NARFE reacts to the unfair proposed legislation in the Senate to reform the postal service

Alexandria, Va.  – National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE) President Richard G. Thissen issued the following statement today, expressing disappointment with both the introduction of the Postal Reform Act of 2018 by Sens. Tom Carper, D-DE; Heidi Heitkamp, D-ND; Claire McCaskill, D-MO; and Jerry Moran, R-KS, and the request for the bill to bypass the committee process:

“This proposal seeks to balance the books of the United States Postal Service (USPS) on the backs of postal retirees. It would tell a 90-year-old postal retiree that he or she must pay another $1,600 or more per year in health insurance premiums to Medicare to keep his or her existing retiree health insurance plan. That’s health insurance the retiree earned in exchange for years of hard work for the Postal Service.

“This requirement aims to lower USPS health insurance costs by shifting primary responsibility for retiree health coverage from USPS to Medicare, at a cost of $10.7 billion to taxpayers. It puts a new, onerous requirement on 76,000 postal retirees to pay additional Medicare premiums to keep their current health insurance.

“Supporters of the bill will argue this step is necessary to save the USPS. I disagree. Rather, I suggest lawmakers tackle USPS financial issues head-on rather than pursuing a more complicated route. This is not the only path forward. Legislators should be asking: Why not allow USPS to raise the price of postage to a more reasonable amount, instead of continuing to heavily subsidize the business of bulk mailers? Why not allow USPS to pay its health insurance bills when they are due, and not before, by ending the burdensome prefunding requirement?

“After dedicating long careers to the USPS and living on fixed incomes, postal retirees should not be threatened with the loss of their health insurance if they do not buy additional coverage through Medicare that they have previously declined. This not only eliminates choice with regard to health insurance for postal retirees, but it also sets a dangerous precedent for all federal retirees.

“Not only is the substance of the bill troubling, but so is the fast-track process the bill’s sponsors are pursuing. They have sought to bypass the deliberative committee process completely, preventing the type of thoughtful attention, thorough review and common-sense amendments that committee consideration allows. We urge Senate leaders to reject their request to do so.”

For additional information on NARFE’s views on postal reform legislation, see our statement for the record to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, commenting on a substantially similar House bill.