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NRLN’s Advocacy on Capitol Hill Fly-In

Representatives from four retiree associations and three chapters will participate in the NRLN’s September 25-27 Fly-In to Washington, DC to advocate key retirement issues on Capitol Hill. 

The associations are Alliance of DTE Energy Retirees, AT&T/Ameritech/SBC Retirees (AASBCR), National Chrysler Retirement Organization, and TelCo Retirees Association. The NRLN chapters include Arizona Chapter, Lucent/Nokia Retirees Chapter and Utah Chapter.

The NRLN Board will meet from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon on Monday, September 25 at the Holiday Inn Washington Capitol Hotel. Monday afternoon will be devoted to a briefing session on lobbying issues. Tuesday and Wednesday (until time to depart of airport or train) will be devoted to appointments on Capitol Hill to advocate issues important to retirees.  The issues include:

  • Protect Retirees in Pension Plan De-risking: When “de-risking” occurs with the purchase of an insurance annuity pension, plan participants lose the protection of the Pension Benefits Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) and Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The NRLN’s proposal is to protect beneficiaries by requiring a secondary insurance policy in case the initial insurer defaults. Requests will be made to introduce a bill with the NRLN’s proposed statutory amendments to  ERISA that will provide protection for pension plan participants whose pension is converted to an annuity.

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MEDICARE AND YOU HANDBOOK 2023

Need a copy, download it here.

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The NRLN 2024 Legislative Agenda

Click here to access the NRLN 2024 NRLN Legislative Agenda which has a set of legislative proposals developed to address concerns of retirees who retired from more than 400 U.S. companies and public entities. The full agenda focuses on retirees and on Income Security (including Social Security) and Healthcare Security (including Medicare). The agenda is revised annually and as new issues arise.

Each year, agenda proposals are fully reexamined and prioritized and the top proposals are supported by detailed White Papers and brief Executive Summaries and/or Position Papers.  A set of one-page Talking Points is also developed for each of the top priorities, and they are used as a lobbying aid in Washington, D.C. and throughout our Grassroots Network in all 50 states.

Annual preparation, prioritizing of objectives and grassroots lobbying have proven to be effective and economical ways to represent retirees and, has earned recognition for the NRLN as an effective retiree advocacy organization.

Bill Kadereit, President
National Retiree Legislative Network

Bill Kadereit Quoted in Article on IBM Retiree’s Lawsuit

Bill Kadereit, President, NRLN

A November 19, 2023 article in The Register reported that George Adomavicius, who worked for IBM for 42 years before retiring in October 2020, has personally filed a lawsuit against his former employer claiming its recent healthcare benefit changes represents age discrimination.

Adomavicius chose to sue on his own rather than hiring an expensive lawyer, “To correct a wrong.” 

The alleged wrong is the employee benefits transition that IBM announced on September 14, 2022. The corporation shifted medical coverage for Medicare-eligible IBM retirees to a new IBM-sponsored Medicare Advantage program run by UnitedHealthcare, as of January 1, 2023.

As The Register previously reported, IBM’s health benefits transition angered some retirees because it withheld Health Reimbursement Arrangement/Account (HRA) subsidies – credited to retirees during their time at the company – from anyone who refused to select one of the two new Medicare Advantage plans and preferred to retain their traditional Medicare supplement plan.

Steve Bergeron, another former IBM employee, started a petition to convince the company to let retirees choose their healthcare plans without forcing the issue by denying HRA funds. He managed to collect more than 3,500 signatures though ultimately gave up, according to The Register article.

NRLN President Bill Kadereit told The Register that the NRLN has been involved in a similar health benefits transition with Tennessee Valley Authority retirees. After trying to convince the State of Tennessee and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which administers Medicare, to intervene, the NRLN is seeking a statutory remedy with Congress.

The article reported that Kadereit argued this state of affairs is being allowed to happen by Congress to avoid tough decisions about how to deal with spiraling healthcare costs. And business accounts departments like it because there’s profit to be made.

“What Congress was trying to do is privatize Medicare. And the way they do that is to subsidize the insurance companies to put them in a market advantage, thus cannibalizing their own plan Medicare.

“And now Medicare Advantage plans have a 54 percent market share and their incurred cost per enrollee is nine percent higher than the old fee for service costs. So what Congress is doing is avoiding having to talk about taxes because it affects electability.”

Click here to read the article in The Register. 

President’s Forum 149 – Full Disclosure Medigap Pricing, New This Year!

Social Security and Medicare programs both continue to face significant financing issues according to the annual Social Security and Medicare Trustees’ report issued March 31, 2023.

Based on the Trustees’ best estimates, this year’s reports show that:

  • The Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund will be able to pay 100 percent of total scheduled benefits until 2033, one year earlier than reported last year. At that time, the fund’s reserves will become depleted and continuing program income will be sufficient to pay 77 percent of scheduled benefits.
  • The Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund is projected to be able to pay 100 percent of total scheduled benefits through at least 2097, the last year of this report’s projection period. By comparison, last year’s report projected that the DI Trust Fund would be able to pay scheduled benefits through at least 2096, the last year of that report’s projection period.

Your Continued Help Is Needed: Please make your annual contribution of $35, $50, $75 or more. Any amount you contribute will be appreciated. Make your check or money order payable to NRLN, Inc. and mail it  to the NRLN at 601 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Suite 900 | South Building, Washington, DC 20004-2601. Or, make your contribution with your credit card or PayPal at by
CLICKING THE BUTTON BELOW. 

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NRLN CHAPTERS

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NRLN Grassroots Network

NRLN Grassroots Network is the name for having support from NRLN members to respond to Action Alerts plus having Region, State and Congressional District leaders to support the NRLN’s Washington, D.C. lobbying efforts.

NRLN Provides New “Report Card” Feature on Members of Congress.  Do your Senators or Representative support bills that help retirees?

Bills for Commission Provide Political Cover

Use NRLN Action Alert to tell your members of Congress don’t pawn off spending cuts

In the News

The articles and opinion pieces below are for information and are not necessarily a reflection of the NRLN’s position on issues.

The NRLN is nonpartisan and its positions on retirement issues are presented in its Legislative Agenda and white papers that can be accessed from under the Legislative Agenda tab on the website main menu.

Finding a doctor who specializes in senior care is hard. Here’s why. By Carly Stern, The Washington Post – March 17, 2024

The Complete History of Social Security, From Inception to Today By Kristin Hitchcock, 24/7 Wall St – March 16, 2024

U.S. Senator Marshall, colleagues urge Senate Leadership to act to reduce prescription drug prices By Shayndel Jones, WIBW – March 16, 2024

A look at healthcare spending trends in Medicare households By Paige Minernyer, KFF Health News – March 15, 2024

Retiree association outraged over Verizon pension buyout By Rob Kozlowski, Pensions&Investments – March 15, 2024

Trump clarifies he will ‘never do anything’ to ‘jeopardize’ Social Security and Medicare By Ryan King, New York Post – March 14, 2024

HHS Sec. Xavier Becerra tells Senate that Biden’s FY25 budget request would strengthen Medicare “beyond our lifetime.” The Recount – March 14, 2024 

Social Security Head Promises to End Overpayment Error  By Suzanne Blake, Newsweek – March 14, 2024

Exclusive: Social Security Chief Vows to Fix ‘Cruel-Hearted’ Overpayment Clawbacks By Fred Clasen-Kelly – KFF Health News and CMG TV Stations – March 13, 2024 

U.S. prescription drug market in disarray as ransomware gang attacks By Joseph Menn and Daniel Gilbert, The Washington Post – March 13, 2024

Biden pounces as Trump eyes cuts to Social Security and Medicare By Steve Benen, MSNBC – March 12, 2024

Medicare Doc Pay Cut Eased as Biden Signs Federal Spending Bill By Kerry Dooley Young, MedScape, – March 12, 2024

Advocates and Lawmakers Call for Changes to Medicare’s Coverage of Alzheimer’s Treatments By Brendon Scanland, WENY News – March 12, 2024

Biden budget aims to bolster Social Security, raise taxes on stock buybacks, corporations  By Courtney Degen, Pensions&Investments – March 12, 2024

Biden’s Budget Rejects Any Cuts To Social Security and Medicare By Keerthi Vedantam, Kiplinger’s – March 11, 2024

Trump hints at changing his mind about ‘cutting’ Social Security and Medicare By Misty Severi, Washington Examiner – March 11, 2024 

Trump vs. Biden: Where 2024 presidential candidates stand on Social Security, Medicare By Lorie Konish, CNBC – March 11, 2024

How Big Pharma is fighting Biden’s program to lower seniors’ drug costs By Tom Room, The Washington Post – March 11, 2024

Biden vows to protect Social Security, Medicare and ‘make the wealthy pay their fair share,’ in State of the Union By Lorie Konish, CNBC – March 8, 2024

PhRMA seeks to revive Medicare price negotiations lawsuit, blasts Biden’s request for IRA expansion By Fraiser Kansteiner. Fierce Pharma – March 8, 2024

Biden said ‘working people’ pay more into Social Security than millionaires and billionaires — do you? By Alessandra Malito, MarketWatch – March 8, 2024

What Would Raising Social Security’s Retirement Age Mean For Retirees? By Steve Vernon, Forbes – March 8, 2024

Most Americans Worry About Retirement, Say Congress Should Act on Social Security Funding By Kathleen Marshall, Investopedia – March 8, 2024

Verizon Announces $5.9B Pension Transfer By Amy Resnick, Chief Investment Officer News – March 6, 2024

Biden says Medicare should negotiate prices for at least 50 drugs each year, up from a target of 20 By Annika Kim Constantino, CNBC – March 6, 2024

UnitedHealthcare, Humana, Aetna Continue To Outgain Peers In Medicare Advantage By Andrew Donlan, Home Healthcare News – March 6, 2024

Social Security: Millionaires Set To Hit Their Payroll Tax Limit in March 2024 By Josephine Nesbit, GoBankRates – March 6, 2024

New House GOP Budget Includes Fiscal Commission to Mull Social Security Cuts By Melanie Waddell, Think Advisor – March 6, 2024

US taps local Medicare contractors to ease claims delays after hack Reuters – March 5, 2024

Warren urges crackdown on private Medicare Advantage insurers  Boston Herald Wire Services – March 5, 2024

All drugmakers send in counteroffers in Medicare price negotiations By Joseph Choi, The Hill – March 4, 2024

Rep. Mike Levin introduces new bill to cap Medicare-related premium hikes By Marie Coronel, KGTV – March 4, 2024

Study finds that Medicare Part D plans increased restrictions on drug coverage Medicare Xpress – March 4, 2024

Walgreens to accept Medicare Advantage supplemental benefits online By Jeff Lagasse, Healthcare Finance – March 2, 2024

Judge denies AstraZeneca’s lawsuit against Medicare negotiation By Joseph Choi, The Hill – March 1, 2024

Home Health Disparities: Medicare Advantage Patients Receive Fewer Visits, Worse Outcomes By Patrick Filbin, Home Healthcare – March 1, 2024

Social Security overpayment errors of $11 billion in 2022 leave millions of recipients with massive debts By Misty Severi, Washington Examiner – March1, 2024

Republican Voters Oppose Closed-Door Social Security Reform By Omar Mohammed, Newsweek – March 1, 2024 

Biden signs stopgap funding bill, punting shutdown threat The Hill – March 1, 2024

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