Arlington Chapter 1201 Newsletter

Transcription

1 Arlington Chapter 1201 Newsletter June / July / August / September 2015 Volume XV Number 3 Chapter 1201 Monthly Meetings Place: Senior Recreation Center, 1000 Eunice Street, Arlington, Texas Time: 10:00-11:00 a.m. (Business Meeting) 11:15 a.m. - Noon (Program Speaker) When: Third Monday every month except second Monday in January and February For those of us who thought we were going to get a good reduction by going to self plus one on our health insurance, here is one example of our bubble being burst! Oh, well, I guess a few bucks savings is better than nothing! Bi-Weekly Monthly Plan! Type/Option Code! Total Gov"t Emp Total! Gov"t Emp Year Cat P/NP

2 PROGRAMS by Janine Jarvela, Second Vice-President! October 19, Native Plants for All Seasons by Josephine Keeney November 16, Changes to 2016 Federal Health Benefits - Blue Cross and GEHA;!!!!! Election of 2016 Officers December 21, Annual Christmas Luncheon and Installation of 2016 Officers After the business meeting on June15, 2015, members enjoyed our annual picnic luncheon. At the July 20th. meeting, Richard Don Simms, comedian banjo player, provided some hilarious entertainment. Richard Don Simms pickin on the banjo assisted by member Loretta Sisson playin the???

3 Elva Roy presented information on Age Friendly Action Brigade to the chapter members on August 17, The purpose of the "Age-Friendly Arlington Action Brigade" is to identify areas where we can assist our hometown of Arlington, Texas, #to reach its "age-friendly" potential. We want the City to serve ALL age groups, but our advocacy is about ensuring that the voices of older residents are heard. We help by identifying and improving areas where more attention is needed in the areas of#!! Community & Civic Participation!! Housing!! Transportation and Public Spaces!! Health & Social Services. Angie Hoquang, Public Affairs Specialist, Dallas Regional Office of the Social Security Administration, was our speaker at the September 21, 2015 meeting.

4 LEGISLATIVE NEWS by Bernie Owen Legislative Chair The 114th U.S. Congress came back into session on September 8, 2015, following their traditional August recess. Congressman Joe Barton (TX District 6 Representative) held a series of town halls during the recess. Six Chapter 1201 members (Dennis Gaster, Bernie Owen, Geraldine Arnold, Liz Curry, & Mr. & Mrs Ben Weiger) attended the Joe Barton Town Hall held on August 26 th in Arlington and Dennis Gaster also attended the Town Hall in Mansfield. There has been little action on any of the bills listed in the NARFE magazine as congressional attention has turned to other items and national attention has turned to the 2016 Presidential campaigns. Many items need to be addressed by Congress and the President before the end of As I mentioned in my column in the June, 2015 Newsletter, tax extenders expired December 31, 2014, and need to be acted on for the 2015 tax year. It appears unlikely, at this time, for a COLA for federal retirees, social security recipients or military retirees for Other items of interest: 1. Representative John Boehner (Speaker of the House) announced his resignation effective the! end of October. A new Speaker will need to be elected by the House. 2. The Government Shutdown at the start of Fiscal Year 2016 on October 1st did not occur and! funding was extended until December 11, Government officials continue to investigate the OPM data breach. 4. Health care premiums for Government insurance will increase 7.4% for the average enrollee in! Chapter 1201 members (and others) are encouraged to attend the Chapter meeting on! November 16, 2015, as insurance representatives for the Federal Health Benefits Program will! present the program for the chapter meeting. 5. Some retirees will face a Medicare Part B premium increase of greater than 50% ($ to! $ per month) effective in NARFE National President Richard Thissen warned about recent proposals of substantially! increasing Federal Health Benefits premiums; the proposed Chained CPI for COLA! calculation; cutting the size of the federal workforce and slashing the pay and benefits they! receive, etc., etc., etc. Watch the NARFE magazine and NARFE Newsletters for the latest! details on all proposals.

5 Senator John Cornyn Washington, D.C. Office: 517 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC Phone: (202) Fax: (202) Dallas Office: 5001 Spring Valley Road, Suite 1125E Dallas, Texas Ph. (972) Fax: (972) Website: Joe Barton District 6 Washington DC Office 2107 Rayburn House Office Bldg. Washington, DC Ph. (202) Fax: (202) Arlington Office 6001 West Ronald Reagan Memorial Highway, Suite 200 Arlington, Texas Ph. (817) Fax: (817) Website: Kenny Marchant District 24 Washington DC Office 2313 Rayburn House Office Bldg. Washington, DC Ph. (202) Fax: (202) District Office 9901 East Valley Ranch Parkway, Ste Irving, Texas Ph. (972) Toll Free Tarrant Co. (866) Fax: (972) Website: Senator Ted Cruz Washington, D.C. Office: 404 Russell Senate Office Bldg. Washington, DC Phone: Dallas Office Lee Park Tower II, Suite North Hall Street Dallas, TX Phone: Website: Eddie Bernice Johnson District 30 Washington DC Office 2468 Rayburn House Office Bldg. Washington, DC Ph Fax District Office 3102 Maple Avenue, Suite 600 Dallas, TX Ph. (214) Fax: (214) Website: Marc Veasey District 33 Washington, DC Office 414 Canon House Office Bldg. Washington, DC Ph. (202) Fax: (202) Dallas Office 4200 South Freeway Suite 412 Office Tower at La Gran Plaza Fort Worth, TX Ph. (817) Fax: (817) Website: NARFE CHAPTER 1201 SCHEDULE (Program Themes in Parenthesis) October 19, !Chapter Meeting (Native Plants for All Seasons) November 16, !Chapter Meeting (Health Insurance & Chapter Officer Elections) December 21, !Chapter Meeting (Christmas Luncheon & Officer Installation) January 11, Chapter Meeting February 8, Chapter Meeting March 21, !Chapter Meeting April, District 3 Convention (Hosted by Arlington Chapter 1201) Aug Sept. 1, !National Grand Sierra Hotel in Reno, Nevada August 26-30, !National Convention in Jacksonville, Florida

6 MEMBERSHIP REPORT Ben Weiger, 1st. Vice President for Membership Membership Update Hi Everyone, I want to provide you all with a membership activities update for the first nine months of 2015.! 1.! New Members 9 ( 2 active federal employee, 2 annuitant spouses, and 5 retired federal!!!!! employees)! 2.! Reinstated Members 6! 3.! Transferred into chapter 3! 4.! Deceased Member Transferred Membership to Spouse 0! 5.! Deceased 7! 6.! Dropped Non-Renewal 10! 7.! Transferred out of chapter 7! 8.! Voluntary Cancellation 0 Net Change in Membership since January 2015 = 0! From this data, you can see that the net change in membership for the year to date is zero! Our proactive efforts to recruit and retain members the past 9 months helped to stabilize our membership numbers in the chapter. I want to recognize several people for their recruitment and retention efforts. First and foremost, I want to thank Geraldine Arnold for all her efforts in sharing information about NARFE with prospective members and her willingness to continue to help out with our membership committee. I also want to recognize the following people for recruiting new members between January- September 2015:! 1.! Una Hutchins recruited one new member! 2.! Bernie Owens recruited one new member - his wife! 3.! Sue Brooks - recruited one new member Thanks Una, Bernie, and Sue for your recruitment efforts! It is greatly appreciated!! National Membership Recruitment Drive We currently have a national membership recruitment drive in effect from September 1 December 31, If you recruit someone during this time period, you will receive $10 for each new member recruited.

7 MEMBERSHIP REPORT, continued Ben Weiger, 1st. Vice President for Membership The Incentives:! All September-through-December recruiters will be entered into a drawing, one time for each new! member they have recruited. GRAND PRIZE: An Apple ipad Air 2 will be awarded to a recruiter randomly selected from this pool.! The Grand Prize will be selected by mid-january. MONTHLY PRIZES: Each month a name will be selected from the pool of recruiters for a $25! Amazon.com gift card. The pool includes an entry for every new member recruited, and! accumulates throughout the contest. Gift card winners will be selected on October 1,! November 2, and December 1. Winners of a monthly prize remain eligible for the Grand Prize as well as all monthly drawings. Update on our local recruitment strategy for 2015 We identified one retirement training company that will allow us to have a table at some of their training seminars. We attended one of these seminars in Dennis Gaster and I attended a retirement seminar in Dallas on October 6, There were ten federal employees who attended the seminar. We handed out NARFE packets to the attendees. In my last communication with the retirement training company, they informed me that they are working to schedule another retirement training seminar soon. Based on some recruiting tips from NARFE HQ, we began efforts to collaborate with Arlington local libraries to display the NARFE magazine and share information about our chapter meetings on their web sites and blogs. This effort has focused primarily in the southwest portion of Arlington based on demographics. We will reciprocate by providing NARFE guest speakers for library programming events, and also share library program announcements with our membership. Bernie Owens, Dennis Gaster, and Janine Jarvela are donating extra copies of their monthly NARFE magazine for display in several libraries in southwest Arlington. Dennis delivers these extra copies monthly to the Arlington Library"s program manager for seniors" activities. I want to share with you other recruitment opportunities that each of you could participate in as members of NARFE. Carry several NARFE applications with you in your car, purse, etc. You never know who you might run into during your daily lives. If you want applications, please me, call me, or come to one of our upcoming chapter meetings. Please make sure to include your name, NARFE membership ID, and your chapter in the application, so you can get credit for membership recruitment and receive a $10 from NARFE HQ. Attend an annual Christmas party/luncheon at your current/former agency"s office in December. Bring NARFE application/prospective member card to event.

8 MEMBERSHIP REPORT, continued Ben Weiger, 1st. Vice President for Membership Attend a retirement luncheon/dinner for one your agency"s colleagues. Bring NARFE application/prospective member card to event. Give a NARFE presentation during a learning lunch with your current/former agency. Bring NARFE application/prospective member card to event. Give a presentation about NARFE to your former agency"s retirement group. Bring NARFE application/prospective member card to event. Give your doctor"s office a copy of the NARFE magazine. As you can see, there are ways that each of you can also recruit new members. You can use the ideas shared in this newsletter or you can also share your recruitment ideas for our newsletter publication. If you would like to volunteer and help with the Membership Committee, or have other recruitment ideas, feel free to talk with me at upcoming chapter meetings, or contact me via phone ( ) or (weiger@sbcglobal.net) We look forward to seeing you all at our upcoming monthly meetings/events. National Active and Retired Federal Employees Arlington Chapter Lucas Dr. Arlington, TX U.S. Postage Mailing Address Street Number and Name City, State ZIP Code