National Nurses United

STOCKBYTE Social Security 2_FNL with art 12/9/10 10:31 PM Page 19 ty coalition points out, "Over the last quarter century, life expectancy of lower-income men increased by one year compared to five years for upper-income men. Lower-income women have experienced declines in longevity. Yet, the higher retirement age applies to rich and poor, healthy and sick, alike. In effect, the proposal says to lower-wage workers that they must work longer because the rich are living longer." According to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office, any raising of the retirement age for Social Security can be expected to disproportionately hurt low-income workers and minorities, and increase disability claims by seniors no longer able to work. On Medicare, the commission co-chairs' recommendations and much of the media commentary overlook the fact that it is not the escalating cost of Medicare that is causing the program to suffer but rather the constantly soaring costs of healthcare that is pushing Medicare costs steadily upward. Although the recently passed healthcare reform measure is said to make some inroads in lowering healthcare cost, halting its upward trajectory is a task yet to be undertaken. "In reality, healthcare cost inflation and insufficient tax revenues are by far our biggest long-term budget challenges," concluded researchers Harry Ballantyne, Lawrence Mishel, and Monique Morrissey in a study published by the Economic P olicy Institute. "More than half of our healthcare is paid for by the government, so this projected growth rate of healthcare costs would eventually lead to serious budget problems in addition to leading to enormous problems for the private sector," said Baker, the economist. "However, the underlying problem is the broken healthcare system, not public-sector healthcare programs. This subtlety also seems to have escaped Simpson and Bowles." Simpson and Bowles are not the only ones attacking Social Security and Medicare. On Nov. 17 former Clinton budget director Alice Rivlin and former Republican Senator Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico released a report from a separate deficit reduction commission they headed. Their Social Security plan would simultaneously increase revenue by gradually raising the amount of wages subject to payroll taxes and cutting benefits for certain groups of beneficiaries, among other things. On Medicare, the Rivlin-Domenici plan would turn it into a "premium support" program that would limit the rate of increase of federal spending per beneficiary. The plan envisions saving $123 billion by increasing Medicare premium costs. The proposal also calls for slowly raising the eligibility age for Medicare to 67. Huffing ton Post Senior Washington Correspondent Dan Froomkin wrote that under the Rivlin-Domenici plan, "after 2018, Medicare beneficiaries would either be forced to pay out of pocket for any and all cost increases more than 1 percent greater than the growth r of ate the economy – or they would be invited to leave the government program entirely and find private insurance instead. That would no longer be Medicare as we know it—or as future retirees expect it." Just who are these characters purporting to "reform" these landmark programs? The backgrounds of the principals involved in targeting Social Security gave good indication where this was all headed. Bowles, a Democrat, is president of the University of North Carolina and sits on the board of Morgan Stanley and General Motors. His wife, Crandall Bowles, is on the board of JPMorgan Chase, which prompted Matthew Skomarovsky, co-director of the Public Accountability Initiative, to refer to the couple as "two of the biggest beneficiaries of the government's financial welfare over the past two years." NOVEMBER 2010 Simpson is a former Republican senator who has campaigned for more than a decade for cuts in Social Security benefits, has attacked AARP for defending Medicare, and has said things like: "We've reached a point now where [Social Security] is like a milk cow with 310 million tits! Call when you get honest work!" And: "I've spent many years in public life trying to stabilize that system while people like you babble into the vapors about disgusting ' attempts at ageism and sexism' and all the rest of that crap." Rivlin is former vice chair of the F ederal Reserve under Alan Greenspan. She joined Peter Orszag and others in issuing a 2004 Brookings Institution report calling for $47 billion in entitlement cuts, including an "increase in the retirement age under Social Security" and "more accurate inflation adjustments to Social Security benefits." The point of view of the AFL-CIO has been consistent since the idea of establishing a commission was first broached: The way to cure the deficit is to create well-paying jobs, which increases tax revenues. "The chairmen of the deficit commission just told working Americans to 'Drop Dead,'" AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement. "Especially in these tough economic times, it is unconscionable to be proposing cuts to the critical economic lifelines for working people, Social Security and Medicare." He noted that it was hypocritical for the same people who want to slash the two social programs to clamor for more tax cuts for millionaires. "Working families already paid for Wall Street's party that tanked our economy," the former mine workers union leader said. "If we actually want to address our economic problems, we need to end tax breaks that send American jobs overseas and invest in creating jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and green technologies." A letter pledging to vote against any potential Social Security benefit cuts, privatization schemes, or increases in the retirement age has been signed by 136 members of Congress and sent to the White House. It was released Oct. 21 by Rep. Raúl Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona. "We've been saying for months that there's simply no reason to cut Social Security, and now we see just how much support we have across the country," Grijalva wrote in the letter. "The uninformed and misguided belief that it will reduce the deficit is dangerous for America's current retirees, working families, and students who will soon enter the workforce. Social Sec urity is a fundamental compact between the government and the American people, and it's not on the negotiating table in this Congress or the next Congress. Social Security is not a gift, it's a fundamental part of our social fabric and national support network." NNU RN leaders said they are proud that the union has taken an out-front role in the effort to protect Social Security and Medicare from privatization or reduced benefits. "I have real worries about the future generations," says RN Burger. "I have had conversations with young people who say they never thought Social Security was going to be around when they come to the end of their working years. I tell them these are benefts they i should be able to count on. In reality, younger people should be able to feel it is a guarantee, that it will be available when they need it. Social Security is not in any trouble that cannot be overcome with a few minor tweaks in the system." "Those who would reduce Social Security and Medicare benefits are counting on us giving up without a f ight," she added. "We shouldn't let that happen." Carl Bloice is a freelance writer based in San Francisco. W W W. N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N AT I O N A L N U R S E 19

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