MEA SCHOLARSHIP READING... WE NEED YOUR HELP
Would you be willing to help read MEA scholarship applications? The reading will take place from March 14-22. If you are willing, contact Barb Hitchcock at
bhitchcock@mea.org or
517-333-6276. Your assistance for any amount of time would be greatly appreciated. This is a very rewarding activity and you will see how talented and wonderful our youth are today.
Medicare Reminder
If your Medicare Advantage plan (Medicare private health plan) or Medicare prescription drug plan makes any changes during the plan year they must notify you.
Network provider changes:
Most Medicare Advantage plans have networks of doctors, hospitals and other providers. You typically pay less if you see providers that are in your plan's network. Most people can only change their plan once a year during the Fall Open Enrollment Period, but providers can leave a plan's network at any time.
When a provider is leaving a plan's network, the plan must try and send all the plan members who use that provider a written notice at least 30 days before the provider leaves the network.
Mid-year formulary changes:
If your drug plan makes changes to its formulary during the year, you have certain rights depending on why the plan made the change.
If a drug is declared unsafe by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) a plan can remove the drug from their formulary at any time. When a drug is removed by the FDA the plan must notify anyone who might be affected.
If the plan is making maintenance changes, they must give you 60 days notice or provide you with a 60 day transition fill. Maintenance changes include covering a generic drug instead of a brand-name drug or adding quantity limits for drugs that the FDA adds warnings to, and making formulary changes based on clinical best practices and safety concerns.
If your plan is making non-maintenance changes, which is any other change, and you are already taking the drug, you must be allowed to continue taking that drug for the rest of the year as long as it is medically necessary. Your plan must also send you a notification in the mail stating that the drug is no longer on their formulary but it will be covered for you for the rest of the year.
When a plan makes any of these changes they are required to update both the online and print version of their formulary. If you are going to be affected by any of the changes to your plan's formulary, they must send you a copy of the updated formulary in the mail
Calhoun County MEA- Retired Update
Submitted by: Vivian Davis
Although small but a visible and involved force in Calhoun County, MEA-Retired members have been actively involved throughout the Albion community in local and state government, religion, and education specifically. Throughout the turmoil Albion Public School as we face possible annexation with Marshall Public Schools, our retired staff has stepped up to the plate and provided emotional support, encouragement, physical labor, and professional guidance in helping our school staff. Instructors and support staff have faced layoffs, resignations to find more secure employment, low morale, salary roll backs, decreased medical coverage, declining student enrollment, extension of the collaborative agreement with Marshall Public Schools to now educate students in grades 6-12 in Marshall, and of course the everlasting struggle to close the achievement gap.
Fourth Friday Count revealed that the school district did not have enough students to sustain full time co-curricular electives resulting in the art, music, and gym teachers being laid-off. During first semester, students did not receive the vital services of any electives in grades k-8. When the middle school students were transferred to Marshall, MEA-Retired leadership reached out to our former co-workers and encouraged them to return to the classroom for the remainder of the school year. During the beginning of second semester, members of MEA-Retired have agreed to return to the classroom to reinstate music and art education to grades K-5. The financial compensation has come from requests to the community to reinstate the specials as consultants for the remainder of the school year at no cost to the district. Also, one teacher who retired seven years ago returned to teach 4th grade to bring experience and stability to the curriculum.
As school personnel planned for the transition, MEA-Retirees again stepped in and provided a delicious "we love you breakfast" to the entire staff. One-hundred percent of the staff attended the breakfast with an appreciative and delighted spirit. As indicated in the attached picture, it was a time for a few moments of joy inspire of the sorrow felt by many.
As 6-8 graders were preparing to be transferred to Marshall Public Schools, MEA-Retired were instrumental in sponsoring an ice cream social and assisted in handing out goodie bags as a memento of "once a wildcat, always a wildcat" theme. The students were pleased and surprised for the thoughtfulness, even though the fear and a uncertainty of a midyear new environment was ever present.
Additionally, the celebration of cultural diversity has gone unnoticed for the past couple of years for many reasons in the schools. MEA-Retired planned, implemented, and are going into each classroom in grades K-5 to deliver classroom presentations on culturally relevant information during the entire month of February. Retirees have displayed posters throughout the building, and given classroom teachers materials and activities to expand their cultural competence to include sensitivity and total inclusion in their daily lesson planning.
Calhoun County MEA-Retirees keep abreast and remain actively involved in educationally relevant state and federal proposals, laws, and sometimes dysfunctionality of our legislators. The direct impact of our local educational system also needs our commitment, expertise, and wisdom on behalf of our children. Calhoun County MEA-Retirees continue to step up to the plate in these
difficult times in our community. Our next order of business will be to become actively engaged in the passage of the Albion/Marshall Annexatio
n Ballot Proposal. We will keep you informed of the ever-changing district woes.
YOU'RE INVITED!
The Michigan Alliance for Retired Americans invites all union and community based retirees, members, affiliates, and guests to attend its Biannual Convention in the Metro Detroit Area on Thursday, March 31, 2016 from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm at the UAW Region 1, 27800 George Merrelli Dr., Warren, MI 48092. Registration will begin at 10:00 a.m.
The MiARA is an organization that is active and ready for the legislative and political challenges that lie ahead. The purpose of the Michigan Alliance for Retired Americans (MiARA) is to create a powerful statewide network of union retiree and community based organizations to educate and inform the membership, the public, and elected officials about issues that affect the well being of retirees.
By coming together at the Biannual Convention, delegates and participants have the opportunity to share ideas on solving serious issues affecting the lives of retirees as they began to chart the course that MiARA will pursue in the critical years ahead.
Delegates attending the MiARA Biannual Convention will be briefed on a series of state and federal legislative initiatives impacting retirement security, MiARA legislative advocacy and political programs, and top aging issues. Delegates will be addressed by an array of speakers from the Alliance for Retired Americans,
MI AFL-CIO, MI State Legislature and statewide Senior Advocates and Community Leaders.
The Biannual Convention will open with general elections for the five top officers - President, Executive Vice President, 1st Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. The MiARA Nominations Committee will present a slate. Each registered delegate shall receive one vote for the acceptance of by-laws and the election of officers. Nominations for office will also be accepted from the floor.
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