Well what do you know? As I was writing this month’s Substance retiree article 1,300 miles away from the Chicago, the Chicago Teachers Union and the cold weather I found out that I was nominated again to the CTU’s House of Delegates. As I approach my 77th birthday — and about 44 years in the CTU’s House of Delegates — I find this nomination gratifying.

It sounds like I’ll be working towards 50 years in the House of Delegates. As everyone who has known me knows, I’ve always served actively in the House of Delegates, whether as delegate from Rogers Elementary School or as a retiree delegate. I also always served gladly on union committees (until the UPC began kicking people off those committees as if they were purging like the old days in some other countries).

From the looks of things, we’re going to have to be more vigilant than ever if retirees are going to continue to be protected by the Chicago Teachers Union. Remember — it is under the current leadership (the UPC) that the pension fund was sold out to the politicians 14 years ago. Several of those who did the sellout are back in power with the same philosophy, so only an alert retiree group represented by delegates who are willing to speak out can protect our right to a decent and dignified retirement.

One of the most disappointing things about the recent (October) election for teacher trustees to the pension board was that the UPC candidates were running as members of a union faction that had a history of selling out the pension, while the UPC candidates were making outrageous charges — all not true — against their opponents (who had never sold out). The Big Lie shouldn’t have worked, but it did. And for a time, that made me really sad.

The news of my nomination must be as welcome as a cyanide capsule to the current CTU leadership. I am hopeful that my older friends will remember my years of service in the CTU — and my 10 years on the pension fund board of trustees. It is imperative that members in the CTU’s House of Delegates be other than members of the UPC.

Keeping your own medical records

Now back to other retiree subjects.

When I moved just north of Chicago, my wife and I decided to find a physician closer to our residence. I found that as my wife and I became seniors and retirees our trips for medical reasons became more frequent. Having a doctor and hospital close by in bad weather is a blessing. My medical records are important to me because we live half a year in each of two locations so we have two primary physicians. I like to have both of them informed about each other and what they prescribe.

Back in Illinois, I received a letter that my Illinois primary physician was opening up his own personal private practice and leaving his former medical group. I did not think much about this, as his new office was just blocks away from his original practice and in actuality closer to my home. I went for a check-up and was told to fill out a release form for my medical records and send them to his former practice to have my medical file sent to the new office.

To my surprise, I soon received a letter telling me that they will not forward my records unless they receive a fifty-dollar ($50!) “processing fee” to photocopy and forward my file. This really pissed me off. After receiving thousands of dollars in insurance money from my insurance carriers, they have the gall to ask for another fifty dollars for some simple photocopy work. I even said that I would pick the copies up to save mailing costs.

You do have a right to have your records but the doctor seems to have a right to receive another $50 to just copy them.

I found out later that the breakup of the medical group was similar to a bad divorce that I had nothing to do with. I’m afraid it’s legal and if I want my records sent over it would cost me $50 out of my pocket. I had a strange thought that my current doctor wishing my business should pay for my records and write it off as a business expense. The only saving thing is that after each medical visit I have asked for and kept photocopies that I kept in my personal file.

Now many of us go back to the days before the dawn of expensive corporate medicine, and I worked myself in the medical fields (although not as a doctor) when I was in the military medics. So many of our experiences of medical care and the ethics of our doctors were developed during the years before all the rules were changed to benefit the “bottom line” without regard, in many cases, for ethics. One of the most unusual things about this development is that more and more we can’t count on “our doctor” to have all of our records and to remember each of the details of our medical history. We have to be our own medical records department nowadays.

Here is my advice: Every time you are subjected to some medical tests — such as lab work, MRI, EKG, etc. — immediately ask for a copy of the results before you leave the office. These results are printouts and immediately available. Keep the results in your own personal medical file. All of us have gotten used to saving our tax records and our insurance records. Now it’s time to make a new file for medical records and view it as important as those others. You are entitled to these results because you paid for them.

I just read that the Senate passed a bill on medical records. It seems that through current technology you will not need a clipboard to write down what was done but it can be encrypted on a card or chip that you will keep. There is even a process where a chip can be implanted in your body.

Senator Edward Kennedy states “A system that makes medical records available instantly would help to reduce errors… This can also have a profound impact in terms of saving lives.” The bills regarding this subject are S. 1418 and S 1227. It sounds like they are worth supporting, but let’s not forget that the best record keeping systems can break down and that data — whether on a chart or on a chip — is only as reliable as the care with which it was entered.

The Medicare drug plan

I’ve been looking over Medicare’s new drug plans. I have noticed that there are more choices then I had expected. There has been talk that some insurance companies are giving extra benefits so as to reap in an early harvest of participants. Is this a bait and switch — sign them up now and raise the prices later?

One of the best explanations of the government’s Medicare new drug plans are contained in the November 2005 AARP Bulletin. If you have to make a choice, it behooves you to get a copy of this issue. There are a number of websites that cover this topic such as: www.aarp.org /bulletin and www. medicare rights.org. You can also try the public library.

One of the things that has been reported in the media is that for some retirees with very good medical benefits (including some traditional union plans), they would lose money if they took the Medicare plan right now. You have to spend time figuring out how these things work out best for you and, if you are lucky enough to be with your spouse, for you and your spouse.

Hypocrisy in Stewart’s reign over the CTU

I just read that CTU president Marilyn Stewart went to Africa representing the American Federation of Teachers on a mission for combating AIDS. I think that’s great and I wished her mission well.

But a trip abroad is a trip abroad, and it seems like Stewart and the UPC are trying to have a double standard here. What was all the fuss back in October when the president of the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund went to an overseas meeting regarding pension fund business? OOPs! I just remembered — in October, Stewart’s UPC group was trying to replace the Pat Knazze and the other incumbent trustees of the fund, so trips abroad were bad. But now they are good.

There has been a lot of replacing going on. While talking about replacing I would be remise if I didn’t mention Mr. Lou Pyster (who is now among the retirees, by the way). Lou has been a union activist for as long as I can remember. In addition to serving as a school delegate from Austin High School, he has been a trustee of the teachers pension fund, a high school functional vice president, director of research for the CTU, and a member of the CTU Rules and Elections Committee for decades.

As of last month, Lou is no longer on the Rules and Elections Committee — and probably nothing else. Along with dozens of others, Lou received a letter from Marilyn Stewart saying that he was no longer a member of the committee because she wanted to have committees that consisted of people who agreed with her “philosophy” (whatever that means). Lou wasn’t the only experienced incumbent to be dumped, but I’m using him as an example.

Could it be that you just can’t stay on any committee if you keep asking the “New UPC” such questions as: What are your salaries and benefits? Do you have a better medical plan then the membership?

Lou is now running for retiree delegate, and I hope he wins, too. Lou’s problems with Marilyn Stewart are similar to those facing people on the outside now that city hall clout problems are dogging the mayor. No clout no job. Last time I looked, at best Marilyn Stewart had 51 percent of the vote in the second election that was held in 2004. As everyone knows, nearly 40 percent of the members didn’t even bother to vote. That means, at best, she was put into office by a minority of the membership.

Ms. Stewart and her UPC colleagues have been acting as if she had 90 percent of the members behind them and could run the union like their own private club. More about all this in the months to come.

Why is all this important?

About $11.75 million is the amount that retirees and employees of the former Kmart Corporation will receive as their share of a lawsuit against former corporation officials. The lawsuit was caused by the investment of pension funds in the now worthless Kmart stock. If you recall Kmart emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy to form Sears Holdings in 2003.

The Kmart settlement pays all of the retirees less than a couple of Sears-Kmart executives were paid during the bankruptcy. Is this fair? No, but right now it’s becoming more and more common. General Motors and Delphi corporation are other examples. GM is threatening dire things if it doesn’t take away retiree benefits, and Delphi has now declared bankruptcy and is trying to take away retiree benefits (while paying its top executives more than all its retirees combined will get as a lump sum out of the deal).

For many years, other teachers, many public employees and I worked part-time and full-time at jobs that were covered by Social Security. We hoped that when we retired we could add the benefits from Social Security to our teachers’ pensions and have a more financially beneficial retirement. It turned out that this would not be the case.

Our problem lies with the governments pension offset provision in the Tax Reform Law of 1987. I’m glad to hear that HR 594 and S 619 tried to repeal this act. I’m sad that they died in the 108th Congress. I’m heartened to read that many sponsors and co-sponsors are now actively trying to get this law repealed. Please try to support this effort to repeal the government-offset provision.

Could GM go bankrupt? According to many financial analysts they say it could come to be. As GM tries to straighten out their fiscal problems keep your eyes on their medical and retiree benefits, these are usually the first to go. GM announced that it plans to cut 30,000 North American hourly jobs by 2008.

President Bush finally got something right. On December 5th to told American companies that they must honor their pension promises to retired workers. But since the companies that are breaking those promises are among the largest contributors to President Bush and the Republican Party, let’s see if the President puts his political money (or “capital” as he wants called it) where his mouth was. Will be stand behind laws that make it more difficult for corporations take away pensions and medical benefits for those who are now too old to work most jobs? Any bets on where Bush would be if you or I called with our problems — versus where he’ll be if the executives from Delphi call?

Meanwhile back in Florida Hurricane Wilma is still taking a toll. As the weeks go by more and more residents are told to pack up and move out. Their buildings are inundated with water and unsafe. Many of these residents are very old and with medical problems. While we seem to be all over the world it may be time to first straighten things out at home.