Fitzpatrick's support of Amazon-backed USPS reform bill 'very distressing' to some constituents

U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick supports an Amazon-backed bill that would shift USPS retirement costs to Medicare. | Wikimedia Commons/Canva

By Emily Bevard

Feb 3, 2022

U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), is cosponsoring legislation that would require Medicare-eligible members participating in the Postal Service Health Benefits program to be enrolled in Medicare Part B.

In an official corporate message, Amazon, which partners with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), publicly supported the Postal Service Reform Act, specifically measures to eliminate USPS’s existing mandate to pre-fund health benefits for retirees and shift those costs onto the Medicare system. Amazon wants to see USPS's finances stabilized and views the reform act as a way of accomplishing that.

According to the Federal Election Commission, Amazon’s political operations have given Fitzpatrick thousands of dollars during a six-month period last year when the bill was being formulated.

At least one resident of Fitzpatrick's congressional district is not impressed with his support of the act.

"I am really surprised that Rep. Fitzpatrick would side with Amazon over Medicare beneficiaries,” Rochelle Porto told Keystone Today. “It is a great concern to me that he is involved with any issues that will further impair Medicare.”

While the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) expects that more USPS retirees would choose to enroll in Part B than do so under current law, the legislation would also require Postal Service Health Benefits plans to participate in Medicare Part D in order to receive payments and discounts related to prescription drugs. As a result, the CBO estimates the bills would increase Medicare spending by $5.6 billion over the 2021-31 period.

“With inflation taking a bigger bite out of our income for everything, seeing Medicare get burdened like this is very distressing,” Porto said.

Industry experts say Amazon systematically takes advantage of USPS in a number of ways, and passage of this bill would tip the scales even more by placing members outside the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

Not only has Amazon leveraged its volume of packages to be shipped against USPS’s solvency concerns to fix below-market shipping costs for its deliveries, but experts say that it is effectively using USPS to subsidize Amazon’s own logistics and delivery operation, Business Insider reports. Amazon benefits by establishing its delivery hubs in denser zip codes, leaving the more costly deliveries to USPS, which has a legal obligation to deliver to out-of-the-way rural addresses. A financially stable USPS helps Amazon.

Meanwhile, Medicare's future needs are glaring, according to some analyses.

In August 2021, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Boards of Trustees overseeing the Federal Hospital Insurance and Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds reported to Congress that "current-law projections indicate that Medicare still faces a substantial financial shortfall that will need to be addressed with further legislation. Such legislation should be enacted sooner rather than later to minimize the impact on beneficiaries, providers and taxpayers."

The CMS report went on to estimate that the depletion date for the Hospital Insurance trust fund was still 2026, the same as the previous year’s report.

The Postal Service Reform Act was introduced on May 11, 2021, by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) with three original cosponsors. As of Dec. 14, there were 102 co-sponsors: 58 Democrats and 44 Republicans. The last action on the bill was Jan. 21 when the House Committee on Ways and Means granted an extension for further consideration through March 18. In July, a report was issued by the committee.

Fitzpatrick joins U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) as the Republican cosponsors of the bill; Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA) was the sole Democrat from the Keystone state among the original cosponsors.

ORGANIZATIONS IN THIS STORY

Brian Fitzpatrick for Congress• Susan Wild for Congress• Amazon Headquarters• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services• U.S. Congressional Budget Office• United States Postal Service