mailhandlers health insurance

Health care, taxes top issues for small business

2012-04-27T16:12:00.002-07:00

In this Aug. 3, 2011 photo provided by the National Federation of Independent Business, the group's president and CEO, Dan Danner, left, and former Democratic U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas announce a campaign to target what they say are an increasing number of regulations that are hampering small business' ability to create jobs and economic growth, in Washington. (NFIB, William B. Plowman) / AP

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The Associated Press

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NEW YORK — Dan Danner never expected to end up in the middle of the health care debate. Or, for that matter, in politics.

As president of the National Federation of Independent Business, the biggest advocacy group representing small business owners in the U.S., Danner helped oversee the organization’s attempt to overturn the health care overhaul. Last month, the NFIB’s lawyers were among those arguing against the law before the Supreme Court.

The NFIB, which has lobbied for small businesses since its founding in 1943, contends that the law will harm small businesses by driving up their health insurance costs. It argued that a provision that requires individuals to purchase health insurance is unconstitutional. Both sides in the debate are waiting to see if the Supreme Court strikes down the individual mandate or the entire law — or allows the law as a whole to stand.

Danner is on the forefront of other issues that affect the NFIB’s 350,000 members, many of whom have companies with just a handful of employees. He leads the NFIB’s lobbying on concerns such as taxes and regulation. The group is among many business advocates calling for lower tax rates for small business owners whose companies are sole proprietorships, partnerships and what are called S corporations. The profits from these companies aren’t taxed — they’re “passed through” to their owners, who are then taxed as individuals. Often, their tax rates are higher than those for companies like General Motors Corp. and Apple Inc.

Many tax rates, including individual rates, are scheduled to go up at the end of the year, unless Congress acts before then. Individuals could pay as much as 39.5 percent.

Danner joined the NFIB in 1993 after lobbying for steel maker Armco Inc. and holding positions in the Department of Commerce and the Reagan White House. Politics wasn’t his first choice.

“I was torn in college between acting and being an engineer,” Danner says. “I pretty quickly figured out I wasn’t good enough at either one. I figured out I better find another career, and somehow, I stumbled into politics.”

Family Webicine

2012-04-27T16:11:00.004-07:00

Stories from behind the examining room door, as told by Rod Moser, PA, a primary care physician assistant with more than 35 years of clinical experience.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Why is Medical Care So Expensive?

By Rod Moser, PA, PhD

The day before my shoulder surgery, I was pondering how much it will cost. My cost will be a hundred dollar co-pay, but what is my group charging the insurance company, and how much of that cost is really “fluff”? My last surgery in November cost more than my first house. My MRI alone cost more than my first car. If I had to take a wild guess, I would say it is going to be in the $40,000 range, perhaps more. I guess I shouldn’t care, since I am not paying it, but I do care.

I grew up in the 1950’s. Even adjusted for inflation and the fact that I was in a rural Appalachian town, our office visits were $3. A house call was $5, and that included any medications (usually a painful penicillin shot). That was sixty years ago, when a house cost about $14,000, a car cost $1500, and gasoline was a whopping 18-25 cents per gallon (including complimentary windshield washing, and checking oil/tire pressures). My family, like many families that I care for in my practice, did not have health insurance. Of course, at those bargain prices, they just paid for it.

There were few, if any, health insurance companies in the 1950’s, but they were starting. The federal government had a commitment to care for the poor and elderly through welfare. Hospital prices doubled. By the 1960’s, there were 700 private insurance companies, and President Johnson signed the Medicare and Medicaid bills. Prices continued to climb. In 1969, I had my appendix removed. I suspect Medicaid paid for it, since our family income was around $5,000 a year at that time.

America was in a health crisis, of sorts, but nothing like what was to come. The largest problem was doctor shortages, especially in primary care. Now that insurance companies were paying the bills, doctors migrated into the more lucrative specialty areas. Over 69% of the doctors at that time were specialists, so the federal government and private institutions funded grants and scholarships to train more general practitioners (renamed, family practice physician), and of course, PAs and nurse practitioners. I received one of the healthcare shortage grants from the Commonwealth Fund.

We are now in a real crisis, since the cost of medical care and insurance has seriously outpaced inflation. It is out of control. Nearly 50 million Americans do not have health insurance, and those that do often discover their insurance policies cover less and less. I have patients in my practice who have a $5,000 to $10,000 deductable before their policy even kicks in. The out-of-pocket expenses and higher premium costs are crippling small companies and hard-working families. The Medicaid and Medicare programs are costing our country more than any other industrial country on this planet – soon to approach $4.3 trillion dollars a year, or about $13,100 per person. Unbelievable, yet it is happening.

Who do we blame? We can blame the high cost of malpractice insurance and those astronomical lawsuits against doctors for mistakes. We can blame those money-grabbing insurance companies. We can blame the CEOs of large hospital groups as some of the highest paid businessmen in the world. We can blame pharmaceutical companies for high-priced drugs, or technology for inventing new ways to diagnose and treat patients more expensively and help us live longer. We can blame old people for living longer and spending more health care dollars. We can blame the economy for putting people out of work and on Medicaid, if they can get it. We can blame the emergency rooms for charging $2,000 for treating an ear infection, or the person without insurance who feels going to the ER for an ear infection is an appropriate course of action. Or, we can blame ourselves for being too fat, too self-indulgent, and living unhealthy lifestyles. You pick.

In the 1950’s, we actually hospitalized patients to treat middle-ear infections. We did not insert tubes, but we did lance the eardrums. We did not have the armada of antibiotics to treat them, and now we find that antibiotics are probably not even needed in most cases. The most frequent surgery done in the United States is the insertion of tubes in children for middle ear infections. This is a procedure that takes less than ten minutes in most cases, and cost about $3,000. There is a profit margin in there somewhere, so I wonder who is getting the cash? It isn’t me.

Before someone accuses me of being a hypocrite by being a part of this shady profession, I have to inform you that I am on a salary that is not commensurate with my three university degrees and four decades of experience. I make about a third of what my physician counterparts earn, since I am not a partner, and I generate eight-times my salary in charges. I work for the “man” and not a day goes by where I am not embarrassed to circle that billing code. I do a lot of apologies in advance since I have little or no control over those charges. Why do I do it? I need a job and health insurance, just like everyone else. We are truly caught in a never-ending loop.

Many times, I thought about opening a drive-through medical clinic (McMoser? Doc in the Box?, Jiffy Care?) and charge cash at the window. I would cut out the insurance companies, charge a fraction of the current office visit charges, and send people away happier. I would likely get run out of town.

It is no wonder why people are jumping on airplanes to go to India, Thailand, or Singapore for elective surgeries. People should not have to spend their life savings and sell their homes, assuming they still have one, to pay for a new hip or knee replacement.

Obama-care or whatever they call it is not the answer, but it may be a step in the right direction. As a country, we must get control of this “patient” by providing affordable health care, no matter who pays for it. I am not a big fan of the government, with its over-spending reputation, taking charge of medical care, but someone needs to step in before it’s too late.

We need a medical messiah.

We need a miracle.

The “patient” is dying.

Photo: Creatas

Posted by: Rod Moser, PA, PhD at 4:04 pm

Rebates from health care law will top $1B: Obama's health care overhaul is starting to pay dividends: Dems Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/rebates-health-care-law-top-1b-obama-much-criticized-health-care-overhaul-starting-pay-dividends-consumers-democrats-article-1.1068773#ixzz1tHkrcM6o

2012-04-27T16:11:00.001-07:00

PETE MAROVICH/EPA

The rebates should average $127 for the people who get them, and Democrats are hoping they'll send an election-year message that Obama's much-criticized health care overhaul is starting to pay dividends for consumers.

More than 3 million health insurance policyholders and thousands of employers will share $1.3 billion in rebates this year, thanks to President Barack Obama's health care law, a nonpartisan research group said Thursday.

The rebates should average $127 for the people who get them, and Democrats are hoping they'll send an election-year message that Obama's much-criticized health care overhaul is starting to pay dividends for consumers. Critics of the law call that wishful thinking.

The law requires insurance companies to spend at least 80 percent of the premiums they collect on medical care and quality improvement or return the difference to consumers and employers. Although many large employer plans already meet that standard, it's the first time the government has imposed such a requirement on the entire health insurance industry.

"This is one of the most tangible benefits of the health reform law that consumers will have seen to date," said Larry Levitt, an expert on private insurance with the Kaiser Family Foundation, which analyzed industry filings with state health insurance commissioners to produce its report. Kaiser is a nonpartisan information clearinghouse on the nation's health care system.

Still, health insurance is expensive, and $127 may not even pay a month's worth of premiums for single coverage.

And the insurance industry says consumers should take little comfort from the rebates because premiums are likely to go up overall as a result of new benefits and other requirements of the law.

"The net of all the requirements will be an increase in costs for consumers," said Robert Zirkelbach, spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans, the main industry trade group.

"Given that health care costs are inherently unpredictable, it's not surprising that some plans will be paying rebates to policyholders in certain markets," Zirkelbach added.

But the Kaiser report said the rebate requirement may be acting as a brake on the industry, discouraging insurers from seeking big premium increases to avoid having to issue refunds later and face possible criticism.

The new law has "provided an incentive for insurers to seek lower premium increases than they would have otherwise," the report said. "This `sentinel' effect on premiums has likely produced more savings for consumers and employers than the rebates themselves."

The study found the largest rebates will go to consumers and employers in Texas ($186 million) and Florida ($149 million), where Govs. Rick Perry and Rick Scott have been among the staunchest opponents of the federal law. Both states applied for waivers from the 80 percent requirement and were turned down. Hawaii is the only state in which insurers are not expected to issue a rebate.

Category Archives: business

2012-04-27T16:08:00.005-07:00

Category Archives: business

Geithner: U.S. can withstand any Europe stresses

NEWS.GNOM.ES – WASHINGTON (NEWS.GNOM.ES) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Friday that if Europe mismanages its crisis it could slow U.S. growth but said the U.S. Continue reading

In battle of the S&P, can bulls gain the edge?

By Angela Moon and Rodrigo Campos | NEWS.GNOM.ES – NEW YORK (NEWS.GNOM.ES) – It will be another battleground for S&P 500 index next week. Will the bears finally give up and let the bulls have their way? The S&P 500, the market’s broadest measure, managed to close out the week above the psychologically important 1,400 mark for the first time since early April Continue reading

Simon Property earnings blows past estimates

By Ilaina Jonas | NEWS.GNOM.ES – (NEWS.GNOM.ES) – Simon Property Group Inc , the largest owner of U.S. malls and outlet centers , raised its full-year earnings forecast on Friday after breezing past Wall Street’s expectations, sending its stock to a record high. “It was a blowout quarter,” said Richard Imperiale, president of Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc Continue reading

Big isn’t bad, banks tell Fed

By Dave Clarke | NEWS.GNOM.ES – WASHINGTON (NEWS.GNOM.ES) – The largest U.S. banks are accusing the Federal Reserve of attempting to misuse its new regulatory powers to shrink financial giants under the misguided belief that “big is bad.” Lobbying groups representing the big banks are pushing back against a set of proposed rules the Fed issued in December to more closely scrutinize the firms and rein in their risk taking after the 2007-2009 financial crisis. In a letter sent Friday, the groups said the Fed is going too far and is proposing a set of policies on credit exposure and capital standards that go against the intent of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial oversight law. Continue reading

Apple courts EPIX for upcoming TV: sources

By Ronald Grover and Lisa Richwine | NEWS.GNOM.ES – LOS ANGELES (NEWS.GNOM.ES) – Apple Inc began talks earlier this year to stream films owned by EPIX , which is backed by three major movie studios, on devices including a long-anticipated TV, according to two people with knowledge of the negotiations. Apple, which now sells a $99 set-top box that hooks up to a television set and lets users stream online content from Netflix and the MLB channel, opened discussions with three-year-old EPIX , created by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp, MGM and Viacom’s Paramount Pictures Continue reading

Newmont may shift spending from costly Peru mine

By Steve James | NEWS.GNOM.ES – (NEWS.GNOM.ES) – Newmont Mining Corp will put its money into projects in other countries if environmental changes to its proposed $4.8 billion Conga gold mine in Peru prove economically unfeasible, the head of the U.S. company said on Friday. Continue reading

Rogue trader Kerviel accuses SocGen of forgery

By Lionel Laurent | NEWS.GNOM.ES – PARIS (NEWS.GNOM.ES) – Former Societe Generale trader Jerome Kerviel , who is appealing a three-year prison sentence for his role in France’s biggest rogue trading scandal, plans to sue his former employer for forgery and manipulation of evidence. Kerviel , who told journalists on Friday he had gone through “hell” since the revelation in 2008 that SocGen had lost 4.9 billion euros ($6.5 billion) unwinding his risky bets, said that audio recordings used as evidence at his 2010 trial had been tampered with Continue reading

Wal-Mart employee starts petition for CEO’s ouster

By Brad Dorfman | NEWS.GNOM.ES – (NEWS.GNOM.ES) – A deli manager at a Walmart store has started an online petition calling for the resignations of the retailer’s chairman and chief executive officer in the wake of allegations that top management squelched an internal probe into bribery allegations . Continue reading

Chevron profit rises 4 percent despite output decline

By Braden Reddall | NEWS.GNOM.ES – (NEWS.GNOM.ES) – Chevron Corp delivered a 4 percent rise in first-quarter profit on Friday, helped by an asset sale and increases in both oil prices and refining margins that made up for a decline in oil and gas production . Shares of the second-largest U.S. oil company were down a few pennies in midday trading at $106.19 Continue reading

Nokia suffers second cut to “junk” as S&P downgrades

By Tarmo Virki and Josie Cox | NEWS.GNOM.ES – HELSINKI/LONDON (NEWS.GNOM.ES) – Cellphone maker Nokia Oyj had its credit rating cut to “junk” status by ratings agency Standard & Poor’s on Friday, its second downgrade to non-investment grade status this week as the company battles falling sales and doubts over its product strategy. Continue reading

How much do federal employee advocates make?

2012-04-27T16:08:00.002-07:00

Ever wonder how much union and professional association leaders are paid to represent you? National Journal’s latest survey of compensation for executives in the Washington area includes some federal employee advocates.

Postal employee union leaders did pretty well, the survey shows. John Hegarty of the National Postal Mail Handlers Union brought in $347,791 in annual compensation, based on Internal Revenue Service information available as of March 30 and primarily covering calendar year 2010. Fredric Rolando of the National Association of Letter Carriers earned $302,165 and William Burrus of the American Postal Workers Union netted $275,700.

American Federation of Government Employees President John Gage made $235,389 while National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley made $346,915, according to the figures. Paul Rinaldi of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association was in the same range as Kelley, at $328,168.

Seem high? The survey looks at total compensation, which includes base salary, bonuses and benefits such as health care, life insurance and tuition reimbursement. It also can include retirement packages for executives who left during the year. Compensation ranged from $69,158, for Ray Hair of the American Federation of Musicians of the U.S. and Canada, to $11.6 million for Billy Tauzin, former head of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (Tauzin stepped down in 2010).

How much do federal employee advocates make?

2012-04-27T16:07:00.003-07:00

How much do federal employee advocates make?

April 10, 2012
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Mike Causey's Federal Report

2012-04-27T16:06:00.001-07:00

The Incredible Shrinking Postal Service

Thursday - 4/19/2012, 5:30am ET

By Mike Causey

@Causey_WFED
More Columns

How often do you actually go to the post office? Once a week? Once a month? Never, except on Tax Day?If you are among the millions of last-minute tax-filers, then it doesn't matter how infrequently you make it to the nearest post office. Odds are you popped in Tuesday — which is exactly why concerned, off-duty postal workers were on hand at many offices to warn taxpayers of pending postal cutbacks.
Members of the American Postal Workers Union and the National Mail Handlers Union oppose U.S. Postal Service plans to reduce the size of the workforce, eliminate Saturday delivery and set up a stand-alone USPS-only health insurance plan outside of the government-wide Federal Employee Health Benefits Program.
The two unions decided that Tuesday was the best day to hand out leaflets to frantic customers, because it was the deadline for getting postmarks on your 2011 tax returns. April 15 — the regular deadline — fell on Sunday and taxpayers got another day to do their taxes because April 16 was a special holiday (Emancipation Day) here in the District of Columbia.
Timing, the unions figured, is everything. And maybe they are right.
Also on Tuesday, the Senate voted to debate the comprehensive and controversial USPS plan to save the federal mail service, which is losing money big-time. It's the victim of private competition (UPS, FedEx, DHL), which promises to move faster and more reliably (for a price) while leaving the Postal Service to take a letter from Miami to Anchorage for 44 cents. The Postal Service is also losing money because of email and texting, which, for many people, have eliminated the need to send letters.
The so-called 21st Century Postal Service Act — proposed by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Scott Brown (R-Mass.), Thomas Carper (D-Del.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) — is about as fed-friendly a quorum as you can find in the Senate.
The bill would allow the Postal Service to offer buyouts to up to 100,000 employees but requires that half of the 200 offices and facilities the USPS wants to close to remain open, although they may be moved to and operated inside large commercial box stores, like Wal-Mart.
Postal watcher Sean Reilly of the Federal Times, outlined the postal reform plan yesterday on our Your Turn radio show. Federal Times Editor Steve Watkins and Washington attorney Bill Bransforddiscussed the ever-changing "scandal" at the General Services Administration. If you missed the show, want to hear it again or pass it on to a friend it is archived on our home page. You can listen anytime by clicking here.

Republicans Self-Destruct Over Medicare

2012-04-12T22:33:00.002-07:00

Posted by: Linda Carbonell on March 18, 2012.
From left: Sens. Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul, Jim DeMint and Mike Lee announcing their plan to "save" Medicare

Okay, it’s not the whole party, though the proposal put forth by Senators Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky is right in line with the party’s goal They want to end Medicare and fold all senior citizens into the Federal Employee’s Health Benefit Plan.

The FEHBP is erroneously held up as some kind of perfect private health insurance system. Republicans point at it and their followers insist that Federal employees and legislators have the best health care system in America. It involves a couple of nation-wide fee-for-service plans, Blue Cross-Blue Shield and Mailhandlers, and dozens of smaller plans available in individual locations. These can be anything from an HMO to a PPO to a fee-for-service plan to closed systems that are owned by a hospital or doctors’ group, with four levels of coverage, self-only-high and self-only-low, family-high and family-low. To really appreciate the Federal health insurance system, picture a phone book for a small city. That’s what you have to wade through to find the policy for you. It’s like picking a plan for Medicare drug coverage times ten.

I can think of over a million people who will object to this idea….federal employees and retirees. Been there, done that, cannot wait for Medicare.

I’m one of them. My husband is a Federal retiree. He retired before reaching 65, after thirty years in the government. We pay $460 a month for our health insurance premiums for two people, with a $600 deductible and 20% co-pays. One of my prescriptions must be name-brand. I have very bad reactions to the generics. Our insurance company has decided that my doctor made a mistake and I’m just screwing with the system, so I have to pay a 75% co-pay on that one scrip.

In eight months, my husband will go on Medicare. His premium will be $99.90 a month with a $140 deductible and 20% co-pay for Plan B. He will need a supplemental plan for prescription drug coverage. I will go on one of Vermont’s health insurance plans, for which the premiums and deductible are income-adjusted. In short, our health insurance costs will be cut in half.

Right now, half of my husband’s income from his part-time job goes to cover the amount the FEHBP takes out of his pension. He will be able to cut back his hours just because of Medicare.

Frankly, we’re both tired. We’ve been working since we were teenagers. We were barely middle class, never quite breaking the median-income ceiling. Medicare means we can finally retire. It means the same thing for a lot of people. It also means being able to afford health care. The premiums we pay now eat up so much money that the deductible is a deterrent to having tests done and seeing the doctor on a regular basis.

Medicare isn’t broken. It is one of the most successful programs in American history. There are a lot of ways it can be improved, starting with a better system for detecting and prosecuting fraud, and finally expanding Vermont’s landmark Choices for Care program for long-term care for the elderly into Medicare nation-wide. Like all health insurance programs, there needs to be more emphasis on preventive care, more rewards for over-all effectiveness and less attention to trying to cover one’s ass – ordering too many tests just to prevent malpractice suits. The Canadian national health system includes a board that determines where highly expensive equipment is needed and discouraging overlaps of services.

Medicare and Social Security, along with Medicaid and other programs to support the neediest among us, eat up as much of the Federal budget as the Defense Department. The Republicans want to protect every dime in the Defense budget and cut their promised billions of dollars out of the safety net. This proposal proves once again that keeping Americans alive and healthy is less important to the Republicans than America retaining a defense budget equal to the combined defense budgets of every other nation on the planet.

It is moments like this that make one realize that Senators and Congressmen don’t handle their own family budgets. They don’t write the checks for co-pays and deductibles if a family member gets sick. They don’t pick up their own prescriptions. Or maybe, at $174,000 a year, it doesn’t matter to them. But they should be able to do the same comparison that I did, of the premiums and costs. Maybe they did. Maybe they are so deeply indebted to the insurance industry that they simply don’t care how much harm they do

USPS plan to set up own health plan faces lawmakers' skepticism

2012-04-12T22:30:00.001-07:00

USPS plan to set up own health plan faces lawmakers' skepticism

Tuesday - 3/27/2012, 12:48pm ET

By Jolie Lee

@jleeWFED

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe testifies before a House Oversight subcommittee on March 27, 2012. (Video still from Thomas.gov)The Postal Service's plan to withdraw from the federal health insurance program and set up its own health program for postal employees and retirees faced skepticism from lawmakers.

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe testified today before a House subcommittee, saying a USPS-sponsored plan would save $7 billion a year. Such a plan, Donahoe said, would offer equal or better coverage for current employees and retirees.

What's in the USPS health plan proposal?

Currently, the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program has about 8 million participants and offers 18 health plan options nationwide to all federal employees.

The Postal Service proposal would offer a simplified plan structure with high, middle and value options and four tiers within the options: self, self and spouse Self and child(ren), self and family.

Donahoe said the Postal Service is currently the second-largest contributor to Medicare, which would be a key to cost-savings. The USPS is proposing Medicare be the participants' primary provider and have a backup plan for "wraparound" coverage, he said.

Currently, USPS pays $13.2 billion in annual health care costs, according to Donahoe's testimony. He said the savings would be passed to employees and retirees as well, who would see $650 million in reduced contributions.

Additional savings would come from offering wellness incentives and disease management programs.

USPS would not manage the program itself but bid competitively for one of the large health care providers, such as Blue Cross Blue Shield or United Healthcare, Donahoe said.

The plan also would eliminate the need for USPS to prefund its retiree health benefits, he said.

"We are asking for the ability to better manage our costs," Donahoe said. "Without this fundamental change to dramatically reduce health care spending, there is no assurance we can afford our health care commitments to Postal employees and retirees."

Without action, the Postal Service projects deficits that exceed $21 billion annually by 2016.

Members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform questioned the cost and effectiveness of a USPS-negotiated plan.

"You're making me nervous" said Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.). Lynch said the Mail Handlers Benefit Plan within FEHBP is a popular choice among USPS employees. "You know, people hate change, especially if they have something that works for them," Lynch said.

Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said he would probably support the Postal Service proposal to pull out of FEHBP, but added, "Let's have no illusion. You're just cost-shifting. There's no real cost-savings to the American people. The money will be paid out of one hand in order to save out of the other hand."

Others had more forceful words, like Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.). "I just want to cite H.L. Mencken, who once said for every human problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat and wrong," Connolly said. "The postmaster general's proposal on health care fits that description."

Impact on FEHBP

One health care expert said the USPS health plan proposal would "massively disrupt or destroy the FEHBP."

Walton Francis, author of the Checkbook's Guide to Health Plans for Federal Employees, said FEHBP is a "winning model." But carrying out the Postal Service plan would "decimate" any plan that enrolls half or more postal employees, Francis said in his testimony.

"Their proposal isn't going to save money. It's going to cost money," Francis said.

The health plan proposal is part of the Postal Service's five-year plan that would reduce the workforce by 155,000 through attrition, cut back delivery to five days, and close up to 252 mail-processing centers and 3,700 post offices.

The House subcommittee hearing comes as the Senate was set to debate a postal reform bill this week but has postponed a procedural vote to start debate. The legislation would allow the agency to spread out its $5.5 billion annual payments for future retiree health benefits. The next payment is due in November, and without action, the USPS will be unable to make that payment, Donahoe said today.

Donahoe urged immediate action from Congress. "Doing nothing is not an option," he said.

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Health care, taxes top issues for small business

Written by

The Associated Press

Family Webicine

PETE MAROVICH/EPA

The rebates should average $127 for the people who get them, and Democrats are hoping they'll send an election-year message that Obama's much-criticized health care overhaul is starting to pay dividends for consumers.

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Category Archives: business

Category Archives: business

How much do federal employee advocates make?

How much do federal employee advocates make?

How much do federal employee advocates make?

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