RMAC members met with Andrea Autobee, Senior Congressional Aide to Representative DeGette in her Denver office. We reviewed the RMAC 2010 Agenda.

Catastrophic Coverage for Medicare:

We stressed that this is unfinished business that the health care reform bill did not take care of. In fact, the bill created discrimination against Medicare recipients, because those under age 65 will have catastrophic coverage when the exchanges open in 2014.

Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate Formula:

DeGette agrees that a permanent fix to the SGR formula is needed. Andrea will find out if Representative DeGette has a specific solution in mind and inform us. If she has a proposed solution, RMAC can help spread the word to our members and in our meetings with other legislators and their staffs.

Medicare Negotiation of Drug Prices:

Hazel Floyd pointed out that HR 684, introduced in January 2009, would have given Medicare the ability to negotiate drug prices, but this did not go anywhere, and the provision was not included in the health care reform bill. Joe Halpern pointed out that the Federal government is paying for the closing of the doughnut hole in Medicare D without having the ability to control drug prices.

We described to Andrea how we are keeping our fellow retirees informed about the health care reform bill and the aspects of the bill that can impact retirees. Barbara Wilcox writes a column for the AUSWR newsletter, The Retiree Guardian. She also dispels myths in the emails that get circulated. Barbara agreed to share with Andrea the information she has gathered to dispel the myth that employees would have to pay income tax on the value of their employer-provided health care.

President’s Bipartisan Commission on Entitlements:

RMAC is monitoring the work of the Commission, because we oppose anything that threatens the survivability of Social Security and Medicare. There is a growing tide to increase the age when retirees can begin collecting Social Security to 70. This may be inevitable for future retirees. RMAC opposes any cutting of benefits for current recipients

Pension Protection:

The group reviewed the role of ERISA in protecting pensions granted by corporations and the protections that need to be added to ERISA.

We suggested that our next meeting with Andrea might be a conference call with the health care and Social Security specialists on DeGette’s Washington DC staff. We also invited Andrea to attend the regular RMAC meetings.

Notes written by Barbara Wilcox