Health Insurance No Relief for Cancer Patients; American Cancer Society and Kaiser Foundation Study Shows

The American Cancer Society and Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation recently released a report, Spending to Survive: Cancer Patients Confront Holes in the Health Insurance System, that highlights 20 devastating cancer patient stories about their trouble finding and maintaining adequate and affordable health insurance.

These stories depict five key findings about the gaps in the private health insurance system and how patients with serious illness may incur serious financial debt even when they have coverage.  Also, cancer patients who are unable to work due to their illness may lose their employer-sponsored insurance.   It is imperative for individuals to have economic security and adequate access to health care in times of illness.

Read the entire report (large PDF file): Spending To Survive

UNIONS INFLICTING LABOR PAIN ON GOV

By Brendan Scott

ALBANY – Little more than a month into his first legislative session, Gov. Paterson has come under a ferocious attack from organized labor – earlier, bigger and more personal than those that buckled his predecessors.

Recent Press Releases from Our Members

TAKE ACTION NOW ON THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY BILL

2/4/09
Last week, the House passed an economic recovery bill that will go a long way toward providing much-needed relief to Americans who need it most.

This is great news, but it’s only the first step in passing this crucial legislation. Now the ball is in the Senate’s court.

Help ensure that the Senate makes this economic recovery bill stronger – with funding that provides real relief for older Americans.

Click here to tell your Senators to act quickly on the economic recovery bill – and tell them how they can improve it.

This issue isn’t just politics to AARP members – it’s personal. Older Americans have been among the hardest hit by this economic crisis. Thankfully, the bill the House passed would address the most immediate, day-to-day needs of those who need relief now.

But this legislation will evolve in the coming days, as the Senate gets to work. AARP will be working hard to make sure this bill gets even stronger – by improving a provision that would help protect home- and community-based care services and providing seniors who no longer work with sorely needed additional economic relief.

The truth is your Senators hear from plenty of Washington insiders. It’s at times like this when a simple letter to your Senators might mean the difference between making these improvements and not. With your voice, AARP is 40 million strong, and together we will be heard loud and clear.

Tell your Senators to include older Americans as they work fast on the crucial economic recovery bill.

As our nation faces this critical challenge, thank you for all your hard work in making sure older Americans get the relief they deserve.

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NY Must Fund Breast Cancer Screening!

We Can’t Afford to Back Down From the Fight Against Breast Cancer—Especially in Tough Economic Times.

The Cancer Services Program (CSP) offers lifesaving breast, cervical and colon cancer screening to people without health coverage in every county of New York. Operating through 47 Partnerships–a network of more than 5,000 hospitals, clinics and doctors’ offices, they provide the only hope of cancer testing for New Yorkers with little or no insurance.

SAVE LIVES and MONEY, DIAGNOSE CANCER EARLY Detecting cancer early, when it is most treatable, saves lives and it also saves money. The New York State Department of Health estimates the cost of the Cancer Services Program in the last year was offset by $46 million in savings due to early detection.

DON’T TURN YOUR BACK ON THE UNINSURED! As more people lose their jobs and health coverage in this recession, the demand for these services is growing. The CSP needs $29 Million, the same amount spent on services in FY 2008-09. And still, it won’t be enough to meet the need. It’s estimated that 550,000 New Yorkers are eligible for CSP services. Last year, 80,500 were screened, that’s less than 20%.

TAKE ACTION
The Governor’s budget proposes $20.7M FY09-10, we need the Legislature to invest $8.3M more, otherwise thousands of women will be turned away from lifesaving cancer screening in the coming year.

For more information, click this link:

http://action.acscan.org/site/DocServer/CoalitionFlyer2.pdf?&docID=10802

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Feb. 4, 2009
Statement of CSEA President Danny Donohue in response to GOER Director Gary Johnson’s testimony before the legislative fiscal committees.

ALBANY – “CSEA is surprised and angered to learn during a public hearing that the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations is preparing for concession bargaining with the state employee unions. The administration has apparently not heard CSEA’s repeated statements that we will not re-open contracts.

It is insulting and counterproductive that the Director of GOER would make a matter of fact public statement to the Legislature about such a plan when in fact there has been no discussion with CSEA on the subject and our position has already been made clear.
For the record, let me also address misinformation regarding CSEA-represented employee salaries and benefits. Today, the average CSEA state employee earns a salary of less than $40,000. Out of that he or she pays 25 percent of their family health insurance coverage (10 percent for individuals), which amounts to several thousand dollars annually. Employees with less than 10 years of service contribute three percent of their salary annually towards their pension. The average CSEA member’s pension from the state retirement system is about $14,000 after 30 years of service. Out of their salaries, CSEA members also pay the same income and property taxes as other New Yorkers.

Local government and school district employees represented by CSEA have even lower average salaries and the vast majority have the same benefit and pension requirements and tax demands.

At the same time, CSEA members are working hard every day to provide services for New Yorkers and they are working in increasingly difficult circumstances without a lot of help coming their way.

CSEA does not apologize for trying to maintain a little dignity, respect and fairness for our members when we say no to concession bargaining and no to regressive new taxes and fees that will hit working people disproportionately.”

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President’s Perspective – February 9, 2009

Covered Lives Assessment is Bad Policy

by President Hughes

On February 3rd, the Legislature took action on Governor Paterson’s Executive Budget proposal. The proposal was designed to cut $1.6 Billion from the current 2008-2009 state budget. The purpose of the document was to address a budget shortfall in the current fiscal year, ending March 31st.

Unfortunately, the legislature agreed to pass the Governor’s proposed increase in the covered lives assessment. The assessment is basically a tax on health insurance policies that insurance companies pass along to employers. Eventually, the cost is passed down, and thrust upon employees. This tax raises the cost of health insurance, makes it harder to negotiate health care benefits, and is in direct conflict with the goal of providing affordable, universal health care.

The covered lives assessment, in effect, penalizes employers that provide health insurance for their workers, and lets employers that do not provide insurance, completely off the hook. In addition to providing a free ride to irresponsible employers, it raises the costs on responsible employers who furnish health insurance for their workers, and raises their cost of doing business. As a result, jobs are eventually cut, thus raising the number of unemployed workers across the state. Of course, with this comes a dwindling tax base and faltering local economies.

The formulas for the covered lives assessment affect everyone statewide, but it particularly hurts downstate employers and employees that have multi-employer plans. The NYS AFL-CIO has long opposed this misguided and irresponsible means of raising revenue and we are deeply disappointed that the covered lives increase was passed over our long standing objections.

We will continue to work with the Governor and Legislature to make sure that this latest increase will not be passed along to working men and women who already find it difficult to pay for health insurance. And we will work to ensure that employers who do not provide benefits meet their responsibility, and pay their fair share.

As far as the initial budget cuts go, many hard won labor programs were hit. These include workplace literacy, health and safety, education and training, displaced workers, domestic violence others.

There were also cuts in health care programs for the recruitment and retention of employees, and sweeps of funding from many important programs. On this issue, funding was cut to the Power Authority, and as a result, will reduce the number of low-cost energy programs to be provided to employers.

The NYS AFL-CIO understands that some cuts had to be made. However, before any more are considered, it is imperative that a progressive income tax system be created that will fairly raise revenue. In addition, we must ensure that basic labor protections and principles are protected from future cuts. Examples include: the elimination of contractual benefits and reducing pensions of current and future public employees; cutting job creation programs and benefits of our building and construction trades; the elimination of prevailing wage; and cutting other programs that working families rely upon.

We also cannot allow any “anti-stimulus” cuts, such as the slashing of public education, health care, higher education and infrastructure investment. Cuts such as these would inflict permanent damage on this state’s economy and infrastructure. New Yorkers deserve better.

On the same day these cuts were enacted, I stood before the legislature with labor leaders from around the state who represent every sector and geographic region, demanding a fair and progressive income tax system. We sent a strong message that everyone in the state needs to share in the pain of this budget.

We need to be aware that the covered lives assessment and this first round of cuts were only the beginning. There will be difficult decisions to be made until a budget is agreed upon, and it will take all of our combined efforts to get through this historic economic downturn.

I am confident that together, our unity, solidarity and shared sense of purpose will lead us out of this economic debacle, while setting a course for a brighter future for our members and all New Yorkers.

We will continue to keep you updated in the coming weeks and months as we work to protect the well-being of all working men and women. And we will be calling on each of you to join your brothers and sisters in this most historic endeavor.

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Union to Lawmakers: Use Stimulus Dollars

New York Teacher, February 3, 2009

Hundreds of educators came from around the state – many boarding pre-dawn buses – for an Extraordinary Committee of 100 lobby day to tell their local state lawmakers just how damaging the governor’s proposed cuts would be.

They talked about tens of thousands of layoffs, the loss of crucial programs and how important it is to keep education a priority when the economy is in crisis.

Gloversville retiree John Mazur told Sen. Hugh Farley, R-Niskayuna, how his 50-year-old sister-in-law recently was laid off and depending on a “Bridges” program at the local community college.

But at a time when higher education and retraining is needed most, higher education aid is on the chopping block to balance the 2009–10 state budget.

“We don’t underestimate the seriousness of this once-in-a-lifetime financial crisis. But we also can’t discount the hard truth that the very future of a generation of students teeters on the edge,” NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi said at the Feb. 3 event.

“Rather than massive cuts that would lead to tens of thousands of layoffs, ballooning class sizes and elimination of critical programs, we must aggressively seek federal aid from Washington and ask the most affluent New Yorkers to pay their fair share of taxes.”

Under the governor’s proposal, aid to schools would be cut by $2.5 billion, when factoring a $1.9 billion allocation the state is required to pay schools under terms of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit.

The proposed $20.7 billion education package – a 12 percent reduction from the amount promised to address the CFE court decision – would hit schools with a double whammy: devastating program cuts on top of unimaginable cuts in school staffing.
“Cuts to education are the wrong choice to help us out of this economic crisis,” NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan Lubin said. “In the 1930s, the government spent more to spur the economy. This (administration’s solution) is to kill off our workforce. We can’t survive this in public education.”

Layoff projections

As school boards and administrators struggle to craft budget proposals using the governor’s figures, layoff projections are growing. Joel Klein, chancellor of New York City schools, told lawmakers more than 15,000 educators would face layoffs.
On Long Island, 3,400 school district positions, as well as 2,900 private-sector jobs at school-supply firms and other businesses, would be on the chopping block. The pain would stretch across the state. Officials in Rochester and Orange County are projecting more than 500 school layoffs. Cuts in Yonkers could reach 600.

Younger, non-tenured teachers are particularly vulnerable. “This would be devastating for me,” said Rob Walsh, a third-year teacher and member of the United Federation of Teachers in New York City. “I struggled to be a teacher. I always wanted to be able to give back to the community. More importantly, the children would be losing so much.”
Also facing layoff, Claudia Campa, an elementary school counselor and member of the Yonkers FT, worries about the effect on students.

“There is a great need for our services,” she said, “but because we cannot meet the need, children will suffer.”

Union response

The state’s fiscal dilemma is prompting an extraordinary union response. NYSUT’s Legislative Department has been in nearly round-the-clock discussions with lawmakers.
Local leaders and members have sent thousands of faxes from the online. NYSUT Action Center.

This month, the statewide union is launching an unprecedented television and radio ad campaign with a message supported by economists and the public: Damaging cuts to our schools, colleges and health care can be avoided by asking the wealthiest to pay their fair share.

Economists estimate restructuring the state’s personal income tax policies could generate up to $6 billion in needed revenue.

In numerous meetings with NYSUT activists, several state lawmakers appeared open to the idea of raising the income tax. Assembly Education Committee Chair Cathy Nolan said support was building and urged activists to tell their personal stories to their elected representatives about how cuts would hit home.

“I’m totally in favor of (raising) the personal income tax to avoid these cuts,” said Sen. Neil Brelin, D-Albany.

NYSUT members urged lawmakers to put the impending federal stimulus to use to restore funds to the state budget. “These cuts will not only be harmful, but they’re unnecessary,” Lubin said. “The federal stimulus funding we’re anticipating will be retroactive, so it makes no sense to cut when help is on the way.”

House leaders passed an $819 billion federal stimulus bill in late January, with Senate leaders expected to vote early this month. Congressional leaders hope to have a bill to President Obama by mid-February.

Lubin said the current plan would bring approximately $17 billion to New York over the next two years. “That gets us about halfway to closing the state budget gap,” he said.

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2/5/09 – OMCE Testifies at Legislative Budget Hearing: OMCE President Barbara Zaron joined leaders of the state’s major public employee labor organizations yesterday in testifying at a Legislative Joint Budget Hearing on the Governor’s 2009 Executive Budget recommendations affecting the state workforce. Acknowledging the state faces a serious financial situation, Ms. Zaron said the Governor’s proposals to deny state employees their contractual and statutorily provided salary increase, to impose another salary deferral and to increase the amount employees and retirees pay for health insurance are not the right way to approach the problem. “OMCE is fully prepared to work with the Governor and Legislature to identify and implement alternate proposals,” she said. “At this time of severe economic strain, with increased demands on government programs and services, we should be doing everything possible to most effectively use our workforce to serve all New Yorkers who need help, not reduce the workforce and, thereby, the help we can provide.”

Full Text of Ms. Zaron’s Statement: Zaron Statement

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February 4, 2009

To Our Leaders and Members:

As you know, the Senate Majority Leader, Assembly Speaker and the Governor announced agreement on a deficit reduction plan (DRP) to eliminate the $1.6 billion anticipated deficit to close out the current fiscal year.

The agreement reached does not address the $13 billion deficit for the next State Fiscal Year beginning April 1st.

Our preliminary analysis indicates that only one item, a 50% cut in the Parole hypertension study, affects PEF members. It is possible that the Governor could impose further across the board state agency cuts without legislation, but there is nothing so far that confirms this has occurred.

The Governor’s press release cites $135 million in savings by spending controls in 2008-09, but it appears these savings are the result of actions that have already been taken.

We will continue to review the DRP in more detail to determine if there are any actions beyond those the governor has already taken that may adversely affect our members.

Additionally, I would like to take this opportunity to encourage our members to lobby their legislators to oppose the governor’s budget proposals that cut our jobs, pay, and benefits, and promote our revenue options that can be used to pay for the restorations we propose.

In Solidarity,

Kenneth Brynien,
President

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Video Statement on Retail Lay-Offs

Click here for the Interview

Investments and Jobs for a Greener New York

Jerome Ringo, President, Apollo Alliance

“The new color of urban renewal is green,” stated keynote speaker Jerome Ringo at a conference hosted by the New York City District Council of Carpenters and the Urban Agenda on Monday, February 2nd. Mr. Ringo, president of the national Apollo Alliance, shared his thoughts on the new green-collar jobs plan and on how the pending economic stimulus will affect workers and job-seekers in New York City. BALCONY, the Business and Labor Coalition of New York, has long backed the Apollo Alliance and the green programs that have emerged from the national energy self-sufficiency debate. “Green collar jobs are the new highway to middle class stability, just as unionized blue and white collar jobs were right after World War II,” said BALCONY director Lou Gordon.

Mr. Ringo, who worked in the Gulf Coast petrochemical industry for twenty years, primarily as a shop steward pressing issues of environmental justice and workplace safety, is the first African-American head of a national environmental organization. He told of attending various events during the Obama Inauguration, where he heard Obama’s loud and clear message, “Labor, Welcome back to Washington, D.C.”

Click here for details: Investments

UFT Delegate Assembly Approves Union’s School Governance Task Force Report

The report in its entirety can be found as a PDF file at: UFT

The report in its entirety can be found in an exciting eBook format at: UFT eBook

Recommendations Include Continuing Mayoral Control of Schools
With Modifications to Present Law

The Delegate Assembly of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) Febraury 4th voted overwhelmingly to approve a report by the union’s School Governance Task Force that recommends reauthorizing the current school governance law with a series of modifications. In its report, the task force proposes measures that would establish institutional checks and balances, and more voice for the people closest to the kids – their parents and their educators.

Obama Signs SCHIP Law, 400,00 Uninsured Kids in New York State Get Covered

Special Message from the American Cancer Society

I’m writing with exciting news for the American Cancer Society community nationwide and for everyone involved in the fight against cancer. With the stroke of a pen, President Obama has signed into law a measure that will save lives by lowering smoking rates and reducing tobacco consumption while giving millions of uninsured children access to quality health care.

The new law expands the successful State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by increasing the federal cigarette tax by the largest amount ever, to a total of just over $1 per pack. The increase will prevent more than 900,000 smoking-related deaths, deter nearly 1.9 million children from smoking, and encourage 1.4 million adults to quit.

This victory is the result of years of leadership on tobacco control issues by your American Cancer Society and its advocacy affiliate, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN). ACS CAN launched the current push to increase the federal tobacco tax in 2007, and with the strong support of cancer advocates nationwide we convinced elected officials from both political parties to pass this bill.

On behalf of the American Cancer Society and ACS CAN, I want to thank you for your efforts in the fight against cancer. I also want to challenge you to continue the fight by helping to convince elected officials and policymakers to support laws and policies that increase funding for cancer research, expand access to cancer prevention and early detection programs, strengthen tobacco control policies, and ensure insurance coverage of lifesaving cancer screening tests and treatments. Information on how to join us is in the accompanying box and at www.acscan.org.

Victories like this one remind us that we have accomplished much, but that we have a lot more work to do to defeat cancer. Thank you for your continued support.

John R. Seffrin, PhD
Chief Executive Officer, American Cancer Society
Chief Executive Officer, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network

State Unions Reject Pay Concessions

Paterson sought to block raises to cut budget gap

by Jay Gallagher

ALBANY – A piece of Gov. David A. Paterson’s plan to plug a $13 billion budget deficit appeared to fall out Wednesday when union leaders opposed his ideas of scrapping a pay hike for state workers and having them work five days without pay.

At a legislative hearing on the budget, the union leaders and Paterson’s top labor negotiator said they had not started negotiations about the idea, even though the raise is to take effect April 1 under Paterson’s budget plan.

Fran Turner of the Civil Service Employees Association said her union’s leadership had a brief discussion about the idea with state officials.

“We told them we could not and would not open our contract,” she said.

Under Paterson’s proposal, state workers would forego a planned 3 percent raise scheduled for April 1 and also would defer pay for five days of work next year until they left state service.

Those steps would save about $301 million, according to Matt Anderson, a spokesman for Paterson’s Budget Division.

The CSEA president also said the door is closed to such talks.

“The administration has apparently not heard CSEA’s repeated statements that we will not reopen contracts,” union President Danny Donohue said.

The union signed a four-year deal with the state in 2007 calling for 3 percent raises in April of 2007, 2008 and this year, and a 4 percent hike in April of next year. Most other major state unions have similar deals, which the state claims are now untenable because of the budget shortfall caused by the Wall Street collapse and the national recession have sent state tax revenues plummeting.

But union leaders said the Legislature can’t change the terms and conditions of work for their members that have been set under a contract.

“By unilaterally submitting legislation altering the terms and conditions of our contract, the governor has breached our formally executed and binding agreements,” Philip Smith of United University Professions told the lawmakers. “In effect, the governor is asking you to be a party to a process that is illegal, unconscionable and patently unfair.”

If the governor’s proposal is not changed, Smith predicted that no future contracts with the state will have any credibility.

Anderson said Paterson agrees that the unions would have to agree to the wage freeze and five days of deferred pay before they could be implemented. All state workers already have a weeks’ salary deferred until they quit or retire – a step taken in a state fiscal crisis in the early ’90s.

The average state worker earns $59,717 a year – up 8 percent in the last two years, Lise Bang-Jensen of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, a conservative think tank, told lawmakers.

She said when the cost of fringe benefits are added, an average of 45 percent of salary, the cost per worker to taxpayers is $86,858.

Paterson also proposed cutting the state work force by about 3,100 workers next year, to about 196,000, mostly through attrition. He has the power to do that without the unions’ approval.

He also wants to make some retirees pay a bigger share of the cost of their health insurance. The state now picks up 90 percent of the cost for all retirees who had more than 10 years of service.

He also proposed reducing pension benefits for newly hired workers – a step the Legislature has to approve, like the change in the retiree health care costs, but doesn’t have to be negotiated with the unions, Anderson said.

$1.6B deal closes deficit

Current budget gap filled; $13B shortfall looms in 2009-10 spending plan

by: James M. Odato and Irene Jay Liu

ALBANY — In their first real test since taking control of state government, Democratic leaders passed budget bills Tuesday that will close the $1.6 billion budget deficit in the current fiscal year. At the same time, their actions raise concerns that closed-door dealmaking remains the status quo at the Capitol.

Lawmakers join CSEA, PEF in seeking better accountability in economic development proposal

ALBANY – New York’s two largest state employee unions today offered an alternative to Gov. David Paterson’s plan to merge the state’s major economic development programs into a public benefit corporation. Key state lawmakers also voiced concern about ensuring better oversight and accountability for the state’s economic development programs.

“At a time when taxpayers should be demanding more accountability and transparency in government, the governor’s plan will only move us deeper into the shadows,” said CSEA President Danny Donohue.

“He’s creating the ultimate off-budget shadow agency,” added Ken Brynien, President of the New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF). The union leaders comments echoed testimony on the governor’s budget proposal to merge the Department of Economic Development (DED) and the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR) – into a shadow agency – the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC).

In testimony prepared for the Senate Finance Committee and Assembly Ways and Means Committee, the union leaders reminded lawmakers that a similar proposal was rejected by the Legislature in 1997 because of concerns over public accountability, the transfer of agency regulatory powers to a public benefit corporation and the elimination of legislative oversight.

The union leaders were joined by Assembly members Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester), Susan John (D-Rochester) and Peter Abbate (D-Brooklyn) who indicated they have similar concerns.

“We have to stop transferring power to these unelected, unresponsive bureaucracies,” Brodsky said. “The decision on who gets tax breaks, who issues debt, and who gets taxpayer money are questions for elected officials. This proposal is heading us in the wrong direction.”

Recognizing the need for government efficiencies to address the state’s budget crisis, union officials asked lawmakers to consider a union proposal to merge the state’s economic development programs under the Department of Economic Development, instead. They said their plan would allow the programs to remain under a state agency rather than a public authority, thereby preserving accountability and transparency.

“Consolidating these three entities into the Department of Economic Development will achieve the benefits of consolidation while protecting employees and the public,” Donohue said.

“Placing DED at the helm of a merged economic development agency would ensure a more cost effective, accountable and transparent entity,” said Brynien. “The public interest would be safeguarded by the DED’s leadership and staff, ensuring that state economic development resources are invested wisely and ethically.”

Mid-Year Cuts for Community Colleges Averted

Midyear cuts threatened for SUNY and CUNY community colleges have been averted thanks to vigorous and persuasive advocacy by NYSUT and its higher education affiliates.

As state lawmakers prepared to act on a deficit reduction plan Tuesday, NYSUT legislative staff were reporting that the union’s concerted push on behalf of community colleges has staved off Gov. David Paterson’s proposal to impose 10 percent midyear cuts on community colleges.

NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan Lubin reported that the union’s message – that community colleges are needed more than ever in an economic downturn – found a receptive response from lawmakers, who refused to go along with mid-year cuts of $11 million at SUNY and $4.2 million at CUNY. “Now our work will focus on the governor’s proposed cuts for the 2009-10 budget,” Lubin said.