It's legal to discriminate against grandma and grandpa
Jim Casey
2008-05-13 14:01:14
According to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), it is now legal to discriminate against senior citizens in this country.
This happened in late March when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a lower court decision in the case AARP vs. EEOC, which ruled the EEOC can implement a new regulation allowing employers to reduce health care benefits when retirees become eligible for Medicare and do so without facing age-discrimination charges.
The ruling allows companies to cut back or simply eliminate benefits, including earned lifetime medical benefits, committed to retirees once they turn 65 and are eligible for Medicare.
Many retirees across this nation, who voluntarily accepted lower wages during their working years in return for a commitment of supplemental employer medical benefits during their “golden” years, are beside themselves.
According to Paul Miller, executive director of ProtectSeniors.Org, “The government has opened the door to allow companies across America to dump the health care benefits of retirees over 65 with no repercussions.”
Miller’s group represents more than 45,000 corporate and municipal retirees from more than 20 industries and companies affected.
Signs are pointing to a significant financial crisis for America’s retirees.
Medicare doesn’t sufficiently cover seniors’ health care needs on its own.
At age 65, Medicare pays about 80 percent of medical bills, usually excluding pharmaceuticals. Making up that 20 percent and pharmaceutical cost can be extremely hard, especially if it requires buying supplemental insurance policies as an individual.
These types of policies are expensive and, in some cases, impossible to get, depending upon pre-existing medical conditions.
Employers who haven’t dumped their retiree medical benefits completely are significantly raising the premiums for those who want to maintain coverage. Adding hundreds of dollars per month to the bills of someone already living on a fixed income can be devastating, especially at a time when the cost of staple items such as food and gasoline are skyrocketing.
To make matters worse for seniors, Medicare’s viability as a safety net is questionable.
On March 25, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and trustees of the Social Security and Medicare System announced that the trust will have a negative cash flow in 2008. Assets are expected to fall below annual spending by 2013 and the fund to be entirely exhausted by 2019.
“The Social Security Program is financially unsustainable and requires reform,” Secretary Paulson said. “Medicare poses a far greater financial challenge than Social Security.”
Retiree leaders point to legislation now being debated by Congress that would provide retirees the security and assurance that they earned. The Emergency Retiree Health Benefits Protection Act (H.R. 1322) would prohibit employers from making post-retirement cancellations or reductions of health benefits to which retirees were entitled.
H.R. 1322 would make companies live up to the financial commitments made to their employees and retirees, without placing mandates on companies as to what health plans or monetary ceilings on the amount of retiree health benefits they are willing to provide.
According to the legislation, any changes to a health plan would need to be made before an employee retires.
Meanwhile, the powerful corporate America lobby on Capitol Hill is fighting to keep its hard-fought EEOC ruling in place.
As an issue that has a direct impact on the quality of life for millions of American seniors, and as the economy continues a downward spiral, it is vital to enact legislation that restores a degree of fairness.
For retirees concerned about the protection of their earned health benefits, it’s extremely important to let members of Congress know how economically important this issue is for their retiree constituents’ survival.
While it may currently be legal, it’s morally reprehensible for the federal government to sanction discrimination against America’s seniors.
Note: Mr. Casey is the chairman of ProtectSeniors.Org, a retiree of Verizon Communications and a resident of Fauquier County.