Next time you’re sitting down at your favorite restaurant, you may be getting an unordered side of germs with that cheeseburger or maybe unexpected exposure to the latest flu virus with that healthy garden salad. Why? Because, as this new video from the Restaurant Opportunities Centers ( ROC ) United illustrates, 90% of all restaurant workers have no paid sick days .
Some legislators and their friends on Wall Street are set on reaching a “grand bargain” during the post-election "lame duck" session of Congress that would cut the benefits that we and our children will depend on. They want to raise the retirement age for Social Security and Medicare, cut our Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)and cut Medicaid, which could force families into bankruptcy when a loved one needs long-term care.
Watch the video in the post, " Tell Congress: No Benefit Cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid ," then sign this petition to tell them why Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are important to you.
Some news outlets have suggested that Republicans have changed their position on taxes after their resounding defeat on Tuesday. This is not the case. Republicans are still demanding lower tax rates for the richest 2% of Americans, paid for by cuts to Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.
Yesterday, the Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner, said that Republicans are “willing to accept new revenue under the right conditions.” But this is the same position Republicans have staked out for more than a year.
A new report on retiree health care reinforces the need to maintain the Affordable Care Act—not repeal it, as presidential candidate Mitt Romney vows to do—and strengthen Medicare by rejecting “coupon care” private system proposals like the Romney-Ryan plan.
The Employee Benefit Research Institute ( EBRI ) report, “ Employment-Based Retiree Health Benefits: Trends in Access and Coverage, 1997‒2010 ,” quantifies what we all know, fewer employers are offering health care benefits to their retirees—both early retirees and those Medicare-eligible at 65—and those that do are raising the cost to retirees.
Nearly 70,000 members of the Alliance for Retired Americans joined a call this week with Vice President Joe Biden to learn more about the Obama administration’s commitment to keeping Medicare and Social Security strong for future generations. The call was organized by the Alliance.
A plan by the major mineral company , Great Salt Lake Minerals Corp., with ties to a Louisiana salt mine (North American Salt Co.), to expand its mineral extraction production at the Great Salt Lake, poses a threat to Utah’s Great Salt Lake ecosystem, says the United Steelworkers ( USW ).
North American Salt Co. also has a record of safety and health violations (enter Mine ID 1600358, to view to view violations) and unfair labor practices .
Shaun O'Brien and Karin Feldman | Political Action/Legislation
Arm yourself with these eight facts on health care, Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act:
1. We have a health care cost problem, not a Medicare or Medicaid problem. Health care costs overall, including through employment-based plans, individual coverage and Medicare and Medicaid, have been growing faster than the whole economy—2.4% greater on average since 1970. Between 2000 and 2010, workers’ contributions to premiums for health insurance at work jumped 147%, compared to just a 36% increase in workers’ earnings. See " Medicare, Medicaid and the Deficit Debate ," a report from the Urban Institute.
The chain CPI formula calculation would further erode Social Security benefits.
Today's announcement that Social Security recipients will receive a modest increase (1.7%) in their cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) was a small but welcome boost for seniors who are seeing prices increase on necessities, from health care to food. However, even this modest increase could be jeopardized if proposals floating around in Washington to "tweak" the current COLA formula by tying it to the so-called "chained CPI" are passed.
Senior advocates and retirement experts say the current formula, the CPI-W, is already inadequate. Higher health care costs and expenses seniors face are not accurately addressed in the CPI-W.
Choosing between paying the rent, food or health insurance is a heart-wrenching decision many working people have to make. Just ask Regina Holliday , who lost her husband to cancer because they were unable to pay $1,000 a month for health care. The Affordable Care Act makes it possible for 33 million working people to obtain health care coverage. When you vote this November, take a minute to consider the Holliday's story, featured in a Families USA YouTube video . House Republicans have tried to repeal health care reform 33 times . Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, also would repeal the Affordable Care Act. View more stories from the uninsured and others benefiting from the new health care law on Families USA's YouTube channel .
A total of 84,350 pension plans have vanished since 1985. This figure shocked Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Donald L. Barlett and James W. Steele, who just released their latest book, "The Betrayal of the American Dream." Their chapter on retirement chronicles the heist of the American dream's secure retirement by the financial elite and is a very important section of the book, says Steele, who spoke with the AFL-CIO about the retirement crisis. Steele says there's another number we should pay attention to: $17,686. That's the median value of 401(k) accounts in 2011. For most working people, the amount in their 401(k) account would pay them less than $80 a month for life.
It’s been four years since low-wage workers got a raise. Sign the petition to tell Congress it’s time to raise the minimum wage.
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