A Lot To Be Thankful For
It’s only natural when considering
whether to join or renew membership in an organization
to ask: What have you done for
me ... lately?
Luckily, NARFE has a lot to report.
Here is a roundup of some of the Association’s most recent
legislative accomplishments on
your behalf.
EARLY HISTORY
1883 - The U.S. Congress
established the Federal Civil Service with the "Pendleton Act."
1920 - The Civil Service
Retirement Act was passed by Congress to provide a maximum retirement annuity
of
$720 per year!
1921 - The National
Association of Retired Civil Employees, renamed the National Association
of
Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) in 1971, was organized
by 14 federal workers to seek improved
retirement benefits.
1926 - Congress increased
annuities to a maximum of $1,000 per year.
1942 - Congress established
age and years-of-service requirements allowing employees with 30 years
of
service to retire at the age of 55.
1943 to 1961 - Retirement
eligibility requirements and benefits were liberalized, and Congress approved
periodic increases in annuities.
1959 - Congress enacted
FEHBP to provide health insurance for federal workers and their families.
1962 - Automatic cost-of-living
adjustments (COLA) based on the Consumer Price Index went into effect.
NARFE'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Obtained legislation that allowed survivor benefits; Restored
full annuity to retirees following the
death of the designated survivor;
Supported a change from "High-5" to "High-3" years of
service as the basis for computing annuities;
Achieved passage of the Second Spouse Bill to allow benefits
for a second spouse or a spouse in a
post-retirement marriage;
Succeeded in having annuitants included in the annual
Open Season to allow changes in their
FEHBP coverage;
Initiated legislation to allow survivor annuitants to
remarry after age 55 without loss of their federal
survivor annuity or FEHBP coverage;
Achieved liberalization of the 1983 Windfall Elimination
Provision (WEP) and Government
Pension Offset (GPO) amendments to the Social Security
Act, lessening the adverse economic affect
of these two provisions;
Formulated the policy and coordinated the support for
enactment of the Federal Employees Retirement
System (FERS) in 1986;
Spearheaded efforts which led to enactment of an amendment
to the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Budget
Enforcement Act of 1985, giving federal and military
retiree COLAs the same protection from automatic
sequestration that the original bill gave Social Security
COLAs;
Protected COLAs against numerous proposals to withhold,
delay or eliminate this annual boost in the
annuities of federal retirees and survivors; with this
protection, the annuity of the federal worker, who
retired 20 years ago, increased by about 70%;
Supported legislation in 1989 that substituted a "phantom
premium" in the FEHBP premiumsharing
formula so that withdrawal of the large Aetna plan did
not result in major premium hikes
for enrollees;
Authored a statutory guarantee requiring the Secretary
of the Treasury to reinvest and make
whole any interest lost to the Civil Service Retirement
Trust Fund as a result of any debt
suspension;
Supported the 1989 Davis v. Michigan case before the
U.S. Supreme Court which ruled that
states could not tax federal annuities unless they applied
the same tax laws to their respective state
and local government pensions; that decision set off
a round of legal and legislative challenges in
states across the nation. In some 23 states, these NARFE-lead
efforts eventually resulted in
thousands of annuitants receiving considerable tax refunds
and thousands more benefiting each year
from savings in state taxes;
Led a successful national campaign to repeal the Medicare
Catastrophic Act and its accompanying
surtax on millions of older Americans;
Won a long battle to enact federal legislation prohibiting
states from source-taxing the
retirement income of former residents;
In 1993, saved survivors from an ill-conceived budget
proposal that would have reduced future
survivor annuities by some 10 percent. In 1998 played
a strategic role in developing a
new "Fair Share" premium-sharing formula, for FEHBP that
has saved enrollees hundreds of
dollars each year;
Deleted a proposal from the FY 1999 House budget resolution
that would have shifted new
FEHBP premium ($3.1 billion in additional costs) to employees
and annuitants;
Fought efforts to introduce controversial Medical Savings
Accounts (MSAs) into the
FEHBP, saving enrollees from even higher health care
costs.
Fending Off Budget Reductions
2007
The President’s FY 2008 budget included a reduction in government Federal
Employees
Health Benefits Program (FEHBP)
contributions for certain future retirees. It also advocated
expanding Health Saving Accounts
in the FEHBP. NARFE was instrumental in eliminating these
items from the final congressional
Budget Resolution.
2006
The Senate Budget Committee approved a bill that required automatic reductions
in federal civilian and military retirement benefits. NARFE saw to it that
no further action was
taken.
2006
NARFE persuaded the House Education and the Workforce Committee not to
reduce
federal workers’ compensation benefits
after the House version of the FY 2007 Budget Resolution instructed the
committee to cut entitlement programs
by $1.3 billion.
2005 The National
Association of Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) has a new name. It is
now the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (formerly
the National Association of Retired Federal Employees).
2005
Congress proposed to cut federal civilian retirement benefits (including
the FEHBP and
cost-of-living adjustments) by
$2.3 billion from the FY 2005 budget. NARFE, with the help of
friends in Congress, was successful
in having this proposal dropped.
2004
Amendments were proposed to require automatic reductions in federal civilian
and military retirement (but not Social Security). The cut in civilian
retirement over the next 10 years could have been as much as $99 billion,
drastically reducing FEHBP and other federal retirement benefits. Strong
opposition from NARFE defeated the proposal.
2003
The House Budget Committee called for cutting federal civilian retirement
benefits by $38.3 billion. NARFE, with the help of friends in Congress,
succeeded in stopping this proposal.
2002
The House Budget Committee proposed requiring federal agencies to pre-fund
post-retirement FEHBP premiums and pay the full normal cost of federal
civilian retirement benefits. This would have created an artificial funding
crisis that would have undermined the health security of federal employees
and annuitants. NARFE persuaded the Committee to withdraw this proposal.
1997
Legislation that would have required automatic spending cuts in programs
such as federal
civilian retirement, if total spending
exceeded certain limits, was defeated after NARFE, with bipartisan assistance,
persuaded Congress to reject this bill. There has been no legislated reduction
in civil service retirement benefits in more than a decade. Despite years
of budget deficits, major natural disasters, a changing world economy,
terrorist attacks at home and wars abroad, our earned benefits have remain
untouched because NARFE, backed by activist members and supportive members
of Congress, has acted as a deterrent against adverse
proposals.
Enhancing FEHBP
2003
NARFE was instrumental in having legislation passed that protects the prescription
drug coverage of the FEHBP for Medicare-covered annuitants.
1997 Through NARFE’s efforts, the
“Fair Share”
FEHBP government contribution formula
was added to the year’s Balanced Budget Act, saving the average enrollee
$164 (self-only) to $326 (self-andfamily)in premiums the first year alone.
Additional NARFE Accomplishments
*
Pay Parity was passed on March 31, 2004, and has been maintained.
*Legislation
was enacted December 23, 2004, to offer federal workers and annuitants
separate dental and vision insurance.
*
Federal Long Term Care Insurance became law in December 2003.
*
The NARFE-endorsed Patients’ Bill of Rights was implemented in 1998.
*
A proposal to eliminate the annuity portion of the Federal Employees Retirement
System (FERS) was defeated in 1998.
NARFE Is Your Insurance Policy
NARFE acts as your insurance policy
against a reduction in your annuities and health-care protection.
Federal health care and retirement
benefits are always vulnerable, particularly with a budget deficit. Indeed,
in the not too distant future, lawmakers may want to cut federal retirement
in response to the tremendous pressure 77 million retiring baby boomers
will place on the budget. A strong membership means enhanced clout with
Congress.
The next time you wonder what NARFE
has done for you ... lately ... take a look at the accomplishments listed
here. Then ask yourself if you are still receiving your full annuity, healthcare
benefits and cost-of-living adjustments. If you answer yes, then you can
THANK NARFE!
