Ryan budget: harmful to retirees, workers The House of Representatives recently approved a proposed budget authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) that undermines working people. The Senate is not expected to consider this budget and was crafting a plan based on last year’s appropriations as the Retiree News went to press. While essentially a “political document,” many aspects of the Ryan budget are alarming to middle-class retirees and workers. The plan includes deep cuts in social programs that would be used to provide big, new tax cuts to the wealthy and boost military spending. The spending cuts in the more than $5.1 trillion budget would incapacitate over the next few years state and local governments, leading to massive cuts in vital public services and create enormous job losses that would threaten our fragile economic recovery. Bad for retirees The budget would end Medicare as we know it by turning the guarantee of medical care for seniors into an inadequate voucher for all beneficiaries. It would raise the age for Medicare eligibility to 67 for individuals born in 1959 or later. This change would increase costs for seniors, states and employer retiree health plans, which will be forced to bear the costs of private health insurance for an additional two years. It would also increase Medicare beneficiaries’ costs for prescription drugs and for recommended preventive care, including mammograms and prostate cancer screenings. The Ryan budget would also take an ax to the Medicaid program, cutting Medicaid by $732 billion – nearly 30 percent. This enormous cut would be on top of proposed cuts from repealing the Affordable Care Act’s federal support to states for expanding Medicaid. The ranks of the uninsured would increase, further stressing low-income individuals, hospitals and communities. States will be forced to eliminate services and reduce coverage. Because two-thirds of Medicaid expenditures are for low-income seniors and people with disabilities, states will be forced to make deep cuts in nursing home and other long-term care services for these vulnerable populations. Bad for families The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) projects the proposal would result in the loss of 3 million jobs next year. About 69 percent of the budget cuts come from low-income programs, while defense spending is increased by $483 billion. Funding for programs such as job training, public education, student loans, child care, infrastructure and health care research would be cut by at least 24 percent. SNAP (formerly food stamps) would be converted into a block grant and cut by an extraordinary $137 billion, threatening food security for the most vulnerable. Giveaways to big business The Ryan budget would reduce the top individual tax rate on the highest income Americans from 39.6 percent to 25 percent and reduce the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent. It raises taxes on middle-class families with children by an average of at least $2,000 to cut tax rates for households with incomes over $1 million. Ryan’s budget fails to identify a single special interest tax break that would be ended to reduce the deficit, such as those benefiting large oil and gas firms or offshore tax havens. Important information about NYSHIP and Medicare/Medicaid Advantage plans Continued from page 1 you become Medicare primary, you receive both your Medicare and NYSHIP benefits from that plan. During the year, NYSHIP retirees may receive solicitation mail from HMOs and private fee-for- service plans selling Medicare Advantage plans. These solicitations can be confusing as they may appear to be from the company that currently processes your insurance claims (example: United HealthCare or Blue Cross/ Blue Shield). Please be aware that many Medicare Advantage plans are NOT part of NYSHIP. It is important to understand that enrolling in a non-NYSHIP Medicare Advantage plan may negatively affect your NYSHIP benefits. If you or your dependent enrolls in a Medicare Advantage plan that is not part of NYSHIP, you may have very few or no NYSHIP benefits or you may be automatically disenrolled (CANCELLED) from your NYSHIP plan. Beginning in January 2013, the Empire Plan prescription drug coverage for Medicare-primary enrollees and dependents started being provided under Empire Plan Medicare Rx, a Medicare Part D prescription drug plan with expanded coverage designed specifically for NYSHIP. Empire Plan enrollees and dependents are automatically enrolled in Empire Plan Medicare Rx upon becoming Medicare-primary. Please note: You can only be enrolled in ONE Medicare Part D plan at a time. Therefore, enrolling in a Medicare Part D plan outside your NYSHIP coverage may drastically reduce your benefits overall. For example: • If you are enrolled in The Empire Plan with prescription drug coverage through Empire Plan Medicare Rx and subsequently enroll in a non-NYSHIP Medicare Part D plan, Medicare will terminate your Empire Plan Medicare Rx coverage. By terminating your Empire Plan Medicare Rx coverage, this will terminate all Empire Plan coverage for yourself and your dependents (Empire Plan hospital, medical/ surgical, mental health and substance abuse or prescription drugs). • If you are enrolled in a NYSHIP Medicare Advantage HMO and then enroll in a non- NYSHIP Medicare D plan, Medicare will terminate your enrollment in the NYSHIP HMO. Since the implementation of the Empire Plan Medicare Rx Program, Medicare requires more information to be sent by mail to Empire Plan retirees. If you are confused about a mailing you received and question whether or not it is from The Empire Plan, call The Empire Plan at 1-877-7-NYSHIP (1-877-769-7447). — Dawn Dugan SPRING 2014 3
Retiree News Spring 2014
To see the actual publication please follow the link above