by Rick Snodgrass—Missouri
A retired man and a semi-retired woman in their late 60′s having to pay over $700 per month on insurance. With SSI and retirement pay she had to continue work as a book keeper to make ends meet.
Tags: Health Care, insurance, retirees
by Monica Whitby—Pennsylvania
While canvassing on the issue of health care in Dupont, Pennsylvania, I encountered a very inspiring retired woman. She was surprised and excited to see a young woman like myself taking action on this issue—especially having the courage to go door-to-door. She explained that without her union, she would have not have been able to retire for many more years. She repeatedly thanked us for our work. I’m also glad to know that though my work, I will continue to help many others like her enjoy retirement.
Tags: membership, retirees, unions
by Alicia Bryan—Pennsylvania
I was canvassing in Beaver Falls, PA and an older man opened his door while on the phone and said to the other person, “No, I’m calling for a phone battery!” he turned to me and said, “Come on in. Helen, talk to this young lady. I called this store to find a phone battery and they’ve got me waiting for 30 minutes and no one picks up the phone!”
We got to talking about health care, and they tell me that since they’ve retired, they can’t have a say in their health care provider. In January, their provider and plan were switched, so their medicine bill blew up from $15/month to $60/month! This came out of nowhere, but right in front of their eyes they’re also paying $60 more every month for food.
Breaking their bank are two absolute fundamentals of life: health and food. Regardless, they still found a way to send me off with chocolate and a bottle of water because they understand that people gotta take care of each other.
Tags: Health Care, membership, retirees
by Jonathan Fox—Pennsylvania
A retired woman in Beaver Falls told me how she took an early retirement from the plant she worked at and now has to pay for health care out of pocket, but she can’t afford it. She gets $700 a month from her retirement and it would cost $400 a month for insurance. Her and her husband have health problems but can’t do anything about it.
My father has worked for a major phone company for 24 years and he has great insurance because his union fought for it. Their contract is up soon and the company says they are going after the workers’ health care. What happens when HE retires?
Tags: Health Care, retirees, unions
by Jay Rosen—Pennsylvania
I am a brand-new canvasser. One day last week while canvassing in Wilkes Barre, I signed up my first dues-paying member. They were a retired elderly couple. The husband had worked his whole life until he became ill with cancer. Although their battle with cancer is not yet over and money is tight, they still wanted to join and make a dues contribution to keep our cause moving forward!
Tags: Health Care, membership, retirees
by Stefan Gravener—Pennsylvania
Last week I was talking to an elderly man, and during a conversation about our health care crisis, he invited me into his home. It was a modest row-home in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. He was retired, he had worked hard during his life, but he had a huge problem. He had recently received a package from his health insurance company “detailing” his new health care policy. It was three inches thick. Accompanying it were a few other pieces of mail, all from his health insurance company.
He picked up the Goliath of a packet and said, “I don’t understand any of this.” He slammed the girthy package down on his coffee table; the table now wishing it was retired. He signed up as a member, after which he pointed to his wall. He had received an award for fighting to protect Social Security and Medicare from an organization I forget.
Although this man is fighting the good fight, he has to spend his retired days reading books by his health insurance company, which to him is a book with a bad ending.
Tags: Health Care, insurance, membership, retirees, seniors
by Jared Ames—Michigan
I talked to a retired woman today who was initially very standoffish. Once I introduced the issue of keeping our jobs in America she opened up. She talked about all three of her children who had lost jobs due to outsourcing. One of her daughters was in the customer service field for a phone company.
Outsourcing affects everyone even retirees whose family can be devastated by the choice of companies to save a few extra bucks.
Tags: membership, outsourcing, retirees, seniors
by Carissa Lovelace—Virginia
As I talk to people in Manassas, Virginia it is becoming clear to me that everyone, no matter what state they live in, is deeply affected by the issues that we fight for.
Last night was an especially eye-opening experience. I was talking to a woman on her porch about our issues and after taking the clipboard she pointed directly at “secure retirement,” saying “that’s the one that I care about.”
Before I could ask why, she began to tell me the story of her 62 year old husband who had worked for an airline for 31 years, 5 months and 24 days. The airline filed bankruptcy and laid off their most tenured employees, one of which was her husband. A government pension compensation program had taken up his plan and was paying him half of what his actual pension was. He was receiving half what he expected per month for the first 2 years, which dropped by $200 the next two year and is expected to drop by an additional $1,220.00 when he turns 66!
She has taken extra work around the neighborhood, and he has taken an evening job that pays 13 dollars an hour for a different airline. They pay double their mortgage payment so that when his pension sinks lower they will hopefully own their home. She could not stress enough the depression and anxiety that this scenario was causing both of them.
They had not envisioned their lives coming to this after they worked so hard. The last thing she told me was that the CEO of the airline was guaranteed a multi-million dollar salary during the time of the bankruptcy no matter what happened in the future of the company.
Tags: Jobs, membership, pensions, retirees, seniors
by Cicily King—Ohio
I was canvassing on a beautiful day in January and signed up a retiree whose daughter is a lobbyist. He also showed me a picture of his daughter and former President Bill Clinton. He also paid membership dues for the year. It was a rewarding experience!
Tags: membership, retirees
by Chris Antonneau—Michigan
It was the night before Halloween and the street starting to get dark. We were having a pretty good night organizing and talking with people. One of our canvassers, Jennifer, was looking to get ahold of another concerned citizen. Next thing you know she was having a great conversation with a sweet retired lady. The lady had been watching one of the live debates and was more than willing to help with her civic responsibility. Even though she isn’t too mobile, she was more than willing the help by joining, giving a small contribution and writing letters to her lawmakers when we need her too.
This proves yet again that it takes us all doing our own part to make sure nobody goes without health care!
Tags: Health Care, retirees, taking action
