NRLN Is Moving Ahead in 2023 After Legislation Success in 2022

Following a successful 2022 (see list below), the National Retiree Legislative Network (NRLN) has a challenging 2023 agenda. Social Security and Medicare is being attacked and we are defending the programs.

We need every dollar we can raise and every Action Alert we can send – please HELP US, HELP YOU!

Ask friends, neighbors, social clubs and family members to sign up at www.nrln.org.  
 
NRLN, Association and Chapter leaders attending the Fly-in to Washington, DC, February 27 – March 1, 2023, lobbied for these proposals in 35 meetings with members of Congress and staffs:

• Pension De-risking: When pension “de-risking” occurs with the purchase of an insurance annuity, pension plan participants lose the protection of PBGC and ERISA. The NRLN’s proposal is to protect beneficiaries by requiring a secondary insurance policy in case the initial insurer defaults or the annuity is transferred.
• Prevent Privatization of Medicare: CMS give $53 billion in taxpayer subsidies to private insurance companies for Medicare Advantage plans in 2022. The new ACO REACH will receive even more subsidies. The NRLN advocates stopping rebates to private plans but grandfather current recipients and level the playing field between private plans and original Medicare.
• Reduce Prescription Drug Prices: The NRLN is lobbying for legislation to end pay-for-delay and other brand name drugmakers’ tactics that obstruct generic drugs from coming to market. We want the importation of safe and less expensive drugs from Canada and other countries that meet FDA quality standards. Drug ingredients and manufacture of most drugs must be returned to the USA from foreign countries.
• Make HCTC Permanent: We are lobbying for the reintroduction and passage of a bill to make permanent the Health Coverage Tax Credit to help retirees ages 55-64 cover the cost of health insurance if their pensions were taken over by the PBGC, or if their job was outsourced abroad under Trade Adjustment Assistance.
• Pass Susan Muffley Act: We are working to convince members of Congress to recover pensions for Delphi salaried retirees by passing the Susan Muffley Act. The legislation would rectify what happened to Delphi salaried retirees’ pensions when the Treasury Department intervened in the GM and Delphi bankruptcies.

The success we had in 2022 with our three proposals becoming law and one adopted included:

•  Pension Recoupment: Until now, a company could “recoup” or recover pension overpayments made to a retiree when it discovered them, no matter how long it had been. With the new law, a company doesn’t have an obligation to recoup; but if it does recoup it must be done within 3 years of initial overpayment; it may not recoup more than 10% of overpayment per year, and it may not recoup against a beneficiary.
   
• Section 420 Transfers: The NRLN’s proposal in the new law lowered the threshold for when highly funded pension plans can use excess funds to provide retirees with healthcare and life insurance benefits.
   
• Pension Annual Funding Notice: The NRLN’s proposal requires year-end valuation so when retirees receive their AFN the data is only four months old instead of 16 months. The AFN will be simplified by moving all relevant data over a three-year period to a table on the front page.
   
• Medigap Prices Posted: We advocated to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services the importance of posting on its website the price of Medicare supplement plans (Medigap) by zip code. That has happened!

Your Continued Help Is Needed: Please make your annual contribution of $25, $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. 

Bill Kadereit, 
NRLN President