with so much fanfare on Christmas Eve, contains a 40 percent excise tax on health plans worth more than $8,500 yearly for individuals and $23,000 annually for families. For retirees ages 55 and older, the bill would tax individual plans worth more than $9,850 and family plans worth more than $26,000.
If you haven’t heard about this so-called Cadillac tax, you will, especially it if it becomes part of President Barack Obama’s health care reform bill. You’ll feel it through the tax, or more likely, through the ratcheting down of the quality of health coverage by employers to avoid paying the tax.
If this does become part of the federal health care package, you’ll end up paying higher out-of-pocket costs for co-payments for medical care. And don’t be surprised if quality dental and vision care coverage, as well as mental health and other higher-end policy benefits, become things of the past as employers seek to dodge the tax.
We should be alarmed because according to recent reports in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and other outlets, even President Obama has started pushing for the tax as a well-meaning compromise to bring the House and Senate bills in line. Millions of middle-class insurance policyholders would be affected by such a tax. Such a concession is giving away far too much for the sake of expediency.
The Cadillac tax is unacceptable and must be done away with.
The tax would take effect in 2013. Steadily rising health care costs would cause more and more plans—including health plans offered by many unions—to fall under the tax each year, according to information from the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).
The Congressional Budget Office projects that by 2016 the tax would be imposed on more than 19 percent of all U.S. workers with employer-provided health coverage—or roughly 31 million people. By 2019, as many as 27 percent of health plans would be affected, according to Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation.
As more and more health plans are swept over the tax threshold, more and more middle-class Americans could see their health care benefits diminish. And that could mean higher out-of-pocket medical costs for a majority of Americans, according to AFT data.
Tax proponents claim it would raise more than $150 billion in revenue over 10 years and significantly reduce the amount spent on health care—which they believe would drive down health care spending because higher out-of-pocket health costs could cause workers to think twice before going to the doctor. How’s that for a “savings” plan?
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) say otherwise. According to CMS, the Senate tax benefits would lower national health costs by a paltry 0.3 percent in 2019. Higher out-of-pocket co-pays may also cause some consumers to not seek necessary treatment, which could lead to higher health costs down the road.
Again, who reaps the “savings?”
So let me make this simple: the Cadillac tax would force the middle-class to pay more for their employer-provided health insurance or cause them to lose health benefits—benefits won by many unions during hard-fought negotiations that, in some cases, led to giving up wage increases and making other concessions.
This isn’t fair and it isn’t right. Cutting workers’ health benefits is a cut, no matter how you slice it.
The state is also a loser under the Senate’s health care bill. New York would have to shoulder more in Medicaid costs under the Senate’s plan, which would result in an annual budget hit of nearly $1 billion.
Overall, the U.S. House of Representatives has a much better way of handling health care reform. The House’s bill calls for a 5.4 percent surtax on incomes above $500,000 for individuals and over $1 million for those who file taxes jointly. The surtax would take effect Jan.1, 2011.
There are a few things that are certain in this life: death, taxes, and the annual income growth of the rich. Since 2001, federal tax cuts have disproportionately benefitted the richest 5 percent of Americans thanks to the Bush tax cuts. The wealthy should be made to hand over some of their tax gains instead of having a health benefits tax slapped on the middle class.
I’ve said my piece. Now it’s time to do your part. We need to you contact your Congressional reps and tell them in no uncertain terms that the Cadillac tax has got to go. Visit the UUP Web site for more information.
The time has come for health care reform. But let’s do it right—the first time!
NBC “Today” show weatherman Al Roker believes he wouldn’t be where he is today without his SUNY Oswego degree and the guidance he received from a pair of former UUPers who helped swing open doors in broadcasting for him.
“Dr. Lewis O’Donnell, he was a local broadcasting legend who played Mr. Trolley on ‘The Magic Toy Shop,’ set up my first job (interview),” Roker said during a recent phone conversation from the “Today” show set. “I was in Doc O’Donnell’s TV performance class and, at the end, he told me about a weekend weather job at (Syracuse TV station) WHEN. Soc Sampson, who was in charge of graphics at Oswego, helped me make two weather maps that I could draw on and we did tapes and sent them to the news director. I auditioned and I got the job.
“Doc always preached ‘Get your foot in the door,’ so I figured I’ll do this weather gig until a directing job opens up,” Roker continued, laughing. “I wouldn’t be at NBC today if it weren’t for SUNY Oswego. I’m very proud of that school and my SUNY education.”
Roker is in very good company. Over the years, thousands of SUNY graduates have gone on to make amazing achievements in science, medicine, business, broadcasting, journalism, entertainment and dozens of other fields.
SUNY graduates are Pulitzer Prize winners, doctors, astronauts, and war heroes. They are entrepreneurs who played roles in the development of the Apple Macintosh computer, SoBe energy drink, Jolt cola and the Internet social site, MySpace.
SUNY alumni are award-winning authors, and Grammy, Emmy, Golden Globe and Tony award winners. They are top executives at VH1, IMAX, A&E Television, Disney Cruise Lines, and the Gospel Music Channel. Two Brockport alums, Dave Trembley and Stan Van Gundy, manage the Baltimore Orioles and the Orlando Magic, respectively.
Politically, they affect change statewide, nationally and internationally. Fredonia graduate James Foley is the Ambassador-designate to the Republic of Croatia. Oswego grad Heraldo Munoz is the Chilean ambassador to the United States, while Oswego’s Marianne Myles is U.S. Ambassador to Cape Verde. And Cortland grad Ann E. Dunwoody is the U.S. Army’s first female four-star general.
“I had the opportunity to consider schools like Marist and Syracuse and I’ll tell you, it was a no-brainer for me when it came to going to Buff State,” said Tom Calderone, a 1986 Buffalo State graduate who is executive vice president and general manager of music video cable network VH1. “I was able to secure internships; I got individualized attention and hands-on experience. I mean, I was program director of the (school) radio station in my sophomore year.”
For Alex Storozynski, a 1983 New Paltz graduate who won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing and wrote “Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of Revolution,” SUNY was where he discovered his passion for journalism.
“New Paltz certainly helped my career,” he said. “It was the first stepping stone and a huge stepping stone. It was the first place I got real bylines and the first time I got state senators mad at me for things I had written.”
Alums like Storozynski and Roker know the value of a SUNY education, which explains the disdain they have for continued state cuts to the University, which amount to more than $410 million over the last 18 months. Such cuts have resulted in fewer classes and courses for students, and spurred hiring freeze and tuition increases.
“SUNY attracts great students who will hopefully stay and achieve success in the state,” Roker said. “You look at survey after survey, and when it comes to bang for your buck, you can’t do much better than SUNY schools.”
“Proper funding of SUNY is essentially creating an economic engine for New York,” said Storozynski, president and general director of the Manhattan-based Kosciuszko Foundation. “You’re not only giving jobs to people who work at the colleges, you’re creating a talented pool of employees who will go out and get better jobs. It’s an investment that pays for itself.’
Howard Permut, president of the MTA Metro-North Railroad, credits his Binghamton University degree in geology for giving him the skills necessary to pursue his career. Permut, a 1973 Binghamton grad, was part of the original team that created Metro-North in 1983 and has been instrumental in expanding the railroad’s service area, ridership and revenue.
“I had some really good professors at Binghamton who taught me how to think and analyze problems and situations,” Permut said. “They made you think about things in a much broader context than the right answer. It gave me a good background and the tools to go on to graduate school.”
Calderone, Roker and Storozynski all benefitted from the mentoring of memorable professors and the hands-on experience they got at SUNY, both in and out of class.
Storozynski, who wanted to be a diplomat, was drawn to New Paltz by a course to study the United Nations for a semester. He changed his career choice to law and settled on journalism after former UUPer and political science professor Alan Chartock, executive publisher of the Legislative Gazette —a state government newspaper featuring stories by SUNY students—spoke about an internship with the paper in class.
“I figured that attorneys should know how to write, so I took an introduction to journalism course and Chartock came in and said ‘If you’re a serious journalist, you should do an internship at the Gazette,’” said Storozynski. “So I did the (Gazette) internship and I got bitten by the journalism bug.”
“I don’t know of other undergraduate universities that have programs like that,” he continued. “At that time, Hugh Carey was governor and I got to go to press conferences, and I got to meet Mario Cuomo. What college student gets to go to press conferences and ask questions?”
Calderone, awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters by Buffalo State in 2008, felt the same way about his SUNY experience. Energized by UUPer Tom McCray, one of his communications professors, Calderone became program director of college radio station WBNY and turned it into an influential alternative rock outlet that was one of first in the country to air new music by U2, 10,000 Maniacs, R.E.M., and Goo Goo Dolls.
“10,000 Maniacs, they were like our house band and we’d have them play when we’d bring shows like R.E.M. to town,” said Calderone. “We had major record labels who would tell us that their artists would sell records because we played them. That’s why R.E.M. would play Buffalo four to five times a year.
“The classes I took and all the teachers there were so amazing and so connected to what was happening,” he said. “But working on the radio station and the television station was just as important.”
For Roker, his time at Oswego has proved invaluable; his SUNY education and the contacts he made at college led to his big break. Roker knows this, which is why he often returns to Oswego to speak to students. It’s also one of the reasons why he made a sizeable donation that led to the college’s student television studio being renamed in his honor in 2007.
“I believe in that school,” Roker said. “We don’t have a large football program, or the other things that engender school loyalty at other schools. At SUNY, you love your school because of your classes, your professors. It’s a summer evening on Lake Ontario, watching that sun set, or the fierceness of the winter snowstorms. It’s those things.”
On top of it all, Roker said, “These schools are economic engines that are going to fuel New York’s growth.”
SUNY graduates have gone on to achieve greatness in science, medicine, business, broadcasting, arts and entertainment, and dozens of other fields. There are Pulitzer Prize winners, astronauts, war heroes and top executives, many of whom credit SUNY for helping them get to where they are today.
Among the top-achieving graduates from SUNY’s 29 state-operated campuses are:
Albany—Gregory Maguire, author of the Wicked series, the basis for the Tony Award-winning Broadway hit musical;
Alfred—Brett Bodine, NASCAR driver;
Binghamton—Paul Reiser, writer/comedian/ actor, and Mario Paniccia, Intel inventor of world’s fastest silicon photonic chip;
Brockport—Justin Ziemniak, founder and editor of Computerlink magazine;
Buffalo—Terry Gross, host of NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and Wolf Blitzer, anchor of CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Reports;
Buffalo State—Lee Ann Daffner, conservator of photographs, Museum of Modern Art;
Canton—Fergal Foley, holds the two-star rank of Major General in the New York Guard;
Downstate Medical—Martin Friedlander, principal investigator, The Friedlander Laboratory at The Scripps Research Institute;
Empire State College— Caroline Kava, actress in Little Nikita. and Bob Wilbur, jazz saxophonist;
ESF—Ronald Eby, researcher/developer of child vaccines;
Farmingdale—Fernando Caldeiro, NASA astronaut;
Fredonia—Academy Award-nominated actress Mary McDonnell;
Geneseo—Glenn Gordon Caron, executive producer of TV series Medium and Moonlighting, and Greg Fox, artist/writer of nationally syndicated comic strip Kyle’s Bed & Breakfast;
Maritime—Scott Kelly, NASA astronaut and Space Shuttle commander;
Morrisville—Tom Steitz, former U.S. Olympic Team head coach;
New Paltz—James Dolan, chair and CEO of Cablevision Inc.;
Old Westbury—Maryann DeLeo, Academy Award-winning independent documentary film director/producer;
Oneonta—Sal Paolantonio, national correspondent for ESPN;
Optometry—Andrea P. Thau, first woman president of the NYS Optometric Association and NY Academy of Optometry;
Oswego—Linda Cohn, first full-time female sports anchor on a national radio network (ABC);
Potsdam—Renee Fleming, world-renowned soprano, NY Metropolitan Opera; and C.J. Rapp, creator of Jolt cola;
Purchase—Actress Edie Falco, Sopranos and Nurse Jackie, Jill Bargonetti-Chavarria, award-winning molecular geneticist, and actress Sherry Stringfield, ER and Guiding Light;
Stony Brook—Russell Lewis, retired CEO of The New York Times Co.; and Laura Schlessinger, host of the Dr. Laura radio call-in show;
UUP members around the state can help their union help their students by donating to the UUP College Scholarship Fund and encouraging students to apply for the one-time awards.
“UUP has awarded nearly 70 scholarships to deserving SUNY undergraduates, many of whom have said the $2,000 scholarship made it possible for them to continue their SUNY education,” said UUP Secretary Eileen Landy, the officer liaison to the UUP committees charged with selecting students and raising money. “These students have demonstrated academic excellence and a commitment to social justice. It would be a shame if they had to drop out because they couldn’t pay tuition.”
The deadline for students to apply for this year’s scholarship is March 1.
Up to four scholarships are awarded to full-time SUNY undergraduates who have completed at least 16 credit hours and who have a GPA of at least 3.75. Other criteria include a minimum of three letters of recommendation, a 500-word essay and proven service to the community.
A complete list of eligibility requirements and application are available on the UUP Web site at www.uupinfo.org.
There are a number of ways for UUP members to give to the scholarship fund. There have been several fund-raising efforts, ranging from basket and book sales, to contests and silent auctions.
The easiest way to give is to mail a check or money order, payable to the UUP College Scholarship Fund, to: UUP Director of Finance, c/o United University Professions, P.O. Box 15143, Albany, NY?12212.
UUP is mounting an aggressive advocacy drive, prompted by indications that this will almost certainly be a difficult budget year.
Gov. David Paterson left that impression in his State of the State address Jan. 6, when he said, “This is a winter of reckoning for New York.” He blamed what he called “cultures of addiction to spending” for leading the state into its current fiscal crisis.
As The Voice went to press, the exact scope of the challenge facing UUP was not clear, since the governor had not yet introduced his Executive Budget. Given the suggestion from the governor that all areas of state spending faced the budget knife, significant reductions in state support for SUNY appeared more than likely.
“We need to be and will be very visible in our budget fight this year,” UUP President Phillip Smith pledged. “More than ever, we need to educate lawmakers and the public about how valuable SUNY is to the future of this state and its economy to ensure the University is not undercut further by more budget cuts.”
The union’s advocacy drive in Albany was scheduled to begin Jan. 26, with members meeting state lawmakers to push for additional funding for the University. A series of advocacy days is scheduled through May. Smith urged members to join the effort.
“We can’t afford to have people sitting on the sidelines,” he said. “We need to have more people in the trenches fighting for the future of the University.”
UUP is also taking the battle for SUNY directly to the public in the form of a television and newspaper advertising campaign that begins this month.
Meanwhile, more UUP chapters are providing momentum for continued coalition building, aligning themselves with various groups and organizations to safeguard and broaden state support for SUNY.
The Purchase Chapter got into coalition building in a big way, co-hosting a campus forum with the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG). Titled, “Taking Back Our Education: A Student & Legislator Hearing,” the Dec. 10 forum zeroed in on the need for increased state funding for public higher education.
“SUNY has already taken an enormous hit from previous budget cuts,” UUP Purchase Chapter President John Delate told the forum, referring to the $410 million in state funding sliced in the last two years. “We understand these are challenging economic times, but SUNY has already taken more than its fair share of reductions. It’s more important to fund this economic engine rather than deplete it further.”
A crowd of about 75, mostly students, heard Delate make his case, along with three state lawmakers from Westchester County who attended. Students and faculty got the opportunity to address their concerns and questions to Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer (D-Mamaroneck) and Assembly members Amy Paulin (D-Scarsdale) and George Latimer (D-Rye). All three lawmakers pledged to work to ensure that public higher education receives proper funding. Delate said the groundwork for UUP’s cooperative relationship with NYPIRG grew from both organizations having worked together on a joint rally with CUNY faculty Oct. 27 in Manhattan.
UUP’s Cortland Chapter kept up its coalition building and advocacy activity. A four-member delegation from the chapter met with Sen. James Seward (R-Milford) in his district office to express their concerns about state support for SUNY.
Chapter President Jamie Dangler found that Seward empathizes with the union about the crisis facing the University.
“He stated SUNY isn’t the problem. It should be the solution,” Dangler said. He is concerned that SUNY will not have funds for basics like utilities in the coming year.”
Additionally, Dangler said Seward sought specifics about how the budget cuts are affecting the Cortland campus.
Dangler and Chapter Secretary Elizabeth Owens also reached out to build a coalition with the Midstate Central Labor Council at their December meeting. They handed out fact sheets about SUNY’s budget cuts along with a flier detailing Cortland’s economic impact on Central New York. The UUPers also broached the idea of having council members work with UUP to organize presentations to local legislators and community groups.
State employees are now protected against discrimination based on gender identity and expression following an Executive Order signed Dec. 16 by Gov. David Paterson.
The action comes as welcome news to UUP, especially in the wake of the Senate’s defeat of the marriage equality bill that would have legalized same-sex marriage in New York state. The union supports the Gender Expression Nondiscrimination Act (GENDA) as part of its 2010 Legislative Agenda, regarding it as an important social justice issue.
GENDA would extend anti-discrimination protections to the general population based on employment, housing, education, credit and public accommodations. It would also designate crimes committed against individuals because of their gender identity and expression as hate crimes.
GENDA has been approved in the state Assembly, but has not come up for a vote in the Senate. (Donald Feldstein)
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