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The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents November 2025 An Encounter with Prior Authorization Mike Andrew The story you’re about to read is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. Tess Durberville is 83 years old. She’s been a resident in a Seattle senior living community for five and a half years. Tess is a cancer survivor and is living with diabetes and heart disease. Like many seniors on Original Medicare, Tess purchased Medicare Part D coverage to pay for her prescription drugs. More than 67 million Medicare beneficiaries have Part D plans. Tess is an AARP member, and selected a Part D plan from United Healthcare, the company that AARP promotes. It was a prudent buy, something that would give Tess some peace of mind and help her avoid huge out-of-pocket expenses for her prescriptions. Or so she thought. Tess had been prescribed Victoza to control her diabetes. Unlike some brandname drugs, Victoza is not available in any generic form, and therefore is very expensive for patients who lack Part D coverage. Tess took the Victoza shots once a day, and was satisfied with the results. Then, one day, she got a letter from United Healthcare informing her that Victoza was no longer on their approved list of medications. Tess was advised to look at a list of five medications that United Healthcare would pay for and choose one from there. “I was scheduled to have cancer surgery,” Tess told me, “and my doctor thought it would be best for me to continue on the Victoza till I’d gotten through that crisis. But United Healthcare said no. They wouldn’t budge on that. “It made me angry they were so hard-headed about changing from Victoza,” she added, but nevertheless Tess and her doctor decided that Ozempic would be a good fit for her. An added advantage was that Ozempic only requires one shot per week instead of a daily injection. “I was on Ozempic for eight – almost nine – months,” Tess said, “and then I got a letter telling me I need prior authorization for the Ozempic.” Even though it was on the list of approved meds that United Healthcare furnished? Yes, indeed! “They wouldn’t budge on that either.” “It took almost three months to get them to authorize the Ozempic,” Tess sighed. “And I had to pay out of my own pocket.” Was it expensive? “It was expensive. My pharmacy was very cooperative. They tried Good RX and all the coupons they could find to make it as cheap as possible. But it was still expensive. “And the thing that really makes me mad,” Tess added, “is that it’s only a one-year authorization. Now I have to go through it all again. It’s bad enough they make you jump through the hoops once, they want you to keep jumping!” Tess told me she didn’t feel so bad for herself, but for her doctor who had to navigate the prior authorization system. “All that expense,” she said. “All that time and effort!” Because Tess has pre-existing conditions – her diabetes and heart disease – it’s almost impossible for her to switch to another Part D plan. “I don’t think it’s going to matter anyway,” she told me. “They all do the same thing. And I take a lot of medicines. That’s a lot of prior authorizations.” Fortunately, Tess’ day-to-day health is good in spite of her chronic diseases. Unfortunately, her story is not unusual. It's the story of a health care system that centers private insurance companies' profits rather than patients' health. If you also have a story you want to share, email organizer@psara.org . Mike Andrew is the Editor of the Advocate and Executive Director of PSARA < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents March 2026 Never Forget! < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents February 2025 Medicare Advantage Gaming the System Diane Archer UnitedHealth now employs or contracts with about 10 percent of the physicians in the US. It’s one way UnitedHealth maximizes Medicare Advantage profits, report Anna Wilde Mathews, Christopher Weaver, and Tom McGinty for the Wall Street Journal. UnitedHealth incentivizes its physicians to include additional diagnoses codes on Medicare Advantage patient records, which enables UnitedHealth to receive higher Medicare payments. UnitedHealth advises its physicians to check their Medicare Advantage patients for certain diagnoses. So, in Eu- gene, Oregon, one physician explained that before he could move from one patient to another, he must enter into a software system whether his patient had any of a list of diagnoses. In many cases, the diagnoses had nothing to do with the patient, such as hyperaldosteronism, which is a hormone condition related to high blood pressure. Rather than ensuring their doctors focus on treating Medicare Advantage patients for the conditions these patients are reporting, UnitedHealth is focused on having its doctors document as many conditions as possible that will increase the company’s Medicare payments. UnitedHealth does nothing to ensure its doctors document additional conditions for their patients in traditional Medicare. That’s not surprising. Because of the way Medicare pays insurers in Medicare Advantage, adding diagnoses codes to traditional Medicare patient records would hurt UnitedHealth financially. The Wall Street Journal found that patients leaving traditional Medicare for Medicare Advantage in the three years ending 2022 had many more diagnoses in their medical records once they were in Medicare Advantage. Their “sickness scores” typically increased 55 percent. To put it succinctly, once in Medicare Advantage, from a sickness perspective, patients effectively had HIV and breast cancer. While UnitedHealth does more than other insurers to raise sickness scores for its Medicare Advantage patients, other insurers raised scores by 30 percent for new patients in Medicare Advantage. There is no evidence what- soever that entering more diagnoses into Medicare Advantage enrollees’ medical records benefits patients in any way. In fact, UnitedHealth doctors do not use the company’s diagnoses software for patients outside of Medicare Advantage. By the Wall Street Journal’s calculations, United’s Medicare Advantage enrollees who saw UnitedHealth physicians had such high sickness scores that UnitedHealth benefited financially to the tune of $4.6 billion over three years. This insurer gaming of the Medicare payment system must end. Among other things, it is gouging taxpayers, depleting the Medicare Trust Fund, and driving up Medicare Part B premiums. This article summarizes an investigative piece first published in the Wall Street Journal. This article appeared in Diane Archer’s January 11 Just Care weekly newsletter. Diane Archer is the founder and President of Just Care USA, and a senior advisor to Social Security Works for Medicare policy. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents February 2026 Keep Billionaires Out of Social Security Act Steve Kofahl On September 10, 2025, Bernie Sanders introduced this legislation,S. 2763, along with 29 original Senate Democrat co-sponsors. Another added his name a few days later. It was referred to the Senate Finance Committee, where Oregon Senator Ron Wyden serves as Ranking Member. Wyden, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, and Senator Patty Murray are original co-sponsors. Finance Committee member Maria Cantwell has not yet signed-on. So, who are these billionaires and wannabes? We can start with Elon Musk, whose net worth approaches $1 trillion. His so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has wreaked havoc at the Social Security Administration (SSA) beginning last year. DOGE involvement was enthusiastically welcomed by SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano, whose own net worth has been estimated at $254 million to $1 billion. Bisignano, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent ($500-$700 million), Labor Secretary Lori Chave-DeRemer ($150 million), and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ($15-30 million) constitute the Social Security Trustees, charged with over-sight of the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds and annual reporting on their status. Two public Trustee positions, to be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, and required to be from different political parties, remain vacant. It would be good to add two Trustees who better represent Americans of more modest means. The purpose of S. 2763 is to permanently appropriate funding for the administrative expenses of the SSA, and for other purposes. It would exempt SSA from DOGE jurisdiction, and from the application of four Trump Executive Orders (E.O.). E.O. 14158 established DOGE, E.O. 14210 concerns DOGE and Reductions in Force of the Federal workforce, E.O. 14219 addresses deregulation, and E.O. 14222 concerns cost efficiency related to Federal grants and contracts. The bill would prohibit political appointees and special government employees, except those in a position to research, analyze, or improve delivery of benefits to program recipients, from accessing any beneficiary data system. It allows civil actions for negligent disclosure or access, up to $5,000 for each act (or actual damages if greater), and punitive damages for gross negligence. Enforcement actions are allowed for five years after a plaintiff discovers a violation. Any Federal employee investigated by the SSA Office of Inspector General for a violation, and found guilty, would be subject to dismissal from Federal service, and criminal penalties up to $10,000 and/or 5 years imprisonment. The Comptroller of the US. would be tasked with monthly and detailed annual reporting to the Senate Finance and House Ways & Means Committees. SSA authority to except positions from competitive service (those with civil service job protections), and to transfer positions, is limited. The SSA Commissioner may transfer no more than 1% of employees to excepted positions per Presidential term, with employee consent required. Only deceased individuals, based on clear and convincing evidence, may be added to the SSA Death Master file. The SSA Commissioner is required to maintain, at minimum, the same number of SSA offices that existed on January 1, 2025. Except in case of short-term emergency or office relocation, he must not reduce levels of service. Meaningful and efficient access to live operator assistance must be maintained, with significant improvements within 12 months to telephone wait times and call back times, and average service times as compared to calendar year 2024. The Commissioner could open new offices, but must make recommendations to Congress regarding changes in office locations, consolidations, or closures. He can increase staffing, but cannot reduce it below the calendar year 2024 level. Hiring freezes or prohibitions, reduction-in-force orders, or similar policies are prohibited. The Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity, Transformation, and Analytics Review and Oversight offices are re-established and incorporated in the Social Security Act. The Social Security Act is amended, effective October 1, 2025, to appropriate 1.2% of the sum of benefit payments required to be made for program administration. This spending authority is removed from budget caps, the Congressional Budget Resolution, and other allocations. It is not counted as new budget authority, outlays, receipts or deficit/surplus for purposes of the annual Budget, the Balance Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, the statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, or the Congressional Budget Resolution Act of 1974. Efforts to increase awareness of eligibility for disabled children to receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and to reduce backlogs of disability claims/appeals/reviews are funded at $2 billion for Fiscal Years 2026-2035. The allocation would also increase the menu of available online services, including an online SSI application. Effective with overpayment determinations made 3/25/24 or later, monthly benefits can be reduced by no more than 10% for recovery, except when a beneficiary requests a higher rate. The Commissioner may make payments to states’ protection and advocacy systems to protect legal rights of disabled individuals pursuant to the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act. For five years beginning 10/1/25, SSA is to award at least 10 grants/year to community-based organizations to assist individuals with disabilities during claim and appeals processes. Up to $15 million is allocated annually. The Social Security Independence and Program Improvement Act of 1994, Public Law 103-296, took SSA out of HHS and made it an independent agency. It was supposed to insulate SSA from political budget cycles. It was exciting at the time, as we at the American Federation of Government Employees who had pressed for it for years, and many in Congress who had worked on it, believed that an independent SSA would no longer have to compete with other agencies and programs for administrative funding. Office of Management and Budget disagreed with that interpretation. If we can get this legislation passed, SSA will finally be able to provide the services and timely payments that workers have paid for and deserve. Steve Kofahl is a retired president of AFGE 3937, representing Social Security workers, a member of PSARA's Execu-tive Board, and Co-Chair of PSARA's Social Security task force. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents February 2025 Trump and His Neighbors to the South Cindy Domingo Donald Trump announced that Florida Senator Marco Rubio is his choice for Secretary of State and Carlos Trujillo for Assistant Secretary of State. This signals that the Trump administration will pursue a foreign policy in the Caribbean and Latin America focused on increased sanctions, regime change, and increased economic suffering for the peoples to our south who have cho- sen an alternative form of government away from capitalism. Rubio and Trujillo are both Cuban Americans and have a long history of disdain for the leaders of Caribbean and Latin American countries who advocate for their country’s sovereignty. Trujillo was Trump’s US Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), an international body that has displayed hostility especially towards Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. Rubio was Trump's lead advisor, along with Senator Bob Menendez, in crafting Cuba policy during Trump’s first term. During that term, Trump reversed many of former President Barack Obama’s Cuba policies that re-established diplomatic and people-to-people relations with Cuba. This included policies that relaxed the travel restrictions for US- people, which resulted in over 500,000 people from the US traveling to Cuba by expanded air travel and cruise ships. The most damaging policy that Trump and Rubio instituted was placing Cuba on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. This policy increases restrictions on Cuban trade and access to foreign markets and banking systems. It continues to devastate the Cuban economy. Despite international pressure for Biden to remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, Biden only announced on January 14, 2025, that Cuba would finally be removed on January 29, since there was no mate- rial basis for Cuba to remain on the list. This decision was made after a massive international campaign and the intervention of Pope Francis. (However, by the time this article goes to print, this policy will undoubtedly be reversed by Trump at the advice of Rubio and other conservative Cuban American Trump advisors before it can get implement- ed.) In 2019, Trump recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as its president, despite Nicholas Maduro’s election. Today, even though Maduro was recently elected president again, Biden has disputed the Venezuelan election and recognized Edmundo Gonzalez as president-elect, a move that Trump will also probably follow. And while Latin America has had new conservative leaders in Argentina and Paraguay since 2021 when Trump left office, many left governments re- main in power, including Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Bolivia. In Columbia, Gustavo Petro, Columbia’s first leftist leader, was elected in 2022. In 2023, Lula da Silva from the Workers’ Party was reelected as Brazil’s president. US hostility to our southern neighbors, including Mexico, will continue to intensify under Trump as the inter- national body BRICS gains momentum. BRICS is an intergovernmental organization that was formed in 2009 as an alternative to the G7 bloc of the world’s largest economies. The founding countries include Brazil, Russia, India, and China and has now expanded to 10 country members. Cuba and Bolivia are now partner countries along with 11 other partner countries who joined in October 2024. Mexico has been considering requesting membership for a few years. BRICS country members account for 46 percent of the world’s population. The developing countries are using BRICS as a method to use their local currencies on the international markets, thus weakening the US dollar. With China at the center of BRICS, they bring an economic clout unmatched by any other country, including the US. While Trump can continue to wage war against our southern neighbors through tariffs and increased sanctions, BRICS and its member countries will pursue building its alternative organization and becoming an alternative economic development resource for those developing countries. BRICS principles based on non-interference, equality, and mutual benefit run counter to Trump’s foreign policy, which seeks a return to the Monroe Doctrine where everything belongs to the US. This includes the Panama Canal, Greenland, and the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.” At the same time, the continued harshening of sanctions will have the effect of increased economic refugees fleeing to the US. Since 2013, eight mil- lion Venezuelans have left the country. Many have gone to the US, due to the economic hardships created by US sanctions that include punishing other countries for trading with Venezuela. In the 2021-2023 period, one million Cubans left their country seeking better economic opportunities. Most of the Cubans who left have come to the US in the most significant migration wave in Cuban history. This massive migration presents another problem for Trump, who has promised to stop migrants coming into the US and to deport the 11 million undocumented immigrants, the majority of whom come from coun- tries south of the US border. Like so many of Trump’s MAGA policies that he wants to implement, Trump’s Caribbean and Latin America policies will face heavy opposition in this ever-changing world, where US influence continues to decline. Cindy Domingo is PSARA's Co-VP for Outreach, and a long-time activist in LELO (Legacy of Equality, Leadership, and Organizing) and APALA (Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance). < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents January 2025 40 Years of the Retiree Advocate Advocate Editorial Board Readers might have noticed that with this January issue, we’ve made the transition to Volume XL of the Retiree Advocate. That’s not “XL” as in extra large – although we like to think PSARA has an extra large impact – it’s XL as in 40. That’s right, we’re beginning the fortieth year of the Retiree Advocate. That’s a remarkable achievement for any independent publication, but even more remarkable for one like the Advocate that relies solely on subscriptions and doesn’t accept advertising of any kind. We owe our success primarily to you, our readers, who have supported us for 40 years. But we also need to acknowledge two outstanding working-class journalists who guided the Advocate through its formative years and shaped it into the publication we know today. Max Roffman (1910-2003) edited the Advocate even before it was the Advocate. He came to Seattle in 1984 from Hawaii, where he’d spent 21 years organizing the United Public Workers Union (UPW), and another 10 working for the Center for Labor Education and Research at the University of Hawaii. When he came to Seattle, Max became a leader of the Puget Sound Council of Senior Citizens (PSCSC) and was the first editor of Senior News – the predecessor of the Retiree Advocate. In 1994, Max retired as editor, although he continued to write for the publication, and Will Parry (1920-2013) took on his editorial responsibilities. Will had been a writer for The New World and People’s World, until 1956, when the McCarthy persecutions deprived him of his ability to make a living as a journalist. Will then went to work for a box-making company and became a leader of Western Pulp and Paper Workers (AWPPW) Local 817. Will went on to edit the AFT-WA newsletter, and when he retired, became involved in the PSCSC and Senior News. When he became editor in 1994, the publication was only a four-pager that came out every other month, and was written mainly by Max and Will. In 1998, the Senior News became a monthly and expanded to six pages. The National Council of Senior Citizens was relaunched as the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA) in 2001, and Senior News became the Retiree Advocate in 2002. Will retired as editor in February 2013, and died the following May 13, having seen the Advocate through a period of sustained growth. The Advocate hasn’t come this far and had the extra large impact it’s had without the constant support of our as a journalist. Will then went to work for a box-making company and became a leader of Western Pulp and Paper Workers (AWPPW) Local 817. Will went on to edit the AFT-WA newsletter, and when he retired, be- came involved in the PSCSC and Senior News. When he became editor in 1994, the publication was only a four-pager that came out every other month, and was written mainly by Max and Will. In 1998, the Senior News became a monthly and expanded to six pages. The National Council of Senior Citizens was relaunched as the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA) in 2001, and Senior News became the Retiree Advocate in 2002. Will retired as editor in February 2013, and died the following May 13, having seen the Advocate through a period of sustained growth. The Advocate hasn’t come this far and had the extra large impact it’s had without the constant support of our readers. Many of you have written for the publication, many have volunteered your time to help us mail the Advocate or to distribute it to friends and neighbors, and all of you have contributed dues to help keep us running. Thank you! As we begin 2025 with a second Trump administration in the “other Washington” we’ll need the Retiree Advocate more than ever. We'll keep bringing you hard-hitting analysis of the major issues, let you know what PSARA is doing about them, and how you can help. Together we’ll keep pushing for a positive vision of a future that benefits all of us. And we will resist the temptation to “moderate” our agenda in order to accommodate the Trump regime, or Elon Musk, or whoever. We know we can do it because we've been doing it for 40 years, and we look forward to continuing our run for as long as it takes. Advocate Editorial Board < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents July 2025 Rural Protestors Urge Senate to Kill Trump Medicaid Cuts Tim Wheeler Senior citizens stood near Clallam County’s only full service public hospital, June 7, holding signs proclaiming “85% of OMC Patients on Medicaid, Medicare” and chanting “No Cuts to Medicaid or Medicare.” The vigil, initiated by PSARA, attracted 18 participants who lined First Street a couple of blocks south of the Olympic Medical Center (OMC), a public hospital that serves 111,000 on the isolated, rural Olympic Peninsula. The protesters held up their signs and waved as passing motorists honked and gave thumbs-up salutes. In the crowd were two candidates for the OMC Board of Commissioners constantly struggling with millions of dollars in debt due to the low reimbursement rates for Medicare and Medicaid. The vigil was in protest against President Trump’s “Big Beautiful” budget bill passed by the House and now pending in the US Senate. The bill would inflict $715 billion in cuts to Medicaid and $300 billion in cuts to the SNAP nutrition programs to defray the trillion dollar tax cut for billionaires and millionaires. Laurie Force, a retired nurse and a candidate in the August primary for the OMC Board, was holding a sign as was her husband, Larry, whose hand-lettered message was “Stop the Steal.” Her campaign slogan is “A Force For OMC.” The other candidate for the OMC Board, Dr. Gerry Stephanz, Medical Director of the Olympic Peninsula Community Clinic, pointed out that Trump’s budget bill is a grave risk to rural hospitals across the nation, including the OMC, that are totally dependent on Medicare and Medicaid payments to stay afloat financially. OMC, he said, should file to be designated a “Rural Health” provider, like the hospital in Port Townsend. If recognized as a rural hospital that provides life and death services to more than 100,000 people, OMC would enjoy far higher reimbursement rates for the 85% of its patients now covered by Medicaid and Medicare. The vigil took place one week after a “town hall” meeting, also organized by PSARA at the senior Shipley Center in nearby Sequim. Speaking at the Shipley Center in Sequim on May 24, PSARA leaders Robby Stern and Anne Watanabe urged fightback against President Trump’s so-called budget “reconciliation” bill that will inflict hundreds of billions in cutbacks to Medicaid, the SNAP food stamp program and other human needs benefits while handing trillions in tax cuts to themselves and their billionaire cronies. Said Watanabe, “The GOP ‘big, beautiful bill’ means that by 2034, 8.6 million lose health insurance because of cuts. Another 5.1 million lose health insurance through loss of tax credits….13.7 million total will lose healthcare insurance.” She cited the disastrous impact the cuts would inflict in Clallam County where 20,866 children, 38 percent of youngsters, are protected by Medicaid and 21 percent of those 55 years or older. In neighboring Jefferson County 7,641 people, over 29 percent of children and 27 percent of those 55 years are older are enrolled in Medicaid. Rural hospitals, she said, like the Olympic Medical Center (OMC) in Port Angeles that serves 111,000 people, are at grave risk of closing or losing their public status, being privatized through merger with private for-profit hospitals like Providence, a Catholic hospital chain that bans abortions and other reproductive health care. These hospitals, she charged, are being forced into bankruptcy due to ruinously low reimbursement rates for their Medicaid and Medicare patients. In the past twenty years, 200 rural hospitals across the nation have been forced to close due to this crisis in rural America. OMC is the only full service hospital in an isolated region two hours drive from Silverdale or Tacoma and a long ferry ride from Seattle. Treatment for a heart attack or delivery of a baby is care needed instantly not after a two hour drive. Enactment of the Trump-MAGA budget bill will be a death sentence for tens of thousands of low income people, children, immigrant and native-born alike. Already approved by the House, Stern and Watanabe urged the crowd to bombard the U.S. Senate with mes- sages demanding the Senators vote down the budget scam, the most sweeping attack on federal human needs programs ever. Both Stern and Watanabe addressed the issue of defending traditional Medi- care from privatization by so-called “Medicare Advantage.” Stern described in detail the life-threatening struggles by PSARA member Richard Timmins, of Whidbey Island, who was forced to undergo intense treatment for skin cancer because his so-called Medicare Advantage (MA) provider refused to approve in time treatment by a dermatologist despite his physician’s recommendation. By the time the MA provider reversed course and approved examination, the tumor had metastasized into cancer. Stern told of his own family forced to file multiple appeals against a Medicare Advantage provider to win skilled nursing coverage for a parent/ grandparent in a nursing home. Medicare Advantage was authorized in 1982 said Watanabe. “The intention was to lower the cost of Medicare and improve outcomes for patients. So what happened?” Corporate insurers paid a per patient capitation fee, seek to inflate their profits through massive overcharges, false claims, "upcoding" in which patients are over-diagnosed to allow MA providers to receive higher capitated payments from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The total overcharges by MA is estimated to be $80 billion to $140 billion annually. Much of this corrupt profiteering has been exposed by the MEDPAC, a commission that oversees Medicare and Medicaid. PSARA is part of a nationwide coalition seeking to preserve Medicare against privatization by “leveling the playing field,” enacting reforms that allow traditional Medicare to offer the same extra benefits offered by MA like dental, vision, and hearing, and capping out-of-pocket costs for traditional Medicare enrollees. PSARA also supports “Medicare For All” or universal publicly paid healthcare for every person in the U.S. native born and immigrant, said Watanabe. Ellen Menshew, a member of PSARA and also Chair of the Clallam County Democratic Party (CCD), and Lisa Dekker, an Outreach Vice President of PSARA from Clallam County, introduced the guest speakers from Seattle. Dekker told the crowd that PSARA members and other volunteers are standing in front of the Federal Building in Port Angeles every Friday at 1 p.m. to protest the Trump-Musk attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid focused now on demanding that the U.S. Senate reject the MAGA-Trump budget bill. It was Memorial Day weekend and many in the crowd came directly from a “Hands Off Our Veterans” protest by hundreds at the main intersection in Sequim denouncing cuts by Trump and unelected Elon Musk to the Veterans Administration, and sharp reductions in healthcare and other benefits for war veterans and their families. In the audience were members of PSARA from Sequim, Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Gig Harbor, and Tacoma. US Army vets, and active union members were present. Tim Wheeler is a veteran activist, journalist, and a leader of PSARA's Clal- lam County organizing committee. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents May 2025 Autoworkers, the UAW, Trump, and Trade Tariffs and the Autoworkers Michael Righi Our orange king has put 25 percent tariffs on imported cars and trucks. Wait! They are suspended for a couple months, but not for all countries. Not for China, of course. And maybe special consideration for parts made in Canada and Mexico. By the time you read this, who knows what the situation will be? But a couple things are clear. While Trump and Miller and the rest of them blather on about bringing industry back to a bunkered USA, their broad and haphazard tariffs are leading straight to recession and job loss. Uncertainty will crash business investment. Intermediate goods that firms need will cost more, and they will cut back and lay workers off. Tariffs are a tax that falls most heavily on goods bought by working families. So they will feel both the inflation and the job loss. Trump says “we” will need to suffer a little pain in the short run. Except not Apple or purchasers of I- phones or computers, they are exempt. Blow Up Free Trade Fundamentalism We should not mourn the end of so- called “free trade." Neoliberal economists, corporate Democrats and many NY Times pundits are howling about the end of the postwar trading system. But we do not want the corporate trade model that is embodied in the North American Free Trade Agreement and the opening of trade with China. That has allowed multinational corporations to exploit foreign workers and environments, moving factories overseas and devastating working class communities in the US. NAFTA and trade with China have led to a loss of 70,000 manufacturing plants in the US and millions of jobs. To quote Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, “Our union is hell bent on ending the free trade disaster of the last 30 years.” It is workers who have borne the brunt of trade dislocations, not the auto companies. During the 1980’s the US Big Three – Ford, GM, and Chrysler (now Stellantis) – faced sharp competition from Japanese cars. Tariffs and quotas were enacted to stop imports and force foreign car companies to locate plants in the US. They built factories in non-union states. Then, with NAFTA in the 1990’s, the automobile corporations moved many parts and assembly factories to Mexico, and a little bit to Canada, setting up complex supply chains. A typical car sold in the US today has parts that have crossed borders several times. Most have 40 percent or more “foreign content.” The top 10 global automakers raked in $70 billion in profit in 2020. Now that has doubled, to $150 billion, as they raised prices 30 percent during the Covid crisis. Over the last 15 years, they have bought back $370 billion in stock from their wealthy investors. Meanwhile, workers’ wages were stagnating until the recent UAW con- tract made significant gains. But those wage increases apply only to union workers, and the majority are non-union. Now, 43 percent of car parts and assembly jobs are in Mexico, where workers average $3 an hour. That’s down from $6 an hour in 1993, before NAFTA. NAFTA opened up Mexican markets, especially corn, to US agribusiness, driving down prices and driving families off the land. Many headed north to maquiladora auto parts and assembly plants, pushing down wages. Moving jobs to Mexico, in this race to the bottom, is still going on. One example: Stellantis recently moved Ram truck production from Warren, Michigan, to Mexico. Instead of paying $37 an hour, the company pays $3. They don’t lower prices, they just send more profit to Wall Street. The UAW has calculated how much US factory capacity is sitting idle. Enough to build two million cars and hire 50,000 more workers. Every auto assembly job creates seven more in the supply chain. So Tariffs Would targeted tariffs on imported cars and trucks help bring autoworker jobs back? The UAW thinks so. (Just to be perfectly clear, Shawn Fain and the UAW, while in favor of auto tariffs, are opposed to 99 percent of the Trump agenda, including the detention of union members and protestors.). But tariffs are only a first step – the trade agreement with Mexico and Canada (formerly NAFTA) must be renegotiated. It must include provisions for a minimum manufacturing wage way above $3 an hour. It must have a labor board to enforce labor organizing and bargaining rights. In the long run, the UAW wants to be making the electric cars and batteries we need. That will require strong government action forbidding stock buybacks and excessive CEO compensation, and forcing the auto companies to invest and innovate. Trump wants trade chaos and scapegoats. Corporations want free trade and profit. We want fair trade, so that all workers can make a living on a living planet. Michael Righi is a retired economics professor and a member of the Retiree Advocate editorial board. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents June 2025 PSARA Position Paper on Immigration PSARA Board The US has failed to articulate a coherent and just immigration policy. Now, under the current administration, even the meager protections we have for those who come from outside US boundaries are being stripped away. The Trump administration has engaged in new levels of cruelty against immigrants – terrorizing people, shackling them in chains, deporting them to countries other than their own, and undertaking these acts regard- less of the person’s citizenship or paperwork status. The administration is threatening sanctuary cities and states with funding cuts, mobilizing the military and national guard to engage in the apprehension of migrants, and seeking millions more in funding for this war on immigrants. They have allies in our state among many county sheriffs who are flouting our “Keep Washington Working” law and using their local law enforcement officers to assist ICE. Everything else being equal, people don’t choose to migrate. Most of us prefer to remain with our families, on the land in which we’ve been raised, and in the culture with which we’re familiar. Yet, huge numbers are migrating for a number of reasons. They are forced to migrate because of brutal conflicts, rampant lawlessness and criminal violence in their home countries, a lack of safe, well-paying jobs, crop failures and food scarcity, and increasingly severe climate disasters. In our country we now have more than 200 jails and prisons for immigrants. Approximately 90% of detained immigrants are held in private detention centers. The current Trump regime has announced plans to build many more. PSARA, takes the following position on the attack on immigrants: We will follow the lead of immigrant rights groups locally, working to support their efforts toward defending and strengthening rights, protecting those being targeted, and securing sanctuary. We welcome all migrants and fight alongside them for housing, healthcare, living wage jobs, and public education, among other things. We emphatically oppose repression, detention, deportation, and the racist attacks to which migrants are being subjected. We act from a commitment to joining hands in respect and solidarity to build a new – and more just – Beloved Community. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents August 2025 Social Security: A detailed behind-the-curtain look at what's going on, posted by a Social Security Administration worker Anonymous I have not posted about my federal agency in a while. Here is why: we lost 94% of the staff in my regional office in the last two and half months. An office of 550 is now less than 2 dozen. One group of folks retired or quit. Another group were given directed reassignments to headquarters components (but did not have to physically move). A third (largest) group was bullied and pressured into “volunteering” to take front-line, public-facing jobs. Many of these folks had never worked in direct service before, and others took significant downgrades to positions from which they were promoted years or even decades before. So basically we’ve been in an inadvertent devolution exercise for the past 3 months. It’s exhausting and traumatic. I’m simultaneously enraged and grieving all of the time. All of my energy is spent on – I don’t even know what. Survival? Putting out fires? Offloading work? Responding to emails that 550 staff used to respond to? Here is a long catch-up post. The Trump administration continues to assert that Social Security is not being touched and that there have been no field office closures. While it is true that there have not been field office closures recently, there are closures and these are completely destroying the infrastructure of the agency. In order to be invisible to the public, the cuts are happening at regional and national offices that provide support to our front line staff. The destruction at SSA is designed to be off the public radar. What is happening at SSA is happening to other agencies as well – like NPS, HUD, EPA, etc. Here is some granular info: SSA used to have 10 regional offices. We are now down to 4. The 4 remaining are in hospice care. We no longer have enough staff to even triage. In my newly consolidated region, we had 550 employees in March. We now have less than 24. The remaining two dozen staff are trying to support the operations of 10,000 employees in 20 states. The other three remaining regional offices are similarly gutted. What do employees in regional offices do? These mission critical employees support the front lines; we provide computer hardware and software support, provide policy advice and guidance, train new employees, train journey level employees on new or changing policies and regulations, work with landlords and GSA, contract with guards, hire new staff, oversee labor and employee relations, allocate budget, overtime, and staffing, monitor spending, monitor for fraud, etc. We will not properly function without regional offices. We are being dismantled, physically and organizationally. Employees are psychologically gutted. Deep grief, anger, distrust. Russel Vought's plan to traumatize the workforce is working. Everyday there is an employee on the other end of the phone or video call that is crying, or telling me about their sky-rocketing blood pressure, about new anti-depressants and anti-anxiety prescriptions or increasing dosages, about their family begging them to quit or retire because it is not worth their health. It is frustrating that both the media and congressional staff keep asking only about how cuts are impacting the public. They are missing the bigger picture. It’s hard to explain what Social Security regional offices do as a lot of it is behind the scenes. We don’t interview the public or process claims, but here are some things we (used to) do that directly impacted payments and prevented fraud. As a result they are not getting done at all. Troubleshoot W2s and FICA tax issues with employers – these are both mom & pop small businesses as well as large employers like Boeing and Amazon. Interface with the state governments on Food Stamps, SNAP, WASHCAP, etc. Coordinate with state child support enforcement on garnishments. Field inquiries from state L&I on worker’s comp issues. Manage Section 218 agreements that state and local entities use to with- hold Social Security taxes from wages. Work with fisheries, farmers, and advocate groups on special Social Security number applications and non-work number cases. Liaison with state vocational rehabilitation. Work with states on Medicaid pass- along agreements. Interface with CMS and state healthcare entities on Medicare. Work with jails to support pre-release agreements as well as to obtain info when individuals are incarcerated and not entitled to benefits. Negotiate with state and local governments to obtain safe and protected data exchange agreements. Resolve attorney fee issues with disability attorneys. Ensure that Social Security over- payments are not discharged and are recouped in bankruptcy cases. Respond to FOIA requests. Headquarters components are also being hollowed out. Not only have they also lost employees to DRP, VSIP, and reassignments, they have been massively reorganized to the extent that there is no longer structural integrity. Staff have been scattered. Workloads are likewise scattered but have not always followed the staff that were scattered. We no longer know who “owns” what. Workload X used to be Department A’s responsibility but Department A is now Department Omega and the group who used to run it in Department A are no longer there. The work may still be in Department Omega or it could have moved to Department B except Department B is now gone too and maybe it’s in Department Beta? The regional offices are trying to move work to headquarters since there is no one left in regional offices but we don’t know who is left and where anything remains in headquarters either. All of this is invisible to the public because field offices continue to function at the moment. It is insidious. We are still in a freefall and haven’t hit bottom yet. There is no talk of rebuilding. We are not there. Elon may have left, but DOGE has not. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents December 2025 Resistance In Washington State Grows Cindy Domingo Resistance is spreading across the US including the major cities whereTrump has sent federal troops and/or the National Guard. Washington State organizations and coalitions are organizing to protect their communities from a potential troop deployment. PSARA is focusing our work on the Free Washington Project (FWP). The Project has called for the formation of a Coordinating Council to grow a grassroots network in Washington State to resist authoritarian and anti-democratic actions of the Trump administration, and the agenda of Project 2025. FWP will coordinate efforts with other stakeholders to stand against military escalation and criminalization of protest. Initiated by Washington State Standing for Democracy, the Free Washington Project has been inspired by Free DC, Hands Off NYC, Bay Resistance, and organizations united in Los Angeles, Portland, and Chicago. Discussions with activists and organizers from these cities have enabled the organizers at the center of FWP to glean important lessons in building a popular front. First, FWP seeks to prevent the sending of troops and second, if troops are sent, to build a coordinated response to protect vulnerable communities and to ensure our response is nonviolent. The FWP is building a Coordinating Council that is multi-racial and multi-sectoral that can grow resilience and mutual support across communities and the state. Through coordinated actions and events and sharing resources and announcements, we can broaden the base of resistance beyond those organizations that are the most active currently in the anti-fascist movement. The FWP is launching a website ( freeWAproject.org ) to act as a clearing house to amplify the efforts of those organizing around the state. It will be a resource to announce actions, events, and trainings, intended to build resistance to Project 2025, even more broadly than its attacks against immigrants. Trainings can include non-violent civil disobedience, building rapid response networks, and de-escalation tactics. The six points of unity for joining FWP are: Commitment to non-violence to ensure the success of actions; Commitment to building a coordinated response against the use of military or militarized units of federal or federalized forces in Washington State; Commitment to solidarity, based on respect for diverse tactics and plans by various groups, avoidance of public criticisms, or debates within our movements; Opposition to any state repression that seeks to surveil, infiltrate, disrupt, and cause violence to our movement; Build the broadest resistance to authoritarian actions of the administration by utilizing the website as a resource for members of FWP; Promoting community by building the broadest coalition that is multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-sectoral, multi-generational, and internationalist in composition and viewpoint. The coalition will honor the leadership of those most impacted by the policies currently being implemented under Project 2025. While Standing for Democracy’s main emphasis will be to build a Coordinating Council of FWP, it is important to continue to build ties with other organizational efforts that have intersecting interests with FWP. One important formation, chaired by One America, is the Statewide Immigration Table: Rapid Mobilization which is focusing on a plan should federal troops be deployed to Washington State. Composed mainly of immigrant rights groups, ACLU and Indivisible representatives, the Table focuses on attacks on immigrant communities. As a leader in immigrant justice, One America is also building a communications plan with elected officials and media. WAISN (Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network) is launching a statewide membership group focused on large-scale raids by ICE. Standing for Democracy continues its ongoing committee work through People’s Assemblies for Democracy, Affirmative Resistance, as well as a general membership education session on the last Wednesday of each month. If you are interested in attending Standing for Democracy meetings and/ or finding out more information about the Coordinating Council of the Free Washington Project, please contact Cindy Domingo at 206.856.0324 or standingfordemocracy053@gmail.com . Cindy Domingo is a veteran activist with LELO (Legacy of Equality, Leadership & Organizing) and APALA (Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance), and PSARA's Co-VP for Outreach < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents October 2025 View From the Screen: A Review of Sorry, Baby Randy Joseph Spoilers… always spoilers. This is not a cozy film but a story wishing for comfort and protection, dreaming of cozy and safe in a world where bad things happen. Where warm knitted sweaters and blankets might really protect us. Sorry, Baby - a film written and directed by the extraordinary Eva Victor, takes place over 3 years, portraying a deep friendship between two PhD students…Agnes (played by Eva Victor) and Lydie (played by Naomi Ackie) – and how Agnes survives if not heals from this bad thing that happens to her. The story is an intense, nuanced, layered character study of Agnes during a terrible time of her life and yet it manages to mix it up with lovely and funny moments. Please don’t be afraid of the sad subject matter. Eva Victor would want us to watch it and not be afraid. It’s life – stick with her. Watch out as well for lots of interesting, relevant literary references and books being read on screen (e.g., the character Milkman from Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon; Giovonni’s Room by James Baldwin; Lolita and more! Even a clip of the movie 12 Angry Men…). Our protagonist Agnes is a star PhD candidate in the Literature Department of a small New England University who lives with her best friend in an old white clapboard house isolated in the woods. They are like 4th grade best friends – they study together, eat together, take baths together - jump up and down with joy for each other – hurt for each other – sacrifice for each other. Agnes comes home late one night not herself…clearly wrecked. Their beloved and admired mentor – novelist and Professor Preston Decker -– has sexually assaulted her. She tells Lydie the story blow by blow. Lydie listens carefully and deeply and puts her in a hot bath and listens more. The rest of the film is about sadness and survival, about healing and not ever healing – loneliness and anger and loss. About the power of love and friendship no matter what. The day after the assault Decker resigns his position and leaves town. She reports the rape to the University. They refuse to investigate because he doesn’t work there anymore. Agnes doesn’t want to call the police. She says she wants him to be a person that wouldn’t do that. If she has him arrested, he would just be a person in prison who does that. The loss of the relationship they had developed over years is profound. In one minute, she loses the person she thought was a protector, mentor, cheerleader and in his place gains a rapist. A few years later she tells a colleague that Decker must have hated her. Because if you like a person, if you respect a person then there is a certain way you treat them. Like a person. The assault from a trusted professor who encouraged her - praised her to the University always - calls her whole academic career into question. Was she really the “extraordinary” writer he said she was? Did she really deserve her PhD? After she is granted her degree, the University offers Agnes Decker’s teaching position and his very office. Although she is thrilled, she also questions whether she earned this or not. Was his recommendation just to keep her quiet? Did the school offer her the job for the same reason? Should she enjoy and prosper in the light-filled office that was formerly his or should she burn it down? Life goes on as it does. She teaches and we get a glimpse of her competency and joy in literature and the teaching of it. We see her tentative relationship with a sweet neighbor. And we see her struggle to connect and be able to picture a future with “what everyone wants.” She can’t see past the sadness. Lydie falls in love – marries and moves to another city. A serious loss. Agnes stays home. Same home. Same school. Lydie worries about Agnes. “Do you ever leave the house?” Their slightly tongue-in-cheek play continues… “Please don’t die,” she says. Agnes responds, "You please don't die." Translation: I love you so much. And in reply I love YOU so much. That never changes. One day 3 years later Agnes falls apart after a jealous colleague Natasha confronts Agnes and spews that Agnes was Decker’s favorite. That even though she, Natasha, had 5-minute sex with Decker … even so - he never read her own dissertation. Agnes drives a long way out of town, sobbing and unable to think or even breathe. She stops at a roadside sandwich shop with her windows up crying. The owner comes out – a middle-aged man with sadnesses of his own – says he knows someone with anxiety attacks and would she open the window and breathe with him please. They sit outside his shop on a curb and talk together about bad things. (One of the best scenes in the movie.) He reassures her that 3 years from a bad thing isn’t very long at all. Time does not heal all. Lydie, wife and baby come to visit Agnes. Agnes gets alone time with the baby. Her face is full of love for this baby. She tells her all the things she wished people would have said to her. She holds the baby up to her face and tells her how sorry she is that bad things will happen to her. Sorry, Baby. She hopes they won’t, but they probably will. She will be there for her, she says. She will listen and not be scared. “You can tell me any bad thought, and I will say yes, I have had that thought 10 times worse. You can tell me you want to kill yourself and I will say, yes, I know that feeling. I will be there for you baby no matter what.” Randy Joseph is a member of PSARA. < Back to Table of Contents