Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

letter to the editor:

Promises need to be kept

National Grandparents Day was Sunday, and our elected officials can honor older Americans best by helping to protect the earned health care and pension benefits we retirees worked for throughout our careers and which saved companies much cash in salary and wages to allow them to grow to where they are today.

Legislation recently introduced in the Senate, the Bankruptcy Fairness and Employee Benefits Protection Act (S.2418), would make it harder for companies to reduce or eliminate benefits their retirees depend on. Retirees are not asking for special treatment or handouts; we just expect our former employers to provide the benefits we earned and they agreed to provide.

I, like many others, was told I would have health care benefits in retirement in exchange for accepting lower wages during my career. Sadly, companies have not only reduced and in some cases canceled earned retiree health care benefits, but also found loopholes to dump pension obligations.

Americans should not have to fear for the safety and security of the health care and pension benefits we earned. I joined the nonprofit ProtectSeniors.org, which is leading this battle on behalf of retirees, and I urge everyone living on a pension or receiving company-provided health care benefits to join and fight back too.

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