www.unb.ca/retirees The UNB Retiree Fall 2015 Page

Newsletter of the UNB Retired Employees Association

Fall 2015

UNBREA Fall Meeting for members and Guests

Thursday, November 19 at the Harriet Irving Library::

Lesley Balcom, the Dean of Libraries, will describe the services offered by the campus Li-braries. You will be surprised by what is available today — a lot more than books! As usual there will be coffee and conversation starting at 10:00 and the presentation at 10:30. Parking passes will be available

Xmas Luncheons These are always well attended, friendly, social occasions. Join everyone for a meal and a chance to meet old friends. Saint John: Wednesday, November 25 at Br itt’s Pub and eatery Rockwood Park Golf club, Sandy Point Rd. Social time at 11:30, lunch served at 12:00. Cost is $25.00 Please contact Carl Tompkins cktomp@nbnet.nb.ca 648-3490 Fredericton: Thursday, December 3 at the Fredericton Inn, 11:30, lunch served at 12:00, $20,00 including all taxes and gratuities. There will be a draw for two complementary buf-fets. Please RSVP to Dexter Noel by November 30 at de3055@unb.ca or 457-1822

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This Newsletter is about Membership This year we expect our membership to be around 300—about the same as last year. In the year ending in June 2015, 48 people retired from UNB. Each of them received a letter from our president Dave Macneil. If you know anyone contemplating retiring from UNB please make sure they are aware of the UNBREA and its benefits. Here are some of the comments from Dave’s letter: The UNBREA seeks to represent UNB retirees and to help them enjoy their years of retire-ment. The association exists for UNB retirees, to help continue the ties and interests which enriched our careers and to represent our interests where possible. We welcome retiring staff and facul-ty employees from both campuses. Our objectives are: . To assist members in the area of health benefits and related concerns, . To provide a collective voice in areas of concern to members, . To maintain a liaison with the University of New Brunswick, and . To provide members with an additional avenue for social contact. To highlight a couple of benefits: In support of the continuing relationship with UNB the Retired Employees Association mem-bers can purchase a year round campus parking pass for $59.00. Makes joining your depart-ment for morning coffee painless. As well, a tuition waver for credit courses, discounts for non-credit courses, discounts for V- Reds season passes and Recreational Services memberships (URec) are available. Retirees through the Retired Employees Association have representation on the Fringe Bene-fits Committee and on a special President's Standing Committee on Retired Faculty and Staff. UNB provides retirees a presence on the UNB web server. Enter: http://www.unb.ca/retirees or search for "retirees" on the UNB site. There is detailed information on our association and an application form which can be submitted on line or printed and mailed.

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Membership Fees—madybe paid at the Fall Meeting UNBREA Executive Committee 2015-2016 President - David Macneil Vice-President - Dexter Noel Past President - Wolfgang Faig Secretary - Sandy Craft Treasurer - Larry Wisniewski Membership—Brian Cassidy, Louiselle Ouellett UNBSJ Rep - David Jory Communications - Brian Cassidy, Kirby Keyser President's Committee - Howard Fritz Fringe Benefits - Cheryl Gibson CURAC - Linda Kealey At Large - Jim Christie, Tony Short, Frank Wilson Our Executive members also serve: Cheryl Gibson is UNBREA’s voting member on the UNB Fringe Benefit Review Com-mittee and participates in the discussion about adjustments and changes to your benefits—(for example, our travel insurance coverage). Howard Fritz, Steven Turner and Jack Ter-hue are a voting members of the President’s Standing Committee on Retired Faculty and Staff which meets about three times a year. David Macneil meets formally with the President, usually twice a year, as well as informally with other members of the university administration on other occasions. Pre-retirement Seminars The President of the UNB Retirees Association also attends these seminars and introduces the UNBREA to those in attendance.

CATEGORY ANNUAL FEE VALUE PACK BENEFITS

Single $15 Yes

Couple (One UNB Retiree) $25 Yes (UNB retiree only)

Couple (Two UNB Retirees) $30 Yes (both UNB retirees)

Newsletter Only $5 No

UNBREA needs a continuing executive. As positions become vacant, please consider offering to fill one of them. Your services to UNBREA are important to ensure it can speak to the important issues affecting us. New members of the Executive will take office at the AGM in May. All these members of your executive (and the others) would be pleased to hear from you, your concerns, questions and ideas.

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About CURAC

Linda Kealey is your representative on CURAC—the national association for retired uni-versity employees. From their meetings, she provides valuable input about the state of af-fairs across the country and how UNB’s relations with its retirees compare. She has been re-nominated for a second two year term on the CURAC board.

Linda is the chair of CURAC’s Health Care Policy Committee and has taken the lead in pointing out gaps in the health insurance changes proposed by New Brunswick, other prov-inces and the Federal government. Their recent policy papers are available from their web-site.

The CURAC web site is www.curac.ca. Seventy-five cents of your UNBREA dues go to your CURAC membership.

Here is their position paper on Pharmacare—published in September. An important topic for all retirees.

On June 8, provincial and territorial ministers of health met in Toronto to call for a national Pharmacare plan, one of many such calls to improve access to drugs needed by all Canadians, not just seniors. Of course, seniors who often have more than one chronic illness would benefit from such a plan, particularly those on low income. A universal Pharmacare program would include drugs as part of the publicly funded health care system and elimi-nate the patchwork of coverage under provincial plans.

Why do we need a national plan for prescribed medications?

1. Most of prescription drug costs are not covered by a public plan, unlike 90% of hospital costs and 99% of medical costs (Morgan, Daw and Law, 2013). The cost of drugs is a major source of insecurity for an aging population.

2. As a developed country, we fall far behind other OECD countries where 20 of 33 OECD countries pro-vide a public drug plan that covers their populations while another 10 cover up to 80%. For example France, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand have a public plan. Canada, like Mexico and the US, provides public coverage to less than half the population (CURC, 2014) under our patchwork system of different provincial plans. As suggested by Morgan, Daw and Law’s 2013 C.D. Howe study, integration of pharmacare with hospital and medical care would provide better health out-comes thus potentially saving health care dollars.

3. Population aging and other demands on health care dollars are putting pressure on our current systems both public and private as provinces scale back public drug benefits for seniors while fewer employers offer retirement health benefits to new employees. Clarke and Durant’s study (2012) suggests the per-centage of Canadian employers offering these benefits has fallen from 62% in 2002 to 49% in 2011.

While government funds 42% of spending on drugs, 58% is funded by individuals or private insurance. A recent poll found that 23% of Canadians were unable to afford a drug prescribed by their doctor and this percentage increased to 49% for those with incomes of $20,000 or less (CURC 2014).

4. Drug prices in Canada are very high. New drug prices are set by the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board which averages prices from other countries (regardless of actual costs) to determine the Canadian price for patented drugs. In addition generic drug prices are also higher. Despite the provincial Pan-Canadian Pricing Alliance which has reduced some drug prices, increases in costs are often passed on to individuals and work-based plans.

Canadians also face significant dispensing fees at pharmacies, depending on province and plan. Accord-ing to a joint CCPA/CMA study, Canadians pay about 30% more than the OECD average for drugs. (2014) Canadian Blood Services have negotiated savings through pan-Canadian buying power for plas-ma-derived drugs, and offer proof that provinces and territories can do more together than they can do on their own (National Post, 2015).

5. Drug safety tests and research trials are partly funded by pharmaceutical companies, a practice criticized by the Canadian Medical Association. In addition, Health Canada testing through its Therapeutics Prod-uct Directorate does not necessarily consider cost effectiveness when approving a drug (CURC 2014). Post-market surveillance of the safety and efficacy of prescription drugs is currently inadequate.

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A Reminder—Value Pack Benefits! Paid-up members of the UNBREA have a number of benefits called the Value Pack.

There is a discount of 10% in Recreational Services memberships (URec) from the regular

senior rates. For example, the senior combined rate for the pool and the Currie Center is

$334.00. UNBREA members get 10% off this (plus HST).

The Value Pack rate for the UNB annual parking permit is now $59 (including HST). Those

who want to obtain a UNB parking permit at the Value Pack rate should pay their annual

UNBREA dues by July 31 each year. This will give the UNBREA treasurer time to process

the dues and return your membership card to you in time to register your vehicle for the

coming year. Even better, come to the meeting in May and/or the Picnic on June 16th,

where 2015-16 memberships will be available on the spot.

There are many other Value Pack benefits described on the Web page at

www.unb.ca/retirees/value-pack.html

So what needs to be done?

1. We need a national Pharmacare program that is truly National with sufficient funds from the Feder-al Government to assist provinces in paying for a significant portion of the costs. A March 2015 study concluded that employers and unions would save $8.2 billion under universal public drug coverage with a comparatively small increase to government (Morgan, Daw, Law and Martin, 2015).

2. We need a national plan for drug purchasing that includes bulk buying of necessary drugs under a competitive tendering system at the national level. According to the CCPA/CMA study, bringing prices down to the OECD level could save $9.6 billion a year. Provincial and territorial ministers recently estimated savings of $11 billion with bulk buying (Globe and Mail, June 8, 2015).

3. Such a system should include a single-payer, publicly managed system to save administration costs (estimated to be 3.2% of public spending on health care in 2009 while private insurance costs were 15.1% of spending through the private insurance system (CIHI 2012).

4. We need an independent system for drug approval and access to drug company research as well as to independent researchers’ findings.

5. We need to ensure equal access for all Canadians no matter where they live or how much money they have.

Pharmacare is not a new idea—it was recommended by the Royal Commission on Health Services (1964) and the National Forum on Health (1997). In 2004 the provinces proposed that the Federal Government assume responsibility for a national Pharmacare program but Ottawa rejected the proposal. Isn’t it time for Canada to catch up to the rest of the world?

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UNBREA Annual Dues

The annual dues are for the year

September 1 to August 31.

Annual Dues are:

Single — $15.00

Couple (one retiree) — $25.00

Couple (two retirees) — $30.00

Newsletter only — $5.00

Memberships are available at any meeting or

through the web page.

Past due Membership Fee Policy Members, who owed dues on September 1, 2014, will be removed from the UNBREA

membership lists on September 1, 2015 if still owing.

Memberships are available at any meeting and through the web page.

dgm@unb.ca

CURAC website www.curac.ca

&

UNBREA Dates to Remember for 2015 and 2016 : Fall Meeting—Thursday, November 19 10:00 at the Harriet Irving Library Xmas Luncheon— Saint John—Wednesday, November 25 at Britt’s Pub (Rockwood Park Golf Club) Fredericton— Thursday, December 3 at the Fredericton Inn Winter Meeting— In mid February—details are forthcoming Spring Meeting— In mid May—The AGM in the Wu Centre June Picnic— Thursday, June 16, 2016—The annual picnic at Oakland Lodge.