National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association
ORMOND BEACH, FL., CHAPTER 2247
NEXT FED LUNCH: AUGUST 17, 2009, 11:30 A.M
OLIVE GARDEN Restaurant
880 S. ATLANTIC AV. Ormond Beach
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Our next Fed Lunch will be as important as the previous two, because we will be voting on our future business meeting place for the year. As you eat and talk please think about the following: the room has to accept an audio system; have seating for at least 40 people in a semi-private room, be central to the membership, and provide reasonably priced lunches.
The three restaurants to be considered are: the new Morrison Buffet in the Bellaire Plaza, the River Grille Restaurant on Rt. 1, and the Olive Garden on A1A.
NARFE MEETS WITH MICA’S STAFF
Ormond NARFE Chapter 2247 met with Mica’s staff on July 15, 2009 in the Ormond office. Bob Wehrli, President of the Ormond Chapter, presided over the meeting and introduced each member to Mr. Richard Harkey who was standing in for the Congressman. Then Bob read a letter to the group in which he asked Mr. Harkey to convey to the Congressman. The letter addressed three issues: Government Pension Offset (GPO), Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), and Premium Conversion. Bob thanked the congressman for Cosigning H.S.235 that would eliminate both the Government Pension offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) on or about March 24, 2010.
However, the Bill has to get out of Committee if it is to receive a vote. To that end Bob requested; that the Congressman urges Chairman Rangel of the House Committee on Ways and Means to take Action and allow the Bill to come before the entire House for a vote.
In like manner Bob asked; the Congressman to Cosign H.R. 1203 which would allow Federal and Military Retirees to use pre-tax earnings to pay their share of the health insurance premiums. He further urged the Congressman to use all in his power to get H.R.1203 out of Committee and onto the House Floor for a positive vote.
Next, eleven members of the Ormond Chapter and one from the New Smyma Beach Chapter provided personalized information as to how the three issues involved them and affect their lives. The members who spoke were: Cece Dougherty, Karen Isaacs, Nick Calvano, John Lowe, Lee Sherman, Pat Berger, Marie Donahue, Geri Wehrli, Sue O’Brien, Don Wasson, and Rose Lauer. Several of these people also provided written material addressing the three issues.
Bob closed by thanking Mr. Harkey for his attention and questions that brought out additional information on the three issues.
Pictures were taken (of the group). The above was posted in the NARFE Chapter 2247 NEWSLETTER BLOG with pictures. Go to: http://narfenewsletter.blogspot.com/
NEWSLETTER WORKSHOP Mary Gaspary of the Ormond Library conducted a workshop on July 13, 2009 in the library on the use of the computer with our narfenewsletter. The workshop which was a hands-on session was attended by nine chapter members. We hope to have another workshop in the near future.
SENIOR EXPO @ OUTREACH
These two programs are an attempt to bring in new members to the chapter and make us better known in the greater Daytona area. Previously the Council on Aging supported the Chapter with the Senior Expo. This year we have to fund the project ourselves. The OutReach program is a new effort to include active Federal Employees.
HEALTH CARE
NARFE has taken NO position on the health care reform legislation currently receiving serious consideration in the House and the Senate. That’s because the status of the leading bills is extremely fluid and is subject to change. Neither the House nor the Senate bills would open the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) to non-federal civilians nor would FEHBP be offered as the proposed public health care plan. More in depth analysis on the legislation will appear in the September NARFE magazine and will be sent to NARFE members by e-mail via GEMS.
Many NARFE members have contacted the Legislative Department regarding e-mail they have received which make various claims about the health care reform bills.
NARFE advises members to carefully scrutinize such messages because some of them in current circulation provide misleading or false information.
NARFE members who are interested in receiving accurate, nonpartisan analysis about the major health care reform bills, including the Senate Finance Committee, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Education (HELP) Committee and the House Tri-Committee proposals, visit the Kaiser Family Foundation side-by-side bill comparison web site at: http://www.kff.org/healthreform/sidebyside.cfm .
The Kaiser Foundation is not associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries. ATTENDANCE and GOALS for the year
Mary Araya, our Secretary, who takes our attendance every month wanted to know who actually attends our regular business meetings on the third Monday of the month. She looked back over eighteen months from June of 2009 and examined 13 regular meetings.
We averaged 26% attendance per meeting, but we reached 33% several times during the test period. Fifty four members (47% of the membership) contributed to that record of 26% average attendance. A total of twenty five members had an attendance of 75%. Mary Araya and Marie Donahue had a perfect attendance record.
One has to wonder why the other 61 members didn’t attend at least one meeting over the eighteen month. The needs of that group will have to be examined. Some of these members physically can’t attend meetings. The Telephone committee reported a variety of reasons why some members can’t attend, but we should do something other than provide a newsletter to these members.
We have another 61 members on our e-mail list and 35 members (57%) of those members attended meetings. The e-mail member’s attendance of 57% is 10% better that the none-e-mail members. This result was expected.
The summer meetings took place on the same third Monday of the month, but were billed as more social than business. Twenty five members attended the first Fed Lunch and 35 plus 2 guests attended the second lunch. The officers were very pleased with these results. Last summer we averaged 15 members per lunch, but it is difficult comparing the two summers. The activities of the two summers were completely different.
CONCUSIONS @ GOALS
- Our goal for attendance from September 2009 to May of 2010 should be 33% per meeting.
- Thirty five members should reach an attendance of 75% for the nine months.
- We should have a program in place to increase our service to those members who are home bound.
- I don’t think we can increase the number of members who own computers, but I would like to increase the number members who use the Library computers to receive our narfenewsletter.
- The number of members who use the Newsletter blog should increase to at least twenty five by May of 2010. Since we can handle only nine members in a workshop, we would have to provide two more workshops by May 2010.
EXPRESS your opinion by signing up for a workshop to participate in the narfenewsletter; http://narfenewsletter.blogspot.com/ If you would like to be more involved please call Bob Wehrli at 386-441-9250 or e-mail; Rwehrli1@cfl.rr.com
There is no debate! What we have are outright distortions and misinformation by those who oppose any change in the health system for profit. The misinformation covers a wide range of issues. As a patient you will have to receive approval from a Government employee to see your doctor or the distortion may state as fact that everyone over 85 will have to receive counseling on end-of life procedures. None of these claims are true or even near the truth. But they are being sent to us under the threat of if we don’t pass them on something terrible will happen to us. Some of our own members are being victimized by these messages. If you receive one of these messages which claim to be fact, do one of two things. Check the claim out on www.snopes.com (which is free) or ask one of the NARFE CHAPTER OFFICERS to check it out for you.
Please don’t circulate invalidated material. The rule in publishing use to be every fact had to be checked by two independent sources. Rules like that don’t exist today, but they should.
HEALTH CARE DEBATE
Under any plan likely to emerge from Congress, the vast majority of Americans who are not old or poor will continue to buy health insurance from private companies, continue to get their health care from doctors in private practice and continue to be treated at privately owned hospitals.
The centerpiece of all the plans is a new health insurance exchange set up by the government where individuals, small businesses and eventually larger businesses will be able to purchase insurance from private insurers at lower rates than are now generally available under rules that require insurers to offer coverage to anyone regardless of health condition. Low-income workers buying insurance through the exchange -- along with their employers -- would be eligible for government subsidies. While the government will take a more active role in regulating the insurance market and increase its spending for health care, that hardly amounts to the kind of government-run system that critics conjure up when they trot out that oh-so-clever line about the Department of Motor Vehicles being in charge of your colonoscopy.
SOURCE: WASHINGTON POST
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HEALTH CARE DEBATE
ReplyDeleteUnder any plan likely to emerge from Congress, the vast majority of Americans who are not old or poor will continue to buy health insurance from private companies, continue to get their health care from doctors in private practice and continue to be treated at privately owned hospitals.
The centerpiece of all the plans is a new health insurance exchange set up by the government where individuals, small businesses and eventually larger businesses will be able to purchase insurance from private insurers at lower rates than are now generally available under rules that require insurers to offer coverage to anyone regardless of health condition. Low-income workers buying insurance through the exchange -- along with their employers -- would be eligible for government subsidies. While the government will take a more active role in regulating the insurance market and increase its spending for health care, that hardly amounts to the kind of government-run system that critics conjure up when they trot out that oh-so-clever line about the Department of Motor Vehicles being in charge of your colonoscopy.
SOURCE; WASHINGTON POST
HEALTH CARE DEBATE
ReplyDeleteUnder any plan likely to emerge from Congress, the vast majority of Americans who are not old or poor will continue to buy health insurance from private companies, continue to get their health care from doctors in private practice and continue to be treated at privately owned hospitals.
The centerpiece of all the plans is a new health insurance exchange set up by the government where individuals, small businesses and eventually larger businesses will be able to purchase insurance from private insurers at lower rates than are now generally available under rules that require insurers to offer coverage to anyone regardless of health condition. Low-income workers buying insurance through the exchange -- along with their employers -- would be eligible for government subsidies. While the government will take a more active role in regulating the insurance market and increase its spending for health care, that hardly amounts to the kind of government-run system that critics conjure up when they trot out that oh-so-clever line about the Department of Motor Vehicles being in charge of your colonoscopy.
SOURCE: WASHINGTON POST