Retiree group pans Senate healthcare bill

WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- The Senate healthcare reform bill does not protect the earned post-retirement healthcare benefits of millions of workers, a U.S. retiree advocacy group says.

Paul Miller, executive director of ProtectSeniors.Org, says the Senate bill actually penalizes companies that provide retiree prescription drug benefits. The House version would prohibit employers from making post-retirement cuts or doing away with people's earned health benefits after they retire.

"It is a disgrace that the Senate bill does absolutely nothing to protect the right of retirees who for decades took less in wages and paid time off from their employers to be assured of healthcare coverage in their golden years," Miller said in a statement.

"These people earned this benefit during their working years and now the Senate is willing to simply throw them under the bus. They are not asking for a handout, just that corporate America treat these people fairly and live up to their responsibility."

Miller says if just half of the estimated 18 million retirees who receive healthcare benefits through their former employers had those benefits reduced or eliminated it would overwhelm an already overburdened government healthcare system. There are many healthcare costs that Medicare does not cover, creating the need for supplemental plans, Miller explains.