FLARA'S MONTHLY NEWSLETTERS AND REPORTS BY JENNIFER KENNY, ARA STATE ORGANIZER FOR FLORIDA
CRITICAL ACTION:
HUMANA LIES TO SENIORS ABOUT MEDICARE ADVANTAGE & HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM On Tuesday, Sept. 29 at 11:30 am, The Florida Alliance for Retired Americans (FLARA) and allies will tell Humana that seniors will not tolerate these lies and scare tactics.
Fact:
•HUMANA just made national news when it was sanctioned by CMS (a Federal agency) for *falsely* warning seniors that health insurance reform would cut their health care benefits. •Currently the federal government pays private insurance companies like HUMANA, on average, 14% more for providing coverage to clients than it would to pay for the same client under traditional Medicare. HUMANA profits from wasteful overpayments to Medicare Advantage programs and wants to keep it that way.
WHO: Florida Alliance for Retired Americans (FLARA) and allies
WHAT:Rally & press conference at Humana office to stop the lies and scare tactics
WHERE:HUMANA office -2056 Vista Pkwy, West Palm Beach
WHEN:Please arrive at 11:30 am
For more info, contact Tony Fransetta, FLARA (561-792-8799) or Jenny Kenny (321-277-9385)
August arrived and FLARA members were ready for another month of non-stop action!President Fransetta continued to encourage members to contact their elected officials to advocate for health care reform.Members were asked to call, visit and write their congressional and senate leaders.Members took up the call to action all over the state. In Tampa and Ft. Myers, FLARA members, Labor and Community partners met with Senator Nelson’s staff to discuss Health Care reform.Our statements to staff did not change since our July visits.In Jacksonville and Tampa, FLARA members attended Health Care reform rallies hosted by our coalition partners.
In Orlando, President Fransetta addressed a crowd of over 1000 activist who came together to share their common interest in health care reform.At this same event, President Fransetta participated in a panel with SEIU Executive Vice President Mary Kay Henry and Congressman Alan Grayson (D, FL 8).President Fransetta also participated in Rabbi Barry Silver’s community forum on health care hosted at Temple Bethel-Gor-ba-Dor.
In the Panhandle, Barbara DeVane, FLARA Recording Secretary traveled from Tallahassee to Pensacola talking to Central Labor Council leadership about health care reform and the need to organize their retirees into clubs.Ms. DeVane was instrumental in organizing a very successful health care town hall meeting in Tallahassee.
Speaking of town hall meetings!The 5th Annual FLARA affiliate Delray Beach club Health Care Forum was held on August 20.Over 500 FLARA members and friends packed into the South Co. Convention Center to hear presentations by Congressmen Alcee Hastings and Robert Wexler.Both Congressmen support health care reform.Rick Ford, President of FLARA affiliate, Floridians for Health Care showed a very informative power point presentation on Single Payer.Mr. Ford followed the presentation with a few educational remarks.Barbara Easterling, newly elected President of Alliance for Retired Americans gave remarks that were well received by all attendees.She encouraged the audience to think about their legacy to their families and future generations.Three police departments worked in unison to assure the speakers were not disrupted.President Fransetta asked for police support to ensure the safety of the attendees.There were however protest across the street that did not interfere with the event inside.CNN, Aljeezra, local television stations and newspapers from West Palm, Ft. Lauderdale and Miami all covered this event.(Please see FLARA web site for all printed stories).
If all this was not enough, President Fransetta gave numerous press interviews including two radio guest spots.And he traveled to Washington D.C. to appear before the Progressive Democratic Caucus to discuss Health Care reform strategy.
FLARA members from around the state did their part for Health Care Reform all summer long.At this writing neither Congress or the Senate has passed a bill.I am hopeful by the time you read this newsletter; you will have a health care plan that is good for all Americans.
FLARA'S MONTHLY NEWSLETTER - JULY
JULY
Newsletter
August 2009
Florida Alliance Holds Annual Convention
The annual Florida Alliance for Retired Americans convention was held in Orlando on June 1 and 2. It was attended by over 60 delegates from across the state. After opening with the Pledge of Alliance and roll call, elections were held for officers. The slates for Union Executive Vice Presidents and Community Executive Vice Presidents were unchallenged. Congratulations to all elected officers! Thank you for your volunteer commitment to FLARA. Over the course of the two days, a number of elected officials spoke to the convention. State Senator Gary Siplin (D-19) gave a legislative update. State Representative Joseph Abruzzo (D-85) made an important health care presentation. The delegates were delighted to have our friend Debra Booth, District Director for Congressman Alan Grayson (D-8) give a federal legislation update. Ms. Booth was also able to answer questions on behalf of Congressman Grayson. Other state elected officials included Scott Plakon (R-37) and Mike Horner (R-79). Both men made informative comments and delegates were left with an understanding of how and why they voted against most of the FLARA legislative agenda in the recent Florida legislative session. Unfortunately, State Representative Bryan Nelson R-38 was unable to keep his commitment to speak. Rep. Nelson had a family emergency that could not be postponed. While the convention delegates were disappointed, all wished Rep. Nelson and his family well in their time of need for understanding. Ed Coyle, Executive Director of the national Alliance for Retired Americans delivered the message that we must continue to be active in legislative and policy debates, particularly on health care and Social Security debates. Concerning health care, the Alliance advocates for closing the donut hole, no means testing for Medicare, government negotiating drug cost with pharmaceutical companies, and absolutely no tax on a person’s health care benefits. On the topic of Social Security, while privatization is not at the top of the list in Washington D.C., there are still those who would opt for Social Security privatization. Executive Director Coyle cautioned delegates to continue to be speaking out against privatization.
Other noted speakers included: Steve Protulis, Executive Vice President, Elderly Housing and Development Operation Corporations (EHDOC); Janet Conner, AFL-CIO; Edward Chester, AFSCME; and Bonnie Reiter of the National Elder Abuse and Guardianship Victims Task Force. The delegates were also brought up to date on FLARA business that included President Fransetta’s report, Treasurer Marna Davidson’s financial report, Harold LaBell’s Trustees Report, Regional Director Bill Cea’s regional report, area Vice President’s and club reports and Alliance field organizer Jennifer Kenny’s organizing presentation.
FLARA Members Attend Legislative Conference in Washington From June 15-18 over 500 Alliance for Retired Americans members from across our nation attended the national Alliance’s 2009 Legislative Conference. Florida’s delegation was the third largest of all states in attendance.
Our members were motivated by prominent speakers during the general sessions, educated on a variety of topics during breakout /workshop sessions, and enjoyed the camaraderie of fellow retirees from across our state and nation.
In addition to the plenary sessions and training workshops, everyone at the conference traveled to Capitol Hill to meet with elected officials from their state. To meet with both U.S. Senators from Florida, we split our delegation in two.
We advocated for a comprehensive health care reform bill that includes a public plan option, does not tax health benefits, allows early retirees the option to buy-in to Medicare, and requires employers to provide benefits through a "pay or play" system. We also addressed the need for meaningful long-term care legislation such as Senator Kennedy’s proposed Community Living Assistance Services and Support Act of 2009. Also known as the CLASS Act (S.697 & H.R.1721), it would help Americans better afford the daunting costs of long-term care. FLARA members worked hard at this four-day conference but left energized and prepared to continue advocacy efforts for all seniors.
Health Care Reform: Time to Finish the Job
Barbara J. Easterling
President, Alliance for Retired Americans
Thank you to all who attended our recent Alliance Legislative Conference. Nearly 550 retirees came to Washington to lobby their elected officials on health care reform and participate in workshops and trainings to strengthen their grassroots organizing skills. It was a great conference, and I am encouraged by the progress we are making. Think about it – in less than one year we have elected a pro-retiree, pro-worker President, helped put health care front and center in the national debate, and organized hundreds of lobby visits in our states and at the U.S. Capitol. But we are a long way from the finish line. Now comes the hard part – converting opportunity into results. It is time to finish the job.
So what can we do? I have four ideas:
First, continue to lobby your elected officials;
Second, write a letter to the editor of your local paper, highlighting some of the issues that are important to retirees in the health care debate;
Third, educate your neighbors on health care and where your elected officials stand; and
Fourth, encourage everyone you know to become involved with their state and national Alliance to help make health care reform a reality.
I am so impressed by the work Alliance members are doing around health care. You bring such incredible energy, enthusiasm, and passion to your work. We must continue to educate and mobilize our neighbors this summer. Our country will never be a just society until every American has access to quality, affordable health care.
Grassroots Activity to Reform Health Care
Florida Alliance President Tony Fransetta and Palm Beach/Treasure Coast FLARA area Vice President Mark Boston were joined by a group of FLARA affiliates on Tuesday June 23 at Senator Nelson’s West Palm Beach office. The purpose of the visit was to educate the Senator on the Alliance’s health care viewpoint. Staff warmly greeted all and comments were duly noted. The same week, President Fransetta joined a group of FLARA and community activist for a Health Care Rally on Thursday evening West Palm Beach. FLARA area Vice President Donesa Jackson organized two meetings with Senator Nelson’s staff at the Orlando office. Both meetings were well attended by FLARA affiliates.
Mark Your Calendars: FLARA Board Meeting, September 17
Please mark you calendar and plan to attend the next quarterly board meeting. The meeting will be held on September 17 in the Tampa/Busch Gardens area. All FLARA members and guests are encouraged to attend. Please call the FLARA office at 561-792-8799 for more details.
FLARA Members’ busy July!
All throughout July Florida Alliance members stayed busy lobbying Senator Nelson’s district offices in South, Central and North Florida.We met with Sen. Nelson’s staff to discuss Health Care reform and how important changes to Medicare such as closing the donut hole, adding long term care such as the CLASS Act, and to allow Medicare to negotiate cost of prescription drugs.We also stated our strong support to allow folks 55 to 64 years old to buy-in to Medicare.This will ensure that they have adequate medical care prior to entering the program at age 65.It will also keep Medicare cost down because these folks will not have to wait to seek medical professional care if they need it.In addition to the Medicare items mentioned, we addressed our concern over taxation of benefits for our working families.We are opposed to taxing working families who need their health care benefits and in fact sometimes take a job or stay with an organization strictly because the company provides health insurance.Sometimes this insurance is at the cost of pay raises and/or promotions.Finally under real health care reform we want all employers to provide health insurance for their employees and if they do not they should be directed to pay into a Public Option system—we call this “pay or play”.Public Option will level out the cost of all health insurance charges because it will create a competition amongst all the providers.
On July 9, Tony Fransetta wrote an Op-Ed concerning Congresswoman Brown-Waite’s untrue allegations concerning health care reform.Tony’s op-ed plainly stated that the Congresswoman needs to “stop scaring seniors”.This article was published in the Palm Beach Post as well as on the AFL-CIO blog page.
FLARA members also met with Congressman Grayson’s staff in Ocala Florida, (D-8).Again we voiced our opinion concerning all the health care related items in the paragraph above.
Tony Fransetta, President of Florida Alliance for Retired Americans had an opportunity to make a youtube video concerning Single Payer Health Care.President Fransetta also worked with Floridians for Health Care, a FLARA affiliate on multiple Single Payer events in early July.
FLARA members also participated in Health Care reform sign waving events in Crystal River and Tampa.
To wrap up July, the Alliance declared a “week of action” from July 27 to 31.To kick off the week the Alliance hosted two nationwide conference calls.Alliance members learned about the importance of health care reform as it applies to seniors and had an opportunity to ask questions.Florida Alliance members participated in droves!Please keep checking both the national and state web sites to be sure you are included in these types of calls.This entire week was directed at health reform action items.We wrote letters and opinion editorials to the editors of our local papers.In fact Tony Fransetta, Vivian Silbiger and Don Badie all had their letters printed! FLARA leadership also had radio opportunities.President Fransetta participated as a call-in guest to a St. Pete radio station.Ernie Hartless, FLARA area VP for Jacksonville hosted a call in radio show to high light health care reform.As you all know, July 30 marked the 44th Anniversary of Medicare.In Jacksonville, FLARA members and affiliates came together for a commemorative breakfast.Local members, Bunny Baker and Karen Hazlett cooked and served up a wonderful feast.FLARA area VP, Ernie Hartless addressed the group about the history of Medicare, and the importance of advocating for improvements to Medicare.Informational fliers were shared on upcoming health care reform and a conversation ensued that addressed some frightening myths that have been directed at seniors. In Tampa, Bob Meeks FLARA area VP hosted a sign-waving event with his fellow Teamster retirees.
Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, 12773 Forest Hill Blvd., Suite 211, Wellington, Florida President, Tony Fransetta Telephone: 561-792-8799; fax: 561-792-8798
