Washington, D.C. — A new Institute for Policy Studies report analyzes proposed Social Security cuts and their potential impact on individuals at the top and the bottom of the health industry.
On the top end, the report focuses on the CEOs of CVS Caremark, the nation’s largest drug retailer, and UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest health insurer. Both men are members of the Business Roundtable, which is pushing for an increase in the retirement age to 70 and a new method of calculating inflation known as “chained CPI.”
Currently, Larry Merlo of CVS Caremark has $46 million in employer-provided retirement benefits, while UnitedHealth’s Stephen Hemsley has accumulated $18 million. If their proposed reforms are adopted, Merlo and Hemsley’s retirement incomes would decline by a small amount — an estimated 0.3% and 0.7%, respectively.
By contrast, the report shows that a typical home health aide, Rhonda Straw of Pennsylvania, would likely lose nearly 16% of her retirement income under the reforms. Like millions of Americans, Straw is likely to depend almost entirely on Social Security during her retirement years.
CVS Caremark and UnitedHealth are also active in the “Fix the Debt” campaign, a heavily funded corporate lobby group that is also advocating for cuts to Social Security and reductions in the corporate tax rate.
“It’s easy for CEOs with mega-million-dollar retirement funds to demand cuts to Social Security,” said Scott Klinger, a report co-author and Associate Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. “They’ll be enjoying their country clubs, while America’s already shamefully high poverty rate among the elderly will increase.”
To receive a paper copy of the report, contact Lacy MacAuley, (202) 445-4692 main, (202) 234-9382 second, [email protected]
This is the third Institute for Policy Studies report on the “Fix the Debt” campaign. The report A Pension Deficit Disorderrevealed that the average CEO members of that campaign enjoyed $9 million in their personal retirement funds, while many of them were underfunding their worker pension funds.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.