My father is in his mid-80s and while he’s in good health for a man of his age, he’s got his share of pill bottles in the medicine cabinet.
If it weren’t for Medicare, which partially covers the cost of his much-needed medications, the out-of-pocket cost of my father’s prescriptions would run into the thousands of dollars every year.
But like all health care coverage, Medicare costs are on the rise; premiums have doubled over the last eight years and will double again by 2017 if action isn’t taken to stem that growth rate.
If health care reforms aren’t passed this year, all doctors in Medicare are expected to see a 21 percent cut in fees—which means that many doctors will stop seeing Medicare patients, according to Seniors to Seniors.com, a coalition of senior citizen advocacy groups advocating for health care reform. A link to the Seniors to Seniors site can be found on the AFT’s Retiree Web page, at www.aft.org/retirement/index.htm.
As more of us near the Medicare-eligible age of 65, these thoughts can send chills up the spine. That’s why seniors—and all of us—should embrace President Barack Obama’s proposed health care reform plan.
Don’t be afraid, this is good change. It’s about your health—and your life.
I’m proud and pleased that UUP delegates to the Fall DA overwhelmingly approved two resolutions supporting health care reform. One pushed for “meaningful health care reform” while the other asserted equal access to quality health care as a human right. Health care reform is imperative; it must occur so all Americans can have this necessary medical coverage.
Medicare, a program so important to millions of American seniors, will be made stronger in many ways under a health care reform package passed by the House of Representatives in November and a bill being debated by the Senate.
Before I get into the pros of health care reform, let’s dispose of the rumors:
• Health care reform will not create “death panels” that would deny care to seniors for savings. Insurance companies will not be making life-and-death decisions concerning you or your family.
• Health care reform will not cut any guaranteed Medicare services, such as doctor visits, hospital care or rehabilitation services.
• Health care reform will not cause doctors to stop taking Medicare. It’s just the opposite: doctors will be paid fairly, so they will continue treating Medicare patients.
And now, the good news.
According to Seniors to Seniors, the House and Senate bills both keep current Medicare benefits intact and improve coverage with services, like coordinating care for chronic conditions and setting lower costs for preventative care.
Prescription drug prices would drop—keeping cash in seniors’ pockets—by closing the coverage gap, or so-called “doughnut hole” under Medicare Part D coverage. Seniors are in the doughnut hole when their out-of-pocket drug costs exceed $2,700 for the year. Once there, they pay the entire cost of medications for the rest of the year until they reach $4,350—an unlikely scenario—when government subsidies restart.
Doctors will be paid fairly under health care reform, which will keep more of them in the system and make it easier to find a doctor if you don’t have one. Long-term care will be more affordable and there will be protections so spouses of those in long-term care won’t go broke paying for the service.
The quality of treatment and management of diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic conditions will be improved. And Medicare will be beefed up financially, in part by eliminating subsidies to private insurance companies, doing away with system waste and fraud, and ending hospital readmissions by offering follow-up care to help seniors return home and not be readmitted for the same issue in a few days or weeks.
Health care reform is good news for all Americans. A comprehensive public health care plan option will guarantee high-quality, affordable coverage for everyone.
Rising health care costs are putting a strain on family budgets and businesses, sucking away dollars that could be used to help pull the country out of the recession. President Obama’s reform plan will give all Americans affordable health care coverage for the first time, and provide many with the option to choose their coverage. Just as importantly, it will establish quality staffing standards that will improve patient safety and reduce medical errors.
You can help make health care reform a reality by telling your elected officials to support President Obama’s reform plan.
You can do that by going to the UUP Web site, www.uupinfo.org, and click on the large “Call to Action” box near the top of the home page. Once there, go to the bottom of the page and click on the AFT health care reform link. That will bring you to AFT’s online Legislative Action center page, where you’ll find a letter titled “Health Care Reform: The Time is Now!”
For seniors like my father, health care reform means more than lowered drug costs, keeping your doctor and improved care. It’s about peace of mind.
Juliette Price came to Oneonta with a year’s worth of college credit earned in high school and a goal to graduate in three years, which would give her a jump on finding a job and save her parents a full year of college tuition.
So much for best-laid plans.
Instead, Price, a junior pursuing a double major in anthropology and French, is going to be at Oneonta for an extra semester because she can’t get the advanced French courses she needs to earn her degree. According to Price, one teacher retired and fewer course sections are available. So she’ll have to wait an extra semester until the course she needs is offered.
“I was really frustrated when I sat there with my advisor and realized it wasn’t going to happen,” she said. “I didn’t take all those (high school Advanced Placement courses) for fun, I did it to help my family out and cut out a year of college, and I end up getting stuck anyway. It’s very discouraging.”
Price’s parents considered summer courses for Juliette, but they clash with her work schedule. And dropping French isn’t an option; after college, Juliette plans on working as a journalist covering international politics.
“It’s a sore point for me,” said Price’s father, Scott Price. “Higher education is tough enough to fund without having (the state) ship tuition money off for other purposes. Picking on higher education is regressive.”
Juliette’s situation isn’t unique. At campuses statewide, SUNY students are increasingly feeling the impact of $410 million in state cuts to SUNY over the last 18 months—including a whopping $90 million midyear slashing of the University’s budget in October that knocked SUNY funding to its lowest levels since the 1990s.
Courses have been cut and classes are packed at many campuses, while other schools are coping with a shortage of professors and an over-reliance on part-time faculty to fill the void. Still other campuses have seen cuts to services and increases in student fees. And SUNY students absorbed a pair of tuition hikes in the spring and fall that increased college costs by $620.
At Plattsburgh, the administration is considering cutting almost 70 jobs to cover an expected $3.8 million state aid gap. In November, Plattsburgh President John Etting informed full-time faculty that they may be asked to teach a fourth course or assume additional responsibilities in the upcoming spring semester.
Starting in fall 2010, all full-time faculty at Plattsburgh, except for those who teach only graduate courses, will teach a minimum of 21 credits per academic year. The move is a “temporary measure” to address the potential impact of the state’s $90 million midyear cut to SUNY.
Further, professionals who have been teaching for extra-service pay may be asked to teach one academic course per year—and have that duty built into their performance programs.
Plattsburgh student Jay Koo can relate. Koo, a student leader on campus, spoke out about the state cuts to SUNY at a student-led rally on campus in late October.
“I’m a child from the ghetto and the disenfranchised like me need an education,” he said. “These budget cuts are putting a lot of kids in jeopardy.”
UAlbany senior Samantha Bernstein was forced to take out more student loans to help pay for her education, a bill her parents are helping her cover. What irks her more than the increase is that 90 percent of the spring tuition hike went to help offset New York’s budget deficit. This year, 80 percent of SUNY’s tuition increase will go to the state; 20 percent will go to SUNY.
“I don’t think students would mind a tuition increase so much if they knew it was going back to their school,” said Bernstein, who, as a senior, had trouble getting required classes for the fall semester. “But I think this state university has become the ATM for the state, that we are who they go to when they need money to fill the deficit that they created. And the students carry the burden.”
Plattsburgh student Charles Meyers is also feeling the sting.
“I’m worried about larger class sizes and fewer course sections,” he said. “I’m already experiencing it in my psychology classes. Right now I have four classes with 50 people in them and they’re taught only once a week. The courses I need are not being offered or are only offered at the same time as other courses I need.”
Nancy Burton, whose daughter, Annie Leue, is a Fredonia freshman, can empathize. Even though Annie came to Fredonia with 30 credit hours earned in high school AP classes, Burton is already bracing for the possibility of paying for an extra semester based on the difficulty Annie had in getting courses. To compound that, her daughter’s three scholarships run out after four years—meaning that the proposition of a fifth year of college will be an expensive one.
“It’s infuriating to me that I’m paying tuition but it’s not going for tuition,” she said. “It’s going to support something else in the state that I’m already supporting with my tax dollars.”
“We have to invest in the state university system not only for our kids, but for the University to be recognized as a national leader,” she added. “We have it all here and we’re squandering it by not investing appropriately.”
UUP members are moving full steam ahead, building coalitions to preserve and expand state support for SUNY.
UUPers have aligned themselves with student government organizations at their respective campuses to participate in a series of student rallies to protest state budget cuts. The most recent rally took place indoors at SUNY Potsdam on Dec. 3 and attracted more than 200 people, including about 60 UUPers.
“All of us are very concerned about these devastating cuts,” said Potsdam Chapter President Laura Rhoads, who was among the speakers at the rally.
“We need you to ask your parents, grandparents and friends to contact their lawmakers through UUP’s Web site to express their concern.”
Potsdam Chapter members drew support from Canton Chapter President Dave Butler and Plattsburgh Chapter President Dave Curry. Curry told the protestors how state support for SUNY had plummeted since 1990, when the state provided 75 percent of SUNY’s operating budget. Now, he said, with the most recent $90 million budget cut, students for the first time are financing more than half of the University’s operating budget.
Two Potsdam-area state legislators came to the campus to demonstrate their backing of the University. Sporting their “SUNY is the $olution” buttons, Sen. Joseph Griffo (R-Rome) and Assemblywoman Addie Russell (D-Theresa)—both of whom proudly proclaimed themselves as SUNY graduates—emphasized the importance of a SUNY education and the need to restore funds for the University.
Two other North Country lawmakers received dozens of letters from Plattsburgh chapter members. Sen. Betty Little (R-Queensbury) and Assemblywoman Janet Duprey (R-Peru) received the letters from UUPers sent through the union’s Web site asking them to protect SUNY from additional budget reductions.
“Our legislators understand the value of Plattsburgh State to the local economy, and now our members understand the value of reminding our legislators just how much we actually contribute to the local economy,” Chapter President Curry said.
UUPers at Cortland didn’t just send letters. They got students to sign union-authored letters as a follow-up to an earlier student rally attended by UUPers.
“We received approximately 500 signed student letters to legislators from around the state and UUP members addressed them and mailed them to Albany,” said Chapter President Jamie Dangler. Student representatives also were invited to join chapter members at a meeting with Sen. James Seward (R-Milford).
Dangler also said her chapter enlisted the help of the campus CSEA local by having about 100 of their members sign letters to lawmakers. The UUP chapter enhanced its alliance with other local unions by attending a local labor coalition meeting.
UUP’s Buffalo Center chapter is in the midst of building coalitions, having formed an ad hoc advocacy group. Outreach Committee Co-chair Thomas Tucker said the group is working with other Western New York campus chapters, unions, student groups and local businesses to mount joint efforts to promote SUNY as a top budget priority. Among those they’re reaching out to are business owners who stand to lose the most from budget cuts to the University.
“We’re making efforts to communicate with local vendors on campus to show them how important SUNY is to their businesses,” Tucker said.
While coalition building continues, UUPers continue meetings with state lawmakers in their district offices. Seven members from Upstate Medical and Cortland met with Sen. David Valesky (D-Oneida) in Syracuse in early December, hammering away at funding for SUNY and its hospitals and fighting so-called “flexibility.”
“Health care and education should be the last and least to be cut, not the first and most to be cut,” Brian Tappen of Upstate told Valesky. The senator pledged to help as much as he can once he sees the governor’s proposed budget for 2010-11.
Statewide, UUP upped its efforts to reach out to parents, who are feeling the sting as much as their children are.
During Thanksgiving week, the union placed half-page ads in 129 weekly newspapers reaching 1.5 million readers in New York’s major metropolitan areas.
“We want parents of SUNY students to find out what’s going on at their child’s campus and to take action if the news is bad,” said UUP President Phillip Smith.
Playing the role of the shocked mother is UUP Secretary Eileen Landy. Her daughter is portrayed by Sally Frank, UUP’s legislative intern and a grad student at UAlbany.
UUP chapters are urged to participate in the union’s annual Legislative Information Day in The Well of the Legislative Office Building in downtown Albany.
Watch for dates and more details on the UUP Web site.
Legislative Information Day is an opportunity for UUP members to show state lawmakers what SUNY campuses do for the state and their home districts. Chapter members set up exhibits that showcase the educational and economic contributions they and their campuses deliver.
“This event gives UUPers a chance to convince legislators of the urgent need to prevent further reductions of SUNY’s state funding and restore at least some of the $410 million that SUNY has lost during the last two years,” said UUP Secretary Eileen Landy, who heads the union’s advocacy efforts.
More than a dozen lawmakers typically take advantage of the opportunity to address the crowd, pledging their commitment to public higher education and to UUP.
Members interested in attending should contact their respective chapter leader.
Legislative Information Day traditionally heralds UUP’s series of advocacy days in Albany that continue through May.
With state support for the University under attack, UUP has made the protection of public higher education its primary goal of its 2010 Legislative Agenda.
Protecting public higher education and full state funding of SUNY are the agenda’s two main focuses.
“It is critical that we keep the public in public higher education,” said UUP President Phillip Smith, noting that SUNY’s funding had been sliced by $410 million in the last 18 months. “These cuts prevent the University from achieving the goals in its mission statement: to deliver the highest quality education with the broadest possible access.”
The agenda recognizes that SUNY faces a major threat from a form of deregulation.
UUP is deeply concerned about SUNY’s strong support for so-called “flexibility” legislation, which would—in part—have the University rely more on public/private partnerships to raise money.
“It’s very dangerous to suggest that SUNY should become more entrepreneurial,” Smith said.
The new legislative agenda calls on state lawmakers to preserve the Legislature’s oversight of SUNY by spurning moves that would allow campuses to sell or lease state property and institute differential tuition.
The agenda also appeals to the state to safeguard the services provided by SUNY’s hospitals, as well as their public health mission.
Besides protecting SUNY, UUP’s 2010 Legislative Agenda continues to support a variety of social issues, including:
Reforming the state’s regressive tax structure;
Supporting paid family medical leave for all New Yorkers;
Protecting access to SUNY for employees and students with disabilities;
Supporting fair pay for all New Yorkers; and
Approving marriage equality legislation.
The agenda will serve as a broad, general listing of legislative goals. Material with more specific legislative targets will be updated to meet the needs of the union’s advocates as developments warrant.
SUNY campuses will be bearing the brunt of the $90 million midyear budget cut.
That’s the upshot of a decision made by the SUNY Board of Trustees at its Nov. 17 meeting. The board voted unanimously to amend the SUNY budget and remove $50 million of state funding from the campuses. Of that, System Administration, the statutory colleges and University-wide programs lose a combined $17 million. The remainder of the cut—nearly $23 million—will come from the University’s fund balances, but only as a one-time resource.
UUP President Phillip Smith said that while he’s pleased the board is finally tapping some of its reserves to cope with the budget shortfall, the campuses are paying a heavy price.
“The campuses have already absorbed much of the earlier cuts. This latest hit will make a bad situation worse, sparking more course cancelations and increasing the chances that more students will be unable to graduate on time,” Smith said. He recommended that the better alternative would have been to take more from the University’s reserves to help minimize the effects on the campuses, and not limit the practice to a one-time maneuver since the reduction is recurring.
In other action, the board displayed its determination to pursue so-called “flexibility,” passing a resolution in favor of the concept that would allow—among other things—differential tuition and leases of campus property without legislative oversight.
“We can’t be a party to a proposal that would unravel SUNY as a system,” Smith warned. “Differential tuition would allow campuses to raise tuition at will, limiting access to those students for whom public higher education is their only alternative. Allowing campuses the unfettered right to lease their property removes opportunities for future expansion of academic programs and services.”
The flexibility initiative would require legislative approval. So far, the Legislature has not voted in favor of such proposals, and UUP’s goal is to convince lawmakers to continue that stance.
Without any public discussion, the board also voted in favor of authorizing SUNY’s Downstate Medical Center—the home of the Brooklyn Health Science Center—to acquire the financially ailing Long Island College Hospital.
The vote followed a board committee’s approval of the acquisition, again with no public debate. Such a transaction would have to be approved by the state health commissioner.
The board also submitted its annual budget request to the state. The 2010-11 request totals $2.17 billion, down from this year’s request of $2.37 billion.
But the request includes a nearly $116 million increase in state support for SUNY’s hospitals.
Additionally, the board sought another tuition increase, which would hike tuition by $100 annually to $5,070 beginning in the fall of 2010.
The Legislature will have the final say on both the SUNY budget and the proposed tuition increase as part of the overall 2010-11 state budget that is due April 1.
UUPer Kenneth O’Brien was elected last spring to a two-year term as president of the University Faculty Senate.
An historian of modern America at SUNY Brockport, O’Brien has served the University Faculty Senate on several committees, including the SUNY ad hoc Committee on System-wide Assessment. He is also the author of numerous history books, and he is the recipient of two Chancellor’s Awards for excellence in teaching and faculty service.
In an interview with The Voice, O’Brien shared his goals for the Senate and how he looks to tap UUP’s expertise in advocating for SUNY.
The following is a summary of his comments:
Q: What is the No. 1 concern of the Faculty Senate?
A: There has been a national trend of disinvestment in public higher ed that began in the mid-1980s. The work we do is critically important to society. We serve a diverse state and international population, and we are committed to offering the highest possible quality public higher education in the nation.
Q: What is the Faculty Senate doing to reverse this trend?
A: We are working to make certain that the people of our state have a clearer understanding of the value we have added to our economic prosperity and quality of life. We have increased the human capital through innovative research and by skilled practice. We are doing this by participating in SUNY’s strategic planning process, and by creating alliances that seek to better the common good through a better-educated public.
I want to talk with union leadership about common goals, particularly as we begin to work toward greater advocacy for the University this winter and spring.
Q: Does being a UUPer help you as Senate president?
A: The union has been the steward of our common working conditions for decades, providing a powerful reminder of what we have in common, what we share as educators. For me, that reinforces my own work in the shared governance, which I see as working to articulate our shared passion for the work we do, the students we teach.
Q: Any parting thoughts?
A: Many taxpayers have long supported public higher ed, but have never earned a single college credit or stepped foot on a college campus. We have asked them to provide a healthy portion of the resources needed to do our jobs. What we must remember is that we owe them not only our best work, but a frank understanding of the consequences of fewer resources. No one should believe we can do more with less, because we can’t. But whatever the constraints, faculty will do all we can because we are committed to teach, to research, in other words, to educate.
Despite hours of impassioned, emotional speeches, the state Senate Dec. 2 defeated a bill that would have achieved marriage equality by legalizing same-sex marriage.
The bill failed by a vote of 38 to 24, with eight Democrats joining all Republican senators voting down the bill. The state Assembly had approved the bill earlier in the year.
The Senate vote marked the first time that chamber had debated and voted on the issue. In prior years, the Assembly approved the legislation, but the Senate had refused to consider it.
Delegates to UUP’s 2009 Fall Delegate Assembly passed a resolution in support of the marriage equality legislation.
Marriage equality is expected to come up again during the 2010 legislative session, and UUP will fulfill the wishes of its delegates by working to gain approval for that legislation.
For the first time in nearly a decade, working men and women have a seat at the table.
AFL-CIO and AFT leaders were invited to join economic experts and business leaders at the Dec. 3 White House Jobs Summit convened by President Obama. The goal: to share ideas on how to spur job growth.
The summit was held as the country’s unemployment rate was a staggering 10.2 percent and forecasters didn’t see the situation getting any better in the near future. The day after the summit, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that workers without a high school diploma are unemployed at a rate of 15 percent, while women-headed households have an 11.4 percent unemployment rate. For black and Hispanic workers, the unemployment rate is 15.6 percent and 12.7 percent, respectively.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka’s message to the president was straightforward: More than 15 million unemployed Americans want jobs, and they want them now. In a breakout session, “Encouraging Business Competitiveness and Job Creation,” Trumka shared the AFL-CIO’s five-point plan for immediate job creation. The plan includes increasing aid to state and local governments to maintain vital services, creating jobs by repairing and building infrastructure, and putting Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds to work for Main Street, not Wall Street.
“America’s jobs situation would be even more dire without the economic stimulus program President Obama and Congress enacted, which has saved or created one million jobs,” Trumka said. “But the depth of this crisis demands that we do more—and that we do it now, before more people lose their jobs, their homes, their health care and their hope.”
A more detailed look at the AFL-CIO’s plan can be found at www.aflcio.org. There are also links to e-letters urging Congress to act quickly to implement the plan.
Meanwhile, AFT President Randi Weingarten drove home the point that students don’t get a second chance because the economy is bad—and they need their teachers in the classrooms, not on the unemployment lines.
“By convening this important jobs summit, President Obama showed he clearly understands the vital role that job creation and preservation play in calming the troubled economic waters,” Weingarten said.
State and local officials, civic organizations and citizens around the country will have a chance to weigh in following community-based jobs summits.
As The Voice went to press, President Obama was awaiting further input before unveiling his latest plan to accelerate job growth.
— Karen L. Mattison
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