On Thursday, October 7,2010, 9:30 a.m.to 2:30 p.m. the Ormond NARFE Chapter 2247 will participate in the Fifth Annual Community Health Expo sponsored by the Ormond Beach Presbyterian Church,105 Amsden Road, Ormond Beach, Fl. The focus of the Expo will be on Health and Wellness with Exhibits and Presentations. Flu shots will be available free with Medicare. Our Chapter will stress quality of life after civil service and also will recruit and counsel members and prospective members.
INSURANCE CO-PAYMENTS:
We have to expects that co-payments in many FEHBP plans will jump sharply this year as insurance companies determine what the U&C (usual and customary) cost is, or should be, and then base co-payments according. Imagine you have a physical that costs $500, and the insurance company says the U&C is actually $400. Your normal co-payment would be $20. But now the company sets the U&C level at $400, for a service that costs $500, and the company requires that you pay 20 percent of the U&C(.20x$400=$80), which means your co-payment will be $80 on a $500 service. Your co-payment jumped from $20 to $80. They might even require you to pay a percentage of the$500, which might mean you would even pay more co-payment. The point is you have to look very close at co-payments and extra costs this year. That is especially true when it comes to medications.
OPEN SEASON:
The Office of Personnel Management has set the 2010 Federal Benefits Open Season to begin Monday, November 8th and run through Monday, December 13th. During Open Season, federal employees and retirees can enroll in or change their health, vision and dental plans.
Diane Thompson from BlueCross BlueShield of Florida will be our speaker for our November 15th meeting.
AARP members in Florida overwhelmingly support Amendments 5 and 6 to reform state’s voting districts. Three out of four AARP members polled support Amendments 5 and 6, according to a poll of 700 AARP members who said they were likely to vote in November. By approving Amendment 5, voters would require state lawmakers to draw state legislative districts that rely, whenever possible, on existing geographic boundaries and that keep communities in the same districts. Amendment 6 would set similar standards for Congressional districts. If approved, the amendments would take effect in time for Florida’s 2012 redistricting.
You may receive flu shots in Volusia County Health Department, the Port Orange Fire Department, the Ormond Beach Fire Department, and the S. Daytona Beach Fire Department. Several commercial sources are also available.
National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association
ORMOND BEACH, FL., CHAPTER 2247
NEXT CHAPTER MEETING
SEPT.20, 2010 at 11:30 A.M.
RIVER GRILLE Restaurant
920 N. US 1 Ormond Beach
OFFICERS :
President, Bob Wehrli 441-9250
1st Vice President, Cece Dougherty 672-5827
2nd Vice President, Nicholas Calvano 676-4615
Secy., Mary Araya 386-437-1085
2nd Secy., Eleanor Sherman 673-0871
Treasurer, Linda Gardner 677-0303
Service/Membership, Eleanor Sherman 673-0871
Sergeant-at-Arms, Donald Gaby 239-7639
Sunshine Person, Judy Boring 677-1060.
PROGRAM: Marguerite Hiemenz, Program Chair
Barbara Herrin, Deputy Treasurer of Florida Hometown Democracy, will give a brief Presentation on Amendment 4 at our September 20th meeting. Gwen Azama-Edwards of the same citizen group will also be available to answer questions about controlling growth in the State as well as the Ormond area. These issues are concerns that we should all be aware of in order to vote wisely in November.
SUMMARY of AMENDMENT 4:
Amendment 4 establishes that before a local government may adopt a new comprehensive land use plan, or amend a comprehensive land use plan, the proposed plan or amendment shall be subject to vote of the electors of the local government by referendum, following preparation by the local planning agency, consideration by the governing body and public notice.
ACTION ALERT by Robert Wehrli
All federal retirees, both CSRS and FERS, should be concerned about the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform Chaired by Bowles and Simpson. A majority of the members are not necessarily advocates for Federal Employees. In fact, they are just the opposite, plus they are not enlightened on our earned federal civilian retirement or on the details of our health plans. They look at our earned entitlements as the same as Social Security with the exception that we are a much smaller group and thus will be an easier target for cuts. Sadly for us , the Congressional Leadership has agreed to put the Commission’s recommendations on “FAST TRACK”. That means there will be no modifications, eliminations or changes to their recommendations’. We must reach members on the commission before their final report is due at the first of the year.
One important argument in our favor is that our Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund (CSRDF) is fully funded and actuarially sound. This is not true for Social Security. The CSRDF is solvent and will actually grow with time as opposed to Social Security. Further the size of the fund is not dependent on the general population. The size factor of the work force has been accounted for in the system, thus enabling CSRDF to be solvent in the future as well. The Commission must be made aware of these facts.
I urge all NARFE members with access to e-mail to send a MESSAGE to your Representative and two Senators by using the Legislative Action Center link: http://capwiz.com/narfe/issues/alert/?alertid=14982226
You may use the prepared message or write your own, but send a MESSAGE. We are asking for no more than what we earned by dedication and hard work.
RESULTS of the NATIONAL CONVENTION
The following are some of the results the NARFE NATIONAL Convention. Our new National Officers are:
President: Joe Beaudoin
VP: Paul Carew
Secretary: Elaine Hughes
Treasurer: Charlie Saylor
Region III VP: Don Stewart
We also have a new Dues structure for our National Organization:
$40 for one year;
$72 for two years;
$102 for three years;
Dues Withholding will be $34.00 per year.
These sums do not include Chapter dues.
For our Chapter that means our Chapter dues remain the same at $5.00, but National Dues are increased by $11.00 to $40.00. The Total for one year is $45.00 including your Chapter dues. Dues withholding will be $39.69 per year or $3.31 per month.
The Chapter wishes to thank Shirley Honey, President of NARFE Chapter 1137, for representing our Chapter at the National Convention. Shirley did a great work.
Address Change
If you have a changing address for any reason, please inform either John Lowe 672 -8517 or Bob Wehrli 441-9250. This will ensure continuous communication between you and the Chapter.
CHAPTER SERVICE DATABASE
By Nicholas Calvano
Whenever I need a dentist, plumber, urologist, roofer or anything else, for that matter, I hate to pick one from the yellow pages. I prefer to call a friend and ask for recommendations because most people are happy to recommend someone who has done a good job at a reasonable price. Similarly, they are anxious to steer friends away from merchants whose work was shoddy or too expensive. Recommendations have worked well for me. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to find someone who has had direct experience with a merchant in the area of your need.
That is why I want to set up a database of merchants for members of our NARFE chapter. To begin, I will need input from members. It will be simple enough: just send me the category name (dentist, electrician, etc.), of the merchant and your rating between 0 and 5 with 0 being “terrible, avoid at all cost” and 5 being “outstanding work at a good price.” You can also add brief comments such as, “Very good work but expensive” or anything else you care to include.
To make this work we will need a lot of input so don’t hold back. Once this is set up, you will not only help other members but also be able to use the database to guide you in selecting a merchant.
Examples:
Roof repair - Triangle Roofing - 5/5: Responded quickly and told me they could fix the roof for $1100 or I could make a temporary fix by caulking myself in a few minutes.
Urologist - Dr. Dineen - 3/5; Technically good but always keeps patients waiting 40 minutes or more, even for the first appointment of the day.
Heater/Air condition repair - Ash-Lee-Air - 5/5: Quick response and made repair at a very reasonable cost. Estimate charge of $35 was applied toward repair which was less than $150.
Send your ratings and comments to me at fotonick@yahoo.com or phone me at 386-676-4615.
Here’s your chance to reward the good guys.
CHRISTMAS PARTY
Michael Shiles, a vocalist and comedian, will provide
us with entertainment at our Christmas Party.
Mark your calendar now for December 8th.
BOOSTER CLUB
People have two kinds of generosity. There are those that give their time and service and then there are those who donate money or material goods. Luckily we have an abundance of both kinds among our members. The sound system is one example of a member seeing a need and stepping up to solve the problem. We have numerous other examples of solutions that have been provided such as flags and items for the Senior Expo. We have examples of people providing services and in some cases transportation. We also have members who have donated money to a cause like the expense of storage or entertainment. In many cases the Chapter has existed on the donations and contributions made by individual members. We owe a great deal of thanks to those members who donate their time, money or both to the existence of the Chapter. The Board has referred to these members as BOOSTERS or the Booster Club.
The Treasurer keeps a record of actual funds contributed, but it is difficult to estimate the value of gifts, time and services. At the present the Booster account has $217.35.
At the next meeting the Board would like to entertain a motion that would “Establish the Booster Fund as a permanent account to be used for specific goals, but also to support the Chapter account if necessary.”
The Chapter account is losing about $130 very year. This means we should raise the Chapter dues. However, by allowing the Board to transfer funds between the Booster account and the Chapter account we may be able to postpone increasing the dues.
Whatever Congress does to Active Federal Employees Congress can easily do to the Retirees. At present the Active Federal Employees are under attack, but it could be us as well. These attacks were mentioned in my last Fed News and now this is an update. I am asking that you contact John Mica and express your views. A sample message has been included for your convenience. Contact Representative John Mica at: http://mica.house.gov/Contact/ContactForm.htm This is a sample message you might send to John Mica: #1.Please, support President Obama’s proposal in his budget for fiscal year 2011 that would provide federal civilian workers and military personnel a 1.4-percent pay raise next year. #2.Please, do not take a punitive action against the thousands of federal employees who are working alongside their uniformed colleagues in Iraq and Afghanistan by requiring them to forgo a salary increase to partially pay for the wars they are helping to win? #3.Please, do not attempt to support or attach an amendment to H.R. 5136 that would in effect put a pay freeze on Federal Employees. This would be considered an outright attack on the Civil Service System. Federal Employees are not the problem; they are part of the solution to the problem. (Ctrl + click) http://mica.house.gov/Contact/ContactForm.htm and follow the instructions. Or you may also call Mica’s Office at202-225-4035 or the Ormond Office at 676-7750. We must act or more degradation will follow.
The Curse of the Hanging Chads and other Republican misadventures continues on in Florida in the administration of the Appliance Rebate program. It has the paw prints of their political philosophy writ large on its operating procedures. First there is the requirement, not overly advertised, that in order to participate in the program you have to be Computer Literate and have access to the On-Line function of a computer. This, in order to obtain a printout of the appropriate rebate application form as well as a priority number which marks your place in the electronic maze for a share of the available funding. The ordinary working stiff who may not be so fortunate and his people are left out. Several days prior to the start date of April 16 my wife and I went out to reconnoiter the possibilities of purchase of an energy efficient appliance under the terms of the program. At one of the appliance stores I questioned the sales person as what provision was made for those who do not have online access. She heaved a sigh and suggested that they might be able to try applying on the computers available in the Public Library. How thoughtful. Prior to setting out to buy on the start date of April 16 I brought up the appropriate Rebate program web site and noted that the program system would be down from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM to prepare for the onslaught of purchasers making application. Fair enough, but following the cited 11:00 AM start tune it took almost two hours more before the system cleared to operational status and it became possible to obtain printouts of the above cited forms. Then there is the, again unadvertised, mode of payment of 20% of the purchase price, as well as the $75.00 reward for giving up the replaced appliance for recycling. This will not come in the form of a check or a direct deposit to an applicant's checking account. It will come in a Gift Card issued by American Express with the rebate and recycling fee amounts imprinted therein. When credit cards or Gift Cards are used to purchase items the full purchase price returned to the vendor is always several percentage points short. This constitutes a service fee to the issuing entity. When you consider that thousands of Floridians will take advantage of the Appliance Rebate program this amounts to more than a tidy windfall for American Express. This last can be charged off to standard Republican concern for the well-being of large corporations. Cautionary note-Gift Card Issuers service fees are sometimes higher than standard credit cards. As a result some vendors are reluctant to accept them. Finally, the Rebate Application Form, when filled out is to be mailed to a Post Office in El Paso, Texas. I'm glad it is going to a Post Office Box-I wouldn't want it to get lost in those Texas Bushes.
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