Protecting Seniors

WHEREAS, the health, well-being and economic security forseniors is critical, and Social Security and Medicare are the core safety net; and

WHEREAS that core safety net should never be diminished nor impaired as seniors built this country, and have the right to the assurance that in their retirement years they will be protected; and

WHEREAS, a national healthcare crisis is affecting all workers and Americans’ pay more than twice as much as other developed countries on total healthcare spending and prescription drugs; and

WHEREAS, a lack of control over healthcare costs translates to an overwhelming economic burden for individuals and families; and

WHEREAS, the 2025 Presidential Transition Project, a blueprint for the first 180 days of a new administration, wrongly equates Medicare as a source of national debt and calls for the repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act, including the Medicare drug price negotiation, which would stop billions of taxpayer dollars being saved annually and would therefore increase the national debt; and

WHEREAS, in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision overruling Chevron, government agencies like the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, could lack discretion to regulate hospital participation in Medicare and reimbursements leading to diminished quality of care, wasteful spending, and higher costs for seniors; and

WHEREAS Social Security for seniors translates into economic stability; and undermining it through privatization and raising the retirement age will cause a spike in elder poverty; and

WHEREAS, currently the Government Pension Offset (GPO), in various instances, reduces earned Social Security survivors' benefits for spouses, widows and widowers who also receive government pensions of their own; and

WHEREAS, currently, in some states, the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), reduces Social Security benefits for individuals who also receive a pension or disability benefit from an employer that did not withhold Social Security taxes:

RESOLVED, that the AFT and our affiliates will call for improving—not diminishing—our healthcare safety net, including protecting and improving Medicare; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will support political candidates dedicated to preserving high-quality and affordable benefits for workers and families; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will monitor federal legislation and lobby our legislators to minimize economic challenges to current and future retirees and foster simple solutions to necessary changes to ensure the continued success of these earned benefits; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT—a union of educators, healthcare workers and public employees—will seek federal legislation to maintain Medicare and expand Social Security benefits for seniors as well as to ensure that these benefits will never be diminished and that any future contemplated changes should act only to enhance these benefits, which have been earned after decades of employee and employer participation into the Medicare and Social Security systems and need to be preserved into the foreseeable future.