Search Results
Please enter search terms in the box below.   This search is site wide including Retiree Advocate issues from January 2025 forward for pre 2025 issues of the Advocate please go to the Advocate Archives

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents June 2025 Final Legislative Budget Overview Pam Crone The 2025 Washington legislative session ended on April 27. The information below reflects the final legislative budget. The Governor has until May 20 to sign the budget and exercise his veto authority. The budget does not be- come final until he acts. This overview was prepared before the Governor has taken action. As a reminder, the Governor has line-item veto power, meaning he can eliminate funding but cannot add new spending or shift dollars around. Over the final weeks of the session, the Legislature returned to the drawing board multiple times to draft a budget that included new revenue to navigate a $16 billion deficit projected over the next four years. Why did the Legislature have to return multiple times to the drawing board? The Governor repeatedly and consistently expressed opposition to a wealth tax, as well as concerns about relying too heavily on new revenue to balance the budget. As a result, the final budget includes more, and deeper, cuts. Another major concern is the potential impact of looming federal Medicaid reductions. Although these cuts are largely unpopular – effectively reducing healthcare access for many Americans while further lining the pockets of the wealthy – the Repub- lican-controlled House continues to move closer to a budget proposal that includes them. If these cuts are en- acted, the Governor is expected to call a special legislative session to address the resulting healthcare crisis. Current Budget Snapshot: Final operating budget: $77.8 billion Four-year outlook: $7 billion in total reductions New revenue (2025–2027): $4.3 billion New revenue (2027–2029): $4.4 billion Rainy Day Fund: $2 billion remaining Cash reserves: $225 million Investments in K–12 Education: $750 million for special education services $213 million for materials, supplies, and operating costs $200 million in local effort assistance for low-income school districts Investments in State Workers: Approximately $1 billion to fund and approve collective bargaining agreements for state employees Housing Investments: $605 million to the Housing Trust Fund $117 million in grants to local governments to offset lost document recording fee revenues Maintaining Core Services: $93 million for emergency food assistance organizations $27.9 million for senior nutrition programs $20 million to expand resources for crime victims Pam Crone is a retired lobbyist and Chair of PSARA's Government Relations Committee (GRC). < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents February 2026 Blockading the Cuban Peoples’ Right to Self-Determination Cindy Domingo For the 25 years that I have been traveling to Cuba, the Cuban people and their Revolution have served as a key inspiration for my political work. Cuba became the proof that a better world is possible, especially for Black and Brown people. Infant mortality and life expectancy were once comparable to the US. Free education resulted in Cuban women being more than equitably represented in professions such as medicine, law, teaching, and elected office. However, today it is painfully clear that 63 years of the US blockade against Cuba is having its intended and devastating impact on this tiny nation located 90 miles off our coast. According to an internal memorandum written by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Lester Mallory, dated April 6, 1960: “...every possible means should be under-taken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba...a line of action which, while as adroit and inconspicuous as possible, makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.” US presidents have taken various paths trying to achieve this aim of overthrowing the Cuban Revolution, and Trump’s Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, makes evident the present administration’s aim to establish US hegemony in Cuba and all of Latin America, at any cost. Consider the recent US military aggression in Venezuela and the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores. Trump’s redesignation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism has drastically increased the economic isolation of Cuba. In a report submitted to the UN General Assembly by Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, material damages and losses caused by the US blockade against Cuba were estimated at USD $7.5561 billion for the year March 2024 to February 2025. “The cost of six days of blockade is equivalent to the financing required [annually] to import medical consumables (cotton, gauze, syringes, needles, sutures, catheters, IV equipment, among others) and [chemical agents] needed by the national health system,” according to the same report. What this means is that the healthcare system is collapsing. Once a model of what human-centered healthcare could look like, now it is failing. Cuba is unable to purchase medications to treat cancer and heart ailments, materials to produce vaccines and for medical research, and machines as simple as EKG monitors and as complex as x-ray and anesthesia devices. Pharmacy shelves are bare and it can be difficult to find something as simple as an aspirin. Twenty years ago, the doctor-patient ratio in urban areas was one neighborhood doctor to 100 patients. Our December 2025 delegation visited a small medical clinic in central Havana and met a doctor whose case load is now 3,700 patients. This courageous doctor has no intention of leaving, she says, “because my patients need me.” But over one million people have left Cuba due to economic hardships (10% of Cuba’s population); many are professionals who have benefitted from the free education system—including doctors. This last year has brought constant electrical blackouts, the spread of mosquito-borne diseases including the variant called chikungunya (more serious and painful than dengue), and a severe gasoline shortage that has impacted transportation and the ability to bring food from the farms to the cities, all creating unbearable hardships on the Cuban people. But, of course, all of this is the intended impact of the US blockade, the longest and most comprehensive and coercive economic sanctions measures ever imposed on a country. I saw the impact of the blockade on faces of people everywhere, especially older people who are surviving on their small pensions, drastically impacted by inflation. When I went to Cuba in May 2024, $1 USD was equivalent to 45 pesos. Today, $1 USD equals 400 Cuban pesos. The Cuban people are resilient fighters, however, and pockets of hope I witnessed inspire my continuing fight for them and their right to self-determination. Teresa de Jesus Fernandez Gonzalez, National Coordinator of Cuba’s National Center for Sex Education, told me with pride and a smile on her face that their work is expanding because of the new constitution that gave expansive rights to the LGBTQI+ communities. Fernando Funes, leader of Finca Marta, is leading the way for agroecology farming. Norma Guillard, a social psychologist and group leader for Afrodescendents of Latin America and the Caribbean, and Reinier Buceo Libre, who leads a small but enthusiastic environmental conservation organization called Mar vivo Cuba, remind me that the spirit of the Revolution lives on as they celebrate the 100th birthday of Fidel Castro. It is up to us to ensure that we change US policy towards Cuba so that they can determine their own futures and carry on their progressive nation-defining work. Cindy Domingo is a veteran activist and is PSARA's Co-VP for Outreach. < Back to Table of Contents

PSARA 2024 Legislative Agenda In preparation for the WA State Legislative Session the PSARA Board has established a set of legislative goals. Read

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents May 2025 Somtimes it's Not Sweet in Life, but Other Times There's Good News Dina Burstein Many of you have read in this newsletter about my beloved friend Mohamed, who is incarcerated at Walla Walla State Penitentiary. Now I have amazing news to share with you about Mohamed’s legal case. Background: Mohamed is an immigrant from Somalia, now 38 years old. He was convicted in 2014 of charges related to an altercation on the street in which one personsustained minor injuries to his hand. For this, Mohamed was sentenced to 40 years in prison. He has been in prison at Walla Walla since 2015. To get a sense of what Mohamed is like, and what his life is like, you can read the columns Mohamed and I wrote for the Retiree Advocate here: www.psara.org/newsletter-archive News since our last column: Mohamed completed his AA degree! His college teacher asked permission for Mohamed to become a TA in his classes, but the prison did not allow He has fasted and prayed his way through another Ramadan in prison. And best news of all: The Seattle Clemency Project spent months investigating Mohamed’s case and has agreed to help represent him in a clemency case. Three attorneys at a Seattle private law firm, in cooperation with the Seattle Clemency Project, are now putting together a clemency case to submit to Governor Ferguson. There are other legal hurdles ahead for Mohamed, but this is a great start. Mohamed’s legal team has asked for letters of support from people in the community who know Mohamed or who have come to know him from his writings. If you have been moved by reading Mohamed’s columns, and might be interested in writing a letter of support for Mohamed, please email me at dinaburstein@gmail.com This is how Mohamed explained his perspective on living a 40-year sentence in prison: Sometimes it's not sweet in life. This is one of those things. The way I was going, drinking, life on the street, I was heading to get killed. Thank God I got a chance to re-live my life in prison. The ones still out there can’t. They’re stuck. As soon as I was in jail, I started praying again. I needed that break (the arrest) to get my life back. I was able to get my life back! Opened my eyes. Once I was pulled out of life on the street, I knew what I needed to do to live the life I wanted to live. Dina Burstein is a member of PSARA and an activist with the Jewish Coalition < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents June 2025 Social Security Attacks Continue Steve Kofahl It seems that nearly every day we learn about a disturbing new aspect of the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks on Social Security, the Social Security Administration (SSA), and SSA employees. I write this on May 12, with a Washington Post piece (“The hidden ways Trump and DOGE are shutting down parts of the government”) in today’s Seattle Times. The article reveals that some SSA employees are running out of pens, paper, and printer toner because the US DOGE Service, on February 26, placed a $1 spending limit on each government-issue credit card that managers use to make purchases and pay for services. They cannot pay their phone bills, or for translation services, for example. Less than a dozen people at SSA, an agency with 1,300 work locations, are now authorized to make decisions on any purchase requests, causing lengthy backlogs and delays. How’s that for making government more efficient? Less than a week ago, Wall Street billionaire Frank Bisignano was confirmed 53-47 by the Senate to serve until January 2031 as SSA Commissioner. A self- described “DOGE person,” he was called out by the usually mild-mannered Oregon Senator Ron Wyden for lying to the Senate Finance Committee, when he denied having worked with DOGE and Trump’s Acting SSA Commissioner, Leland Dudek, for months before his confirmation. It was during this time that the SSA website crashed 3 times in 10 days, in March. Bisignano, who comes with a reputation for slashing jobs and treating workers disrespect- fully, has said that he intends to replace SSA 800-number agents with Artificial Intelligence (AI). Speaking of AI, SSA has already been utilizing it to some extent in the disability determination process. The National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) has formed a task force that issued a report last month citing a number of concerns. One is the presence of bias in medical care and in medical record-keeping. How do we identify and mitigate it? NASI believes it imperative that hu- mans make the adjudicative decisions, including whether to obtain additional existing medical evidence or request a consultative exam paid for by SSA. SSA had more than 84,000 employ- ees in 1980, compared to about 50,000 today, with half as many Americans receiving benefits compared with today. Each of 1,200+ field offices had at least one SSA field representative to reach those who lived far from an office and needed a home visit, or to be served at one of the Agency’s hundreds of con- tact stations (sites like courthouses and social service agencies, most at no cost to SSA). They also made presentations to educate people about SSA programs. There are no more contact stations, and no more field representatives. With SSA having largely withdrawn from communities across our nation, it shouldn’t surprise us that lies about Social Security are believed by too many Americans. Why else would anyone agree with Elon Musk that Social Security is a 90-year Ponzi scheme, that benefits are being paid on the records of 150-year-olds, or that undocumented workers are receiving payments (they’re not!)? Incorrect payments, which include underpayments as well as overpayments, are about 1 percent of total benefits paid. Incorrect payments (which could be greatly reduced by restoring staff) and fraudulent payments are not the same thing, and there is, in fact, very little fraud. Reports of changes that affect eligibility or payment amount are received by SSA, but often go unworked for many months due to job cuts. Implementation of the Social Security Fairness Act, which restored benefits for public retirees who had been subject to Government Pension Offset or the Windfall Elimination Provision, is also being slowed by staffing losses. Nearly three mil- lion records require adjustment, but some won’t be processed for a year. Of 182,000 new applications filed by those who hadn’t applied previously because no payments were due before the law was changed, 15 percent have not been processed. The Trump administration intends to strip all civil service and union rights from about 20 percent of the SSA workforce, including the Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) who conduct dis- ability hearings and render decisions. That would make it easy to intimidate or remove ALJs who allegedly approve too many cases. Thankfully, we have been getting some help from the courts and others. In April, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction to block DOGE from accessing the sensitive personal information in SSA records. On May 7, 15 House Republicans (none from Washington) wrote to Bisignano to express concerns about staff cuts and office closures. Two days later, another judge issued a two-week temporary restraining order blocking implementation of a February 11 executive order directing major “reorganizations” at SSA and 19 other agencies. The Administration appealed to the 9th Circuit within hours. H.R. 2550, the Protecting Ameri- ca’s Workforce Act, which would restore federal employee rights that have been stripped away, already has 220 House co-sponsors. We have a long and difficult fight on our hands, but we can and must win it. We have to pull back the curtain and reveal what’s really going on in the other Washington, reach out wherever possible to tell the story to others, and take action by attending rallies and/or calling members of Congress from both parties. Steve Kofahl is a former President of AFGE 3937, representing Social Security workers, a member of PSARA's Executive Board, and Co-Chair of PSARA's Social Security Task Force. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents March 2026 SSA Workers Union at US Capitol Steve Kofahl The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), AFL-CIO, which represents most Social Security Administration (SSA) workers, held its annual legislative conference during the second week of February. Union leaders from SSA described to their elected representatives how staffing and funding cuts, disrespect shown to SSA workers, and harmful service delivery changes threaten SSA programs and the public. AFGE pointed out that 9% of total field staffing was lost between March 2024 and August 2025, shrinking the total SSA workforce to its lowest level in 59 years. About 6,500 jobs were cut overall during the first 9 months of 2025 alone. At least 2,000 more will be lost by October this year. In Washington State, 11% of field staff were lost, but three Congressional Districts (CDs 3, 5, 8) each suffered losses of 30% or more. Representatives Gluesencamp-Perez, Baumgartner, and Schrier should be complaining especially loudly to the SSA Commissioner and to the White House. Phone centers lost at least 300 employees (7%), while attempting to handle 15 million more calls (up 20%) than in the prior year. The Commissioner disguised the 800# crisis, in part by excluding busy rates from performance measures, and the time spent waiting for a call-back when there is no available agent. He also reassigned field office staff to answer calls, causing their assigned caseloads (benefit applications, appeals, etc.) to become even more backlogged. The SSA administrative budget needs to be returned to the 2017 level of 1.2% of benefit outlays in order to restore service, but has shrunk to just 0.85% of benefit outlays. As a result of the cuts, initial disability benefit claim average processing time has risen by 198% to 220 days, and the reconsideration time has increased by 245% to 248 days. Applicants who proceed to a hearing before an administrative law judge may have to wait an additional year for a final decision. Who can wait two years or more, after becoming disabled and unable to work, to finally receive their earned cash and medical benefits? SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano has shown little or no respect for the personalized service that the public wants and needs from trained employees in their communities. His “digital first” agenda is intended to drive the public to automated self-service, with artificial intelligence (AI) replacing trained employees, even those who make entitlement decisions on disability benefit applications and appeals. The AI chatbot on the toll-free 800# has been found to provide answers to questions other than those being asked, and to hang up on callers. Rushed technology has resulted in systems crashes and double-booked appointments, and does not allow for caller transfers to their assigned case workers. Each SSA field office employee was required to sign an Alignment Statement this year as part of their most recent performance expectation discussion. To add insult to injury, the statement requires them to support SSA’s goal to reduce the number of public visitors to field offices by 50% this year. Of course, that would mean aggressively steering clients to automated self-service options at every contact. The public is best served by trained SSA workers in their own communities. Referrals to local service providers for cash and medical assistance are best made by SSA workers from those same communities. State laws vary regarding relationship and dependency, which can determine entitlement to spouse and child benefits. After a lifetime of work, benefit applicants deserve, and have already paid for, the assistance of a trained, knowledgeable SSA employee. SSA is non-competitive for hiring and retention due to crushing work-loads, inflexible work schedules, loss of work-at-home opportunities, and low pay. Twenty percent of workers have a second job. A recent analysis shows that 54% of frontline workers and 97% of phone center employees make less than a living wage. During last fall’s government shutdown, 82% of employees reported that they struggled to meet basic expenses. Job reclassification and increased pay are long overdue. Just a few weeks before the Legislative Conference, AFGE learned that the Department of Justice made two Hatch Act violation referrals in December 2025 to the Office of Special Counsel, Merit Systems Protection Board, concerning activities of two Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employees at SSA. The Hatch Act strictly limits political activities of Federal workers. In March 2025, an unnamed political advocacy group whose stated aim was to find evidence of voter fraud and to overturn election results in certain states, contacted two DOGE associates (special government employees) at the SSA. The group had obtained state voter rolls, and sought SSA records in order to analyze them. One of the DOGE associates at SSA signed a voter data agreement with the group, potentially to allow use of SSA data to match against voter rolls. It’s unclear whether the data was shared, and there are concerns that other serious violations occurred early last year involving DOGE operational head Steve Davis. He reportedly was emailed a copy of an encrypted, password-protected file of SSA data, also in March of last year, sent to the Department of Homeland Security. DOGE employees also used an insecure third-party server, Cloudflare, to share SSA data early last year. The Agency claims not to know what data was shared, or whether it remains on the server. It will be incumbent upon our elected representatives to keep pressing for answers and to insist that the SSA is properly administered on behalf of current and future applicants and beneficiaries. We don’t need the SSA involved in election tampering or immigration enforcement. We do need to show proper respect for SSA workers so that services are fully restored. Steve Kofahl is a retired president of AFGE 3937, representing Social Security workers, and a member of PSARA's Executive Board. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents April 2025 APALA National Delegation Travels to the Philippines Cindy Domingo Almost 44 years ago, Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes, officers of the Alaska Cannery Workers Union, Local 37, ILWU, had a vision of building solidarity between the workers of the US and the Philippines. It was a vision that they had carried on from their fathers’ generation, which led Local 37 under the leadership of Chris Mensalves and Carlos Bulosan. But it was a vision and plan that cost them their lives. On June 1, 1981, Philippine dictators Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos ordered the two anti-Marcos activists murdered in their Seattle union hall by hired assassins. That money came from the Marcoses and resulted in a federal court judge- ment of $23.5 million for the Domingo and Viernes families. From February 24–March 3 this year, a 13-member Asian Pacific American Labor Delegation (APALA) – co-led by me, Silme's sister; Silme’s daughter and National APALA President, Ligaya Do- mingo; Kent Wong, founding President of APALA; and Ian Seruela, San Diego APALA Chair – made Silme and Gene’s dream come true. The eight-day trip materialized the Philippine solidarity work that Silme and Gene never lived to see. “I am so happy to have realized the dream of my late father, Silme Domingo, Gene Viernes, and their fellow activists,” stated Ligaya Domingo. “It was amazing to have the opportunity to speak directly with labor leaders and union members across many industries in the Philippines. We saw the true impact of globalization and unchecked capitalism, and I am more committed than ever about the importance of building relationships across the global labor movement to build greater power for all workers.” APALA partnered with Nagkaisa, the largest alliance of labor groups and worker organizations in the modern history of the trade union movement in the Philippines, and the Philippine branch of the Solidarity Center. The delegation was composed of labor leaders from Seattle, Los Angeles, San Diego, Minnesota, and Washington DC, many of them Filipino Americans who had never traveled to the Philippines. Over the course of the trip, which traveled to Manila and Cebu, the delegation met with hotel and hospitality workers who are organizing multinational hotel chains that pay substandard wages and benefits to workers; business process workers in call centers; healthcare workers at Makati Medical Center, which boasts an impressive labor-management relationship; public sector workers; teachers and educators; union miners, and a labor organization that advocates for the rights and well-being of local domestic workers. Tagoipay Mathno, a young Cham APALA Seattle Chapter leader, said that “This trip was an eye-opener to see the harmful impact of fascism and what it could do to a country. But the resiliency and generosity of the Filipino people was truly inspirational and served as a reminder of what we all could do as a collective.” One of the most important meetings the delegation had was with unionized workers at Metro Wear Inc. 2, who were organizing for a possible strike in Cebu’s export processing zone. Export processing zones were set up during the Marcos dictatorship and served as economic zones that provide business incentives, including tax exemptions and barrier free trade environments, es- pecially for manufacturers and exporters. Metro Wear Inc. 2 workers produce Lululemon wear, a highly popular brand of workout wear. Formed in December 2023, the union, called Organization of Metrowear Employees for Genuine Advocacy - Pinagisang Tinig at Lakas ng Anakpawis (OMEGA - Piglas), has been fighting for recognition. Based on information given to the delegation, it was calculated that if a pair of workout pants costs $120/pair, and a beginning worker must make 50 pairs/ hr., that worker could possibly make $48,000 worth of pants/day. There are 1,500 workers in the plant, so the rate of exploitation is extreme for a work- force that makes about 501 pesos/day (equivalent to $8.76 USD/day). How- ever, in a recent victory, the Philippine Department of Labor and Employment, after pressure from foreign entities and Philippine elected officials, issued an order for Metro Wear Inc to enter into collective bargaining agreement negotiations with OMEGA-Piglas, thus avoiding a strike with the workers. APALA is watching these negotiations closely. Bernie Burnham, President of the Minnesota Labor Federation, AFL- CIO, representing over 300,000 union members and 1,000 locals of Filipino descent, came to the Philippines on her first visit. "I was humbled to listen to the stories of the Filipino workers we met with and saw the hope in their eyes. Their pride was evident. I was especially impressed with the women, who work to build and advocate for their communities, seemingly against the odds. We were able to attend the People’s Power 1986 Commemoration on one of our afternoons. The energy and dedication to working people is alive and evident still today. We visited with survivors of the Marcos regime, whose mission to educate and continue to tell the story, vowing 'Never Again,' was powerful. To see the names of Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes, American labor leaders who were assassinated by Marcos hitmen and actually be there with Ligaya and Cindy…I will never forget the sacrifices of their families in the fight for a better labor movement. This trip reinforced my commitment to the labor movement and the importance of worldwide solidarity for workers.” Please contact apala@gmail.com if you are interested in hearing about Seattle delegation report-back events. Cindy Domingo is PSARA’s Co-VP for Outreach, and a long-time activist in LELO (Legacy of Equality, Leadership, and Organizing) and APALA. < Back to Table of Contents

Become a PSARA member today or renew your membership. Membership, Renewals & Donations Join us in our work to make retirement real for all generations and in our fight for social justice, economic security, dignity and a healthy planet for all of us. Basic Membership $20/year Supporting membership – $50/year Sponsoring membership – $100/year To become a PSARA Member, Renew your Membership or Make a Donation chose one of the following options. By Credit Card: Click on this link to take you to an Act Blue page where you can choose the amount. Gift Membership: If you are giving a gift membership online, please write in the “note” box field during checkout the following items for the person receiving the gift: First and Last Name, Email and phone number, Address (if possible). Click here if you are interested in making a tax deductible contributionto the PSARA’s 501C Education Fund.

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents December 2025 AARP, United Health Group, and WISeR Robby Stern On October 21, Wendell Potter, a former high ranking health insurance executive and whistle blower, wrote the following in Healthcare Uncovered , the newsletter of the Center for Health and Democracy. "In 2024, United Health Group (UNH) -- the nation’s largest health insurer -- paid AARP a one-time upfront royalty payment of just over $9 billion for the rights to use AARP’s name in marketing Medicare Advantage-type plans and Medicare supplement policies. According to financial statements for AARP, this windfall came as part of a restructured deal with UNH’s insurance unit, United Healthcare, extending their partnership for an additional 12 years and recording a balance of about $8.72 billion in deferred revenue as of December 31. "What makes a deal like this so troubling is its implication: the organization that millions of older Americans consider their trusted advocate -- AARP, with its packed magazines and covers featuring Bon Jovi, Samuel L. Jackson, and Sally Field -- is in fact functioning as a multimillion-dollar marketing arm for an insurer whose business model increasingly depends on enrolling seniors in private Medicare plans." A recent Kaiser Family Foundation study found that Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollees will have access to approximately 50% of the healthcare providers that Original Medicare (OM) enrollees can access in regions across the country. In addition, the study found that OM enrollees were more likely to receive care in the highest-rated hospitals and skilled nursing facilities. In 2023, the number of prior authorization requests to MA insurers was approximately 50 million and frequently were determined using Artificial Intelligence (AI). Prior authorization is rarely used in OM. The corporate MA insurance system poses significant risks for beneficiaries because of delays and denials of care resulting from prior authorizations. Corporate Medicare Advantage also threatens the viability of the entire Medicare system. MA costs the Medicare Trust Fund approximately 35% more per beneficiary than OM. According to MedPAC, a nonpartisan congressional agency that provides Congress with analysis of the Medicare program, MA overcharged the Medicare Trust Fund in 2024 an estimated $84 billion dollars. AARP is being paid to promote United Healthcare’s Medicare insurance which threatens, along with the other MA plans, the financial future of the Medicare system. United Healthcare is by far the largest corporate for-profit MA insurer. In March, 2025, United Health was estimated to have nearly $10 million MA enrollees. The insurer was compensated an average of $5,000 per enrollee. AARP provides a significant customer base and credibility to United Healthcare. No wonder AARP has been paid just over $9 billion for a 12-year agreement. How does this financial relationship impact AARP’s decision making? We can only speculate, but WISeR presents an interesting case study. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and an agency within CMS, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), have initiated the WISeR program to expand artificial intelligence (AI) prior authorization to 16, and maybe more, medical procedures in Original Medicare (OM). This unwelcome expansion in the number of prior authorizations in OM will still be a small fraction of the number in MA. Despite the fact that healthcare providers and patients have expressed strong dislike for practices that intervene between the provider-patient relationship, CMS plans to proceed with the WISeR pilot program beginning January, 2026. Private companies who will determine the required prior authorizations in OM must have AI capability to be eligible to engage in reviews for the WISeR program. These companies will be paid based on the amount they save the Medicare system, i.e. higher compensation for denials. What is AARP’s position on WISeR? According to an AARP spokesperson, they are “watching carefully." The organization states it supports efforts to address Medicare fraud and abuse, which is the public justification for WISeR by CMS. AARP also states it prioritizes the health care of older Americans and that nobody should be denied legitimate, medically necessary treatment. Nice words, but we know that AI prior authorization does deny medically necessary treatment frequently in MA and that one of the most consistent users of AI prior authorization is United Healthcare. Regarding fraud and abuse, MedPAC noted there is approximately $5.8 billion in treatments that may be unnecessary. Compare this to the MedPAC estimate of $84 billion in overcharges by corporate MA insurers. On the AARP website WISeR is listed as one of the changes to Medicare in 2026. They acknowledge that “If successful, the pilot project could lead to wider uses of prior authorization in original Medicare...” They state the experiment in six states, including Washington, could involve up to 6.4 million beneficiaries. AARP goes on to provide CMS’s justification for the program. They then state “Technology companies that participate will be paid based on savings from denied medical claims, which has drawn the ire of the American Medical Association and consumer organizations.” Note, it has not drawn the ire of AARP, which one might think is a consumer organization. The final paragraphs in the posting state: “The pilot project comes amid concerns from lawmakers, government watchdogs, and others that Medicare Advantage plans’ prior authorization procedures can create burdens for caregivers, who have to figure out how to appeal, and risk the health of patients by delaying or denying care that would otherwise be covered under original Medicare.” If we believe the concerns of caregivers and consumer organizations to an expansion of AI prior authorization in OM are legitimate (and PSARA emphatically does), we question the failure of AARP to support those of us in this fight. To quote Wendell Potter in his discussion of the relationship between United Health and AARP: “All this being said, AARP taking money from a giant corporation is not the least bit unusual in Washington. And advocacy on behalf of consumers and patients requires resources. But when an organization is simultaneously lobbying Congress on Medicare and cashing billion-dollar checks from the largest Medicare Advantage insurer, it’s no longer just an advocate for consumers and patients.” Robby Stern is President of the PSARA Education Fund and a member of PSARA's Executive Board. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents February 2026 Moving Closer to the World of Repair: Seattle-King County African American Reparations Committee Anne Watanabe Every day brings more bad news, including attacks on communities of color. It can be overwhelming and discouraging. But we must not overlook the steady progress being made by dedicated organizations such as the Seattle-King County African American Reparations Committee (SAARC). PSARA has issued a policy statement supporting Black reparations -- the need to redress US chattel slavery, Jim Crow, and systemic racism, and their long legacy of harm to Black Americans. Across the nation, federal, state, and local governments have taken steps, albeit slow steps, to achieve reparations. Several years ago, PSARA Executive Board member, civil rights leader, and former King County Councilmember Larry Gossett convened meetings that brought local elected leaders and over 30 organizations in the African American community together to create a reparations movement in the Seattle-King County area. These efforts led to the creation of the Seattle-King County African American Reparations Committee (SAARC). Larry, together with PSARA Executive Board member Claude Burfect, a long-time leader in the Black and labor communities, brought volunteers together to plan and grow SAARC. Both Larry and Claude continue to guide SAARC. SAARC eventually grew into today’s organization, which advocates for Black reparations. SAARC recently published its 2025 Housing and Labor Report. The report focuses on King County, noting that King County has the state’s highest number of Black residents, but “has one of the state’s sharpest degrees of wealth inequality, far exceeding national rates.” The report points out that housing discrimination has been a major factor in creating wealth inequity. Practices such as redlining, underinvestment by local governments and banks, and other forms of discrimination deprived Black communities of home purchases, a major source of generational wealth. A study cited in the report calculated that the financial impact of discriminatory housing practices in King County ranged from $5.4 billion to $15.8 billion from 1950 to 2019. SAARC’s report cites the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Center for Health Justice, which reported in 2024 that 22 local jurisdictions “have approved a reparations commission or task force, and eleven states have introduced legislation to create one.” The AAMC also cautioned that “reparations, even when broadly defined and not limited to cash payments, are not supported by most of the public,” and that “those committed to health and racial justice must do a better job of connecting the dots between historic injustice and modern-day inequity.” But despite the seeming national lack of support for reparations, a study recently commissioned by SAARC indicates that over 58 percent of King County residents support reparations (compared with 30 percent nationally). Interestingly, the study found that messaging regarding a need to remedy redlining and restrictive covenants received stronger support than did messaging about economic justice. So there is much cause for hope, especially in King County, for repairing the harms of generations of racial discrimination in housing. Furthermore, SAARC’s advocacy has led to state and local government support for a study that is being administered by the Washington State Commission on African American Affairs. SAARC has identified a number of research and policy recommendations; hopefully those will be considered and incorporated into the upcoming state study. SAARC’s “immediate policy recommendations” are for: direct compensatory payments; housing reparations; and county funding for Black/African American entrepreneurs. SAARC has also identified future policy recommendations that address education inequities, health inequities, criminal justice and policing, and environmental racism and displacement. Davida Ingrahm, SAARC Executive Director, notes that SAARC is engaged in building partnerships, including intergenerational partnerships, to identify the policies and common ground that leads all of us into a world of repair. How do we live well together? She urges us to look into the future and focus on what we care about – if we can do that, it is what will happen. Larry’s hope is that Black reparations in the Seattle-King County area will provide a foundation for Black families to build generational wealth through home ownership. He would like to see Seattle become the second city in the nation (behind Evanston, Illinois) to create a robust reparations program related to housing. PSARA will support SAARC in its efforts to achieve these recommendations – so please stay tuned to our newsletter and emails, and please visit SAARC - Seattle/King County African American Reparations Committee to learn more about how we can achieve a future we want. Anne Watanabe is Chair of PSARA's Race and Gender Equity Committee. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents August 2025 PSARA Letter to the Washington State Congressional Delegation PSARA Board July 12, 2025 TO: Washington US Representatives and Washington Senators in the US Congress RE: The US National Climate Assessment Report The National Climate Assessment (NCA) is the US government’s preeminent report on climate change in the United States. It was set into law by the US Congress in 1990 and there have been five reports since then, released every four years. Although the National Climate Assessment is required by Congress, in April, the Trump administration announced it was canceling funding for the US Global Change Research Program, which coordinates the report. All the authors working on the upcoming Sixth National Climate Assessment, set for release in 2028, were also dismissed. The US Global Change Research Program's website was taken offline, along with all five editions of the National Climate Assessment and a wide range of information detailing how human- amplified climate change is impacting the United States. The most recent assessment, NCA5, was released in 2023. The report lays out the basic science of climate change, examines how climate change will affect 17 national-level topics, and includes 10 regional chapters covering the entire United States. The national reports are not only peer reviewed by other scientists, but examined for accuracy by the National Academy of Sciences, federal agencies, the staff and the public. The NCA gives close attention to current and future risks, how those risks can be reduced, and implications for society under different future scenarios. The most recent report, issued in 2023, included an interactive atlas that zoomed down to the county level. This lets Americans explore the impacts of climate change in their own back yards. Counties, cities, and states find it useful in planning future needs and in devel- oping budgets. Local officials say the report has helped them decide about upcoming needs - whether to raise roads, build seawalls and even move hospital generators from basements to roofs. Climate change is affecting people’s security, health and livelihoods in every corner of the country in different ways, with minority and Native American communities often disproportionately at risk. All of these reports have been taken offline by the Trump administration as of July 1. This is part of the cutback and cancellation of any work on climate change. The effect of this foolish ac- tion was brutally clear when over 100 people were swept away in the flash flood on Guadalupe River in Central Texas on July 4. Climate change will continue to make storms stronger and fires larger and faster moving. Thousands more will die from these catastrophic events. We need more resources focused on prevention and mitigation and we need them now! What specific actions are you taking to protect people and infra- structure from extreme weather events caused by climate change? We want to see public meetings and congressional hearings on this subject. It impacts the entire country. The hearings should include scientists and experts who provided the analysis for past NCA reports and those who used this critical data for planning and public health and safety at the state level. We are calling on you, our Washington State Representatives and Senators to the US Congress, to restore the National Climate Assessment as directed by congress in 1990. < Back to Table of Contents

Rev. Dr. Robert Jeffrey, Sr. Jayza Duhon Celebrate Juneteenth with PSARA Saturday, June 14, 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. New Hope Missionary Baptist Church PSARA welcomes all to our annual Juneteenth celebration on Saturday, June 14, from 1–3 p.m. We are honored to hold our event at New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, located at 124 21st Ave, Seattle. The Rev. Dr. Robert Jeffrey, Sr. and his congregation have graciously allowed us to have this celebration at their beautiful historic Black church in the heart of Seattle’s Central District. Our theme this year is “With Hope We Unite, Resist, and Overcome.” The Juneteenth holiday celebrates the historic day of June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Texas to declare the end of slavery, some two years after Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Today, as waves of racial hostility and injustice sweep across our country, we gather on this day to stand together and lift each other’s spirits while we renew our commitment to resist and overcome racism and hatred. Our celebration includes presentations by Rev. Jeffrey, Sr., MLK Labor leader Shaunie Wheeler, PSARA leaders Claude Burfect and Larry Gossett, and musical performances by members of the New Hope Choir and soloists Jayza Duhon and Laila West. We will have books on display, curated by Rhonda Gossett, and refreshments for attendees. We are grateful to the Abe Keller Peace Education Fund for a generous donation to help us put on this event. Please join us on June 14 at 1:00 p.m. for this special event! BACK TO THE ADVOCATE