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October Meeting: October 23, 2003
Location: Alleigh’s 4925 New Centre Drive
Wilmington, NC
Speaker: Mr. Paul Barringer,
President of Accurium as our speaker.
Accurium is a health care information company that works with
employers and others to control health care costs through consumer
education. Mr. Barringer has
extensive experience in the areas of health care law and was a practicing
attorney in that arena prior to founding Accurium. Special guest, State President David Moore is also rumored
to be in attendance.
Sponsor:
President's Message:
Tim Walsh
October 2003
“Every
man owes a part of his time and money to the business or industry in which he
is engaged. No man has a moral
right to withhold his support from an organization that is striving to
improve conditions within his sphere.”
--Theodore Roosevelt
Most of us have seen this quote in HIU Magazine or NAHU
correspondence but I thought it would be worthwhile to repeat it for some and
introduce it to others. Please
read it again. The money is
embarrassingly easy. Monthly
dues are $18.75 and that includes your lunch at the meetings. While helping my 10 year old with her
math homework this week, I did a little ciphering of my own as it pertains to
the investment of time. If we
work a 160 hours per month and set 1.25 hours aside for NAHU, that’s less than
1% of our time. Are these
offerings too much to ask of any of us?
Those of us that are actively involved will tell you that they get
much more out of NAHU than they have ever put in. Let’s all say we gave at least the minimum of 1%!
Thanks to all who attended our September meeting and
enjoyed our guest speaker, Connie Majure-Rhett from the Greater Wilmington
Chamber of Commerce. This month
we are happy to welcome Mr. Paul Barrington of Accurium. Mr. Barrington will enlighten us on
how employers can control health care costs through education. Mr. David Moore, NCAHU President is
also scheduled to join us.
Wouldn’t it be great to show our support and fill the room for these
guests? Please mark your
calendars now for October 23rd and plan on bringing a colleague
for lunch and enlightenment.
A heart welcome to our newest member, Paige McDonald, VP
of Marketing for Financial Security Associates. Paige is opening a new office in Wilmington
and we are glad to have her in our chapter.
Legislative
News:
David Hill
L & L Notes
As you may know Congress
is back in session and among some of the issues to be discussed is the
prescription drug issue for Medicare beneficiaries, particularly to provide a
$600 prescription drug benefits to be used along with discounted Rx prices.
Many hurdles here and it
is too early to predict what will happen, but with reelection around the
corner you can bet something will happen in this area prior to. NAHU is
working with Congress to pass legislation and has been included in the grass
roots effort.
FSAs
The IRS has announced a
new ruling to allow individuals to use their FSA funds to purchase over the
counter medicines not covered by an insurance plan.
You can look at the IRS
website at http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=112623,00.html
for more information.
Medical Malpractice
There is movement in this area
to limit non-economic damages and punitive damages to $250,000 each and
create a statue of limitations for medical malpractice suits. The current bill S. 11 has had a more
difficult reception and many
senate democrats are
opposed to any restrictions on consumers to bringing lawsuits against
physicians and other providers for alleged malpractice. This is one that will get interesting
before it is done.
Rx
The Justice Department has
asked Rx Depot and Rx Canada from importing both US issued and unapproved
foreign manufactured drugs into the US.
Both declined to willingly cease without a court order requiring them
to discontinue. The big problem
here is the substitution prescriptions of approved drugs with
those that are unapproved
even though they contain the same active ingredient(s).
Scam artists could easily
prey upon those seeking lower cost Rx and this could pose to be not only a
monetary problem but a health hazard with the potential of death.
State level
Nothing much happening
there at the present, but with the legislators going back into session soon
there could be some further discussions about the High Risk pool.
We will do our best to
keep you updated as to the continued legislation that affects our
industry. Should you have a specific
question you would like an answer to, please email me at Dhillinsurance@aol.com
You may also go to www.Nahu.org and you may find the information
there.
If any one of you wish to
assist me in the L & L area, I would love to have you help out.
David Hill
L & L Chair
Calendar of Events
HUPAC/NCPAC:
Website www.cahu.info
Dennis G. Stokley, RHU
Remember to Use the
CAHU Website
Have you had a chance to
look at the new directory for the state website yet?
State www.ncahu.org
In the event you need to
change your contact information, please go to the national website or click
on this link www.nahu.org/member/index.cfm The state web page will now update
their list from the national site.
Take a look at some of
our state chapter websites and see what they are doing for their local
associations.
Triad www.tahu-net.org
Western www.wncahu.org
Coastal www.cahu.info
Charlotte www.cahu-nc.org
Triangle www.nctahu.org
Western Piedmont www.wpahu.org
Dennis G. Stokley, RHU
Email: gstokley@bellsouth.net
Membership Update:
Brownie Cordell
Membership
One of the top priorities for NAHU and our Coastal Chapter for 2003 is to
add new members to our organization. We need our "voice" to be
heard on important legislative issues that face our industry and our personal
financial well being. It is hard to understand why there are only 830
NAHU/NCAHU members out of over 38,000 licensed agents currently in North Carolina.
That is only 2.2% membership in our state. The president of NCAHU, David
Moore, has challenged the chapters of North Carolina to exceed 1000 plus
members this year. YES---increasing our membership to 1000 would be an
increase of over 20% this year. We will do our job in the Coastal Chapter to
add new members. We would need to add approximately 15 new members (with 100
retention of current members) to increase our roster by 20%.
Our goal for each Coastal member is to bring in one new person for this year.
YES---only one new person for this year (more than one would appreciated). We
all know at least one person in the industry that could benefit from the
wealth of information that NAHU/CAHU have to offer so start thinking of who
that person would be and invite them to our next meeting on October 23rd.
Each member needs to be active if we are to succeed in adding members to our
roster.
As an added incentive, each new member that you sponsor this year you will
receive a $20.00 Gift Certificate from Barnes and Nobles. In our last meeting
this year we will have a drawing for a $50.00 Gift Certificate. You will get
your name placed in the drawing for each time you sponsor a new member. The
more times your name in the drawing, the more FREE READING FROM BARNES and
NOBLES!!!!!
Your efforts will not go unnoticed at the state level! NCAHU is having a
contest for the Chapter with the most growth. And it is as follows:
*$1,000 CASH Reward will be presented to the Chapter with a net growth of
35%
*$ 500 CASH Reward will be presented to the Chapter with a net growth of
25%
*$ 250 Cash Reward to the TWO NCAHU members who added the most members for
the 2003-2004 year.
LETS GET SERIOUS!!!!! This is our year for GROWTH and each of can MAKE IT
HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Brownie
Public Service:
Continuing Education:
Connette Bradley
Education Report
We will have a 3Hr CE
following our November 20 (early because of
Thanksgiving)
meeting. "How to Prepare
Your Client for a Paramed Exam" will be presented by Portamedic and
there is no charge for members.
Ideas and feedback can be
sent to bradleych@worldnet.att.net.
Awards:
M. Hughes Waren, Jr.
Awards: M. Hughes Waren, Jr.
Please
contact Hughes Waren (910)763-8050 or hughes@edh.com
Media Relations:
Amanda Smith
I spoke with Alton this
morning, and he seemed to be doing fairly well, considering all the he has
been through. For those of you
who may not know, Alton has undergone another operation (4th) to remove the
hip replacement prosthesis and is being treated with very strong IV
antibiotics to clear up a serious bone infection. He is in the UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill. When he returns home, he will be on
IV antibiotics for at least 4 weeks.
When it becomes possible, Alton will undergo yet another hip
replacement operation. His recuperation will be long and difficult.
It is impossible to imagine the mental
and physical toll this ordeal has taken on our good friend. Please keep him in your thoughts and
prayers.
Amanda Smith
Hospitality:
Patti Hill
The remainder of 2003 CAHU
events are :
October 23- Meeting at
Alleigh's
November 20*- Combined
meeting and CE class with Life Underwriters at Alleigh's
December 4th - Holiday
Party (Oyster Roast and Turkey Fry) at the home of Nick and Vicky Ogden
Lunches for member are
included in their dues.
Nonmembers are $10 for 2003
*Please note change of
regular meeting date due to Thanksgiving Holiday.
Please remember that the
cost of lunch for CAHU members is FREE.
Guest and non-member
lunches are $10.
Coastal Association of
Health Underwriters
Wilmington, NC 28403 October 6, 2003
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