E-news Archive for 2017

• Notes from today’s Board Meeting
• Harkins Staff Council Fundraiser
• Last Call for New Board Member Candidates
• A Calendar of Upcoming Events

December Board Meeting

• The Finance Committee reported that the annual review of ASURA finances for the last fiscal year showed that the expenses were reasonable and consistent with the budget and further were in agreement with the Foundation records. The Foundation acts as the ASURA bank.
• The Special Projects  & Luncheon Committee reported they had received some pushback about the timing of this year’s Holiday Potluck and Bake Sale. The committee will see if they can find a better time for next year’s Holiday Potluck.
• Several topics for the 2019 spring seminars were discussed including one addressing lower cost housing. Past housing seminars have concentrated on high end, rather expensive locations that are beyond the means of many of our members.
• Given the difficulties many of our members experienced during this year's Open Enrollment, the Board asked the Seminar Committee to think about ways to enhance the fall Open Enrollment Seminar.
• Note: the ASURA Committees are always looking for new ideas and input from the membership; so if you have ideas let ASURA  or the Committees know. You might also consider joining the Board (see New Board Member Elections below).
• The number of postal mailings has dropped significantly with the increased use of email but ASURA still mails Prime Times to all members and so having a current postal mailing address is important. The ASURA Vice President asked if it were possible to make sure that ASURA has a correct current address for its members. The answer is yes. Please take a moment to review your address below to see if it is correct. If the address is not correct please call the ASURA Office at 480-965- 7668 or send an email to asura@asu.edu.

Barry McNeill
5801 E Lafayette Blvd
Phoenix, AZ 85018-4643

Harkins Staff Council Fundraiser

There is still time to take advantage of this fundraising opportunity. If you are looking for a Holiday gift Harkins has the perfect gifts for family, friends and students. A portion of each item purchased goes to one of several Staff Council programs, e.g., Staff Helping Staff Endowment and Judy Reynolds Memorial Scholarship. You can order and pay online or call the Staff Council Office at 480-965-0892. Order by December 15 to get your Harkins items by Christmas!

New Board Member Elections

It's not too late to get on the new Board Member ballot. There are still three slots open but you had better hurry before these are snapped up (smile). Reply to this Enews if you are interested.

• · Harkins Staff Council Fundraiser
• · A Calendar of Upcoming Events

Harkins Staff Council Fundraiser

Looking for a Holiday gift? Harkins has perfect gifts for family, friends and students and a portion of each item purchased goes to one of several Staff Council programs, e.g., Staff Helping Staff Endowment and Judy Reynolds Memorial Scholarship. You can order and pay online or call the Staff Council Office at 480-965-0892. Order by December 15 to get your Harkins items by Christmas!

The following material includes items from the ASURA Open Enrollment Seminar prepared by Bev Buddee, two pages from the October AARA Bulletin, and hopefully some useful links. There are three parts to this Enews:

• Medicare
• ADOA 2018 Health Insurance Open Enrollment
• ASRS 2018 Health Insurance Open Enrollment

Medicare

The ASURA 2018 Open Enrollment Health Care Seminar, held Thursday, October 26 at the Tempe History Museum, was well attended. Jerry Waterworth, Community Volunteer with the Community Educators Program at AARP Arizona, spoke about the ABCD of Medicare.  He clearly explained the differences between Original/Traditional Medicare (Parts A and B) and Medicare Advantage (Part C) and Medicare drug coverage (Part D).  He explained the need for medigap and drug coverage insurance with Original/Traditional Medicare.  Jerry also touched on eligibility, enrollment periods (initial, general, special and open) and assistance available through Medicare Savings Programs and/or low income subsidy.  Resources include:

• Social Security,
• Medicare,
• State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP),
• Area Agency on Aging, and
•  AARP and an AARP flow diagram to help with Medicare choices

ADOA 2018 Health Insurance Open Enrollment

• Reenrollment is mandatory if you don’t want to lose your coverage.
• Open enrollment is short and runs from October 30 to November 17.
• Logging into the ADOA website – For reasons not explained, ADOA changed everyone’s password to your four digit birth year plus the last four digits of your Social Security number. The login process is described very clearly on page 3 of the ADOA Benefits Enrollment Guide.
• The ADOA’s Benefit Services Davision home page has a link for online re enrollment
• ADOA Benefits Enrollment Guide
• ADOA Calendar of Benefit Expo dates
• ASURA Seminar Material
  Elizabeth Schafer, Plan Administrator in the Benefits Services Division of the Arizona Department of Administration, informed the group that action is required to retain insurance coverage in 2018.  Open enrollment dates are October 30 through 5:00 p.m., November 17, 2017.  She urged retirees not to wait until the last minute to try to enroll in medical, dental and/or vision plans.  If you do not actively enroll, you will be dropped from your current coverage as of January 1, 2018.  The bad news is premiums are increasing and copays are increasing.  The good news is the plan changes also include providing preventive care with no copay.  This includes routine wellness exams, a wide range of screening tests, immunizations and preventive care medications.  Delta Dental will remain the PPO dental provider at the same rates and same coverage.  Medical carriers and coverage plans are staying the same; coverage for the vision and hearing aids benefits remains the same, and there is no impact to the health insurance subsidy from the Arizona State Retirement System.  Elizabeth said the open enrollment packets were in the mail and encouraged retirees to carefully review the information

ASRS 2018 Health Insurance Open Enrollment

• Open enrollment for 2018 ASRS health insurance is all of November. Note: the ASRS open enrollment period is "passive", meaning that if you are already on an ASRS plan and are satisfied with your choices, you do not need to make an election
• You should visit the ASRS Open Enrollment page for complete information about open enrollment including links to a schedule of enrollment meetings and appropriate guides
• ASURA Seminar Material
  Julie Lockwood, Program Administrator, Member Services Division, at Arizona State Retirement System informed the group that open enrollment runs from Wednesday, November 1 through Thursday, November 30, 2017.  Coverage begins January 1, 2018.  This is a passive enrollment again, which means no action is required unless coverage changes are desired.  The ASRS mailing will include 3 items – a flyer containing information on enrollment, a newsletter with an overview of Open Enrollment, and a guidebook.  There are 2 guidebooks this year, one for non-Medicare eligible retirees and one for Medicare eligible retirees.  Retirees will receive the guidebook relevant to them.  Julie urged retirees to carefully review their respective guidebooks for changes and plan coverage comparisons.  Open Enrollment Seminars are being held throughout the state at which the individual insurance representatives make their formal presentations and answer specific questions.  The list of seminars is in the flyer included in the mailing or can be found on the ASRS Open Enrollment Information page.  This webpage contains a wealth of information, information videos, and links to assist in this open enrollment process.  Retirees are encouraged to browse the site.  ASRS members will review their current coverage, make changes to personal information, etc by logging into their respective MyASRS account.

Barry McNeill, editor

• ADOA 2018 Health Insurance Open Enrollment
• ASRS 2018 Health Insurance Open Enrollment
• Emeritus College Symposium
• A Call for ASURA Board Member Candidates
• A Calendar of Upcoming Events

ADOA 2018 Health Insurance Open Enrollment

•   Re enrollment is mandatory if you don’t want to lose your coverage
•  Open enrollment is short and runs from October 30 to November 17.
• The ADOA’s Benefit Services Davison home page has a link for online reenrollment
• ADOA Benefits Enrollment Guide
•  ADOA Calendar of Benefit Expo dates

ASRS 2018 Health Insurance Open Enrollment

• Open enrollment for 2018 ASRS health insurance is all of November. Note: the ASRS open enrollment period is "passive", meaning that if you are already on an ASRS plan and are satisfied with your choices, you do not need to make an election
• You should visit the ASRS Open Enrollment page for complete information about open enrollment including links to a schedule of enrollment meetings and appropriate guides

Emeritus College Symposium

The Emeritus College is holding its Twelfth Annual Symposium The Arts in a STEM World. ASURA members are invited to attend. The Symposium will be on Saturday November 18. One of the reasons for this early Enews is that registration for the symposium closes this Friday, November 3. The symposium includes two key note speakers, a series of short presentations and a poster session. To register download a registration form, complete the form and send it to the Emeritus College at the address given on the form

A Call for ASURA Board Member Candidates

Now is the time to get your name on next year’s Board Member ballot. Historically there has not been an overwhelming interest in Board membership. But being on the Board is not onerous, there is only one meeting a month during the academic year and it is fun, a chance to meet and interact with some of the most interesting people in the world. The early bird gets the worm so if you are interested in joining the ASURA Board let me know by replying to this Enews and I’ll add you to the list of those wishing to run in the election. While expressing an interest is probably enough to get on the ballot, if you want to guarantee being on the ballot you can submit a nominating petition – see Board Nominating Procedures for the details.

Rotator Cuff Study

Researchers at ASU conducting a study of upper limb motion in older adults are looking for volunteers. To be eligible for the study participants must:

• be at least 55 years old
• have either
• no known current shoulder injury on their dominate side

or

• have been diagnosed with a rotator cuff tear on their dominate side by their doctor
• have no history of other major shoulder injuries.

Participants will:

• Complete a questionnaire to ensure they quality for the study,
• Have ultrasound images taken of their shoulder,
• Have their shoulder strength and rang of motion measured, and
• Perform functional tasks in a motion capture laboratory.

If you are interested in participating in this study contact the research team at asuUPEXFunction@gmail.com or by calling 602-827-2294.

Free parking on campus and an $80 compensation will be provided for participants.

Barry McNeill
E-news Editor

•  October ASURA Board Meeting Update
•  Health Insurance Open Enrollment
• ·Small Group Activities (a new feature)
• Fall 2017 Prime Times
• Calendar of Upcoming Events

October ASURA Board Meeting Update

• The University Liaison, Stephanie Salazar, told the Board that in the next legislative session ASU would be actively working to have the State increase its funding commitment to instate students. Currently the State pays for about 34% of the cost of educating instate students; ASU would like to move this percentage to 50% over the next couple of year. In response to a question about ASU’s past interest in the feasibility of leaving ASRS retirement and ADOA health insurance, Stephanie said interest in doing this had waned.
• The Board approved increasing the ASURA returning student scholarship back to the $10,000 it has historically been. This increase was possible because of the sound financial health of the association.
• The Board approved a plan to help facilitate the formation of small group activities (see item below).
• Jeri Meeks, ASURA President, has booked Singer Hall in the Phoenix Art Museum for ASURA’s Annual Meeting held in April 2018. The date will be a week day rather than the traditional Saturday; a change which frees up the weekends. Stay tuned as the details are worked out.

Health Insurance and Open Enrollment

Open enrollment for health insurance begins this month. Members with ADOA coverage must reenroll this year; members with ASRS coverage need not reenroll if they are satisfied with their coverage. There is additional information on the ASURA’s Health Insurance & Health Issues webpage. This month’s seminar addresses Medicare, ADOA, and ASRS issues, see calendar below for details.

Small Group Activities

At the recent Meet and Greet one of our members asked if there was a way he could find members who would like to play golf with him. This request seemed reasonable but not only for golf. There could be other types of small group activities that members would like to do, e.g., gardening enthusiasts, cards, hiking, book club, etc. With the goal of facilitating the creation of these small group activities, the Board approved the addition of a Small Group Activity section to Enews. The idea is for members to post requests in Enews for the creation of a small group activity while other members view Enews to see if there is some small group activity they might like to participate in.

If you are interested in suggesting some small group activity then send the request to the Enews editor, i.e., me, with the following information:

• 1.    your name,
• 2.    contact information, phone, email, and/or both,
• 3.    if germane to the activity, a general location, e.g., east valley, Tempe, etc., and
• 4.    a short description of activity.

A submitted item will appear in three successive Enews issues unless the submitter requests it be removed. Items can be resubmitted after a one-month absence.

Fall 2017 Prime Times

Jeannette Robson has completed another fine addition of Prime Times and it should be in the mail later this week. If you cannot wait for your paper copy to arrive you can view the color version of Prime Times saved on the ASURA website.

Letter on Access and Affordability.

Barry McNeill

Enews Editor

•  September ASURA Board Meeting
•  Identity Protection
• Finding Sponsors
• Questions and Answers from Meet and Greet Pizza Party
• Calendar of Upcoming Events

September Board Meeting

The meeting was mostly getting organized for the upcoming year. The annual budget was presented and approved.

Identity Protection

ASU now offers AllClear Identity Repair as a free service for all current and retired faculty and staff, as well as students, applicants and their parents. This new benefit gives you automatic identity repair assistance – no sign-up required – if you ever suspect that your identity has been stolen.

Finding Sponsors

ASURA is looking for people who would find sponsors for the ASURA Golf Tournament. If you or someone you know is good at fund-raising and would volunteer for this, please contact President Jeri Meeks Volunteers do not have to be members of ASURA. Proceeds help fund the scholarship we give annually to an ASU student who is returning after a break in studies.

Questions and Answers from the Meet and Greet Pizza Party

During the Meet and Greet party the following two questions arose:

• Can I purchase a reduced fee ASU parking decal? The answer is that ASURA members can. See ASU Parking Benefit on the ASURA website for details.
• How can I offer my services to ASURA members? The answer is that you can advertise your services in Prime Times; see Prime Times Advertising on the ASURA website for details.

ASU Speech & Hearing Clinic Summer Special

Last February the Seminar Committee presented Living with Hearing Loss. The seminar was presented by Kathryn Wexler from the ASU Speech and Hearing Clinic. The clinic is currently offering a summer special on hearing aid checks and/or a comprehensive, diagnostic hearing evaluation. If you are interested download the flier for details or call the clinic at 480-965-2373 and mention "Summer" to take advantage of these limited offers.

We're Looking For Ideas

The ASURA Board doesn’t meet over the summer but the committees continue to work on plans for the 2017-18 activity year.  Please put your thinking caps on and provide some ideas/input on the following:

Travel Committee – The committee is looking for ideas on local day trip destinations.  Give it some thought and tell the committee chairman where you’ve been that you think others would enjoy or somewhere you’ve always wanted to go.  Write him at:  john.brock@asu.edu

Seminar Committee – The committee wants to know kind of seminars that you’d like them to schedule.  What kind of topics would you like to know more about?  They’d really like to know.  Send your ideas to committee chair Bev Buddee at:  buddee@asu.edu

Annual Meeting – The ASURA Board is seeking ideas about where to hold the ASURA Annual Meetings besides on campus at the MU.  They would like ideas on locations that have convenient free parking and a meeting room with a capacity to hold 60 – 100 people.  Also being considered is moving this annual event to a weekday in April instead of a Saturday.   Please send your ideas and input to President Jeri Meeks at:  jeri.meeks@asu.edu

Legislative Updates

The following are two articles regarding three bills on the Citizen Initiative Process and one bill expanding the school voucher programs. 

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Arizona Legislature Passes Bills to Rollback Arizona Citizen-Initiative Limits

Angered by the Citizen Initiative to raise the minimum wage, the Arizona Legislature passed three bills to Rollback Arizona Citizen-Initiatives.  These bills are:

• House Bill 2404:   
• This bill bans political committees from paying initiative circulators by the signature. Please note:  The Legislators specifically excluded candidate committees from this requirement. 
• The goal of this bill is to drive up the cost of gathering the necessary signatures to place a Citizen-Initiative on the ballot.
• House Bill 2244:
• This bill requires the mechanics of the initiative effort — from the size of the petition to the font size of the text — to strictly comply with the law.
• The goal of this bill is to disqualify a significant number of signatures for a Citizen-Initiative for what has up to now been immaterial matters.  For example, if a petition is not exactly the specific size, it would be thrown out.  Given when a copier makes copies of a petition, the resultant copy is somewhat smaller, all those petitions would be thrown out. 
• Senate Bill 1236:
• This bill would add more requirements for petition circulators. It would hold the political committee that sponsors an initiative responsible for any legal violation a circulator might commit, subject to a fine of up to $1,000. Currently, the individual is responsible for his actions.
• The goal of this bill is to drive up the cost to the sponsors (political committees) of any Citizen Initiative.  This also opens the door for people wanting to stop an Initiative to circulate fraudulent petitions and stick the committee with a $1,000 fine for each violation.

Protecting our Rights: Petition Drive to Stop Implementation of these Bills by Referring Them to the Ballot for a Vote

Former Attorney General Grant Woods and former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson are chairing the committee, which filed its paperwork with the Arizona Secretary of State's Office to refer all three of the bills to the 2018 General Election ballot.

"Arizona, since statehood, has treasured the right of the people to serve as a check on the Legislature," said Woods, a registered Republican. "It's pretty obvious they are trying to chip away at that. We're not going to let them."

The Task: 75K Signatures in 90 days

The committee needs to gather 75,321 voter signatures within 90 days after hitting the streets to qualify for the 2018 ballot. Joe Yuhas, the committee's consultant, said they will aim for 120,000 to 130,000 signatures to have a cushion. The drive will use a combination of paid and volunteer circulators.

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Arizona Legislature Passes Bill (Senate Bill 1431) to Expand School Vouchers.

The expansion of the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program opens ESAs to all public- and charter-school students. Up to 30,000 parents could use the new program by 2022. It's scheduled to take effect 90 days after the state Legislature adjourns. ESAs had been limited to certain children, including those with disabilities and those from poor-performing schools.

ESAs are funded by diverting between 90 percent and 100 percent of a student's state school funding from their local school district to private schools or other education expenses. The money is placed in an account, which parents can use to pay for private-school tuition, uniforms, books, tutoring, educational therapies and other items.

Parent Group Seeks to Overturn Arizona School-Voucher Expansion

Public-education advocates (Save Our Schools Arizona) are launching a referendum campaign to halt the controversial expansion of Arizona’s school-voucher-style program and let the public decide to either uphold or overturn the school-voucher expansion. The committee will have 90 days to collect about 75,000 valid signatures from registered voters to qualify for the November 2018 ballot.

The Task: 75K Signatures in 90 days

Beth Lewis, a teacher and founding member of Save our Schools Arizona, said "Our public schools are starving…As a teacher and a mom of two students who are about to go to public school, I am so concerned about the state of education in Arizona…The ESA issue is the straw that broke the camel’s back. And we don’t have any choice but to start fighting for what’s right.”

Additionally, Professor Paul Bender, former ASU Law School Dean in his address to the Friends of ASU and the League of Women Voters pointed out that he believes this expansion is unconstitutional.  Specifically, Article 9, Section 10 states: “No tax shall be laid or appropriation of public money made in aid of any church, or private or sectarian school, or any public service corporation. 

Automatic Membership for New Retirees

ASURA is now automatically enrolling new ASU retirees for their free Introductory Membership. The first group to be automatically enrolled retired on or after October 1, 2016. Through this new policy, we expect to provide more new retirees with helpful information about our organization and the benefits of membership.

Advertising Services

Do you offer or know of a service that you think our members might find useful? If so, share the information via a small ad in Prime Times. In December, the Board agreed that appropriate advertisements could well be valuable to our members, and passed some guidelines covering the specifics. See our web page “Prime Times Advertising” – https://asura.asu.edu/PrimeTimesAdvertising for full information, including how to submit an ad.

Prime Times Now Available In Color

While ASURA's newletter Prime Times is still printed in black and white and mailed to association members, an enhanced color version is published and available for reading on-line through the ASURA website.  To see this enhanced color version of the publication just click on this link https://asura.asu.edu/PrimeTimes.

ASU E-mail System Changes

If you are using the same e-mail/calendaring/contacts system as you used when you were employed at ASU, you will most likely be affected by some changes that ASU is making  on January 23 for most faculty retirees and January 25 for most other retirees. Many people who will be affected received an e-mail recently from the Office 365 Migration Project team that outlines the changes and what you will need to do to deal with them. The system in question is the Exchange/Outlook system that has been operated by ASU. No changes are being made to ASU gmail accounts. If you are affected, here is a short summary of what you need to know:Most people will not have to do anything to prepare for the migration. If you think you might have a very large e-mail that you want to keep – over 150MB because you have a huge attachment – follow directions at  https://asu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe5/form/SV_6A9qkSwPaPEUz2d to find the large item(s) and remove/save attachments.

1.  Most people will not have to do anything to prepare for the migration. If you think you might have a very large e-mail that you want to keep – over 150MB because you have a huge attachment – follow directions at  https://asu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe5/form/SV_6A9qkSwPaPEUz2d to find the large item(s) and remove/save attachments.

2.  Your e-mail address, i.e., you@asu.edu, will not change. Behind-the-scenes changes to your Electronic Post Office entry will be made for you so that your mail goes to the right new place.

3.  You will have to know your ASURITE UserID and password. Most of you do, since you use it now to access your e-mail. If you are not sure, see https://asura.asu.edu/technology/Q_ASURITEID for assistance.

4.   Once your account is moved, you will have to make some changes to access it. You will know your account has been moved when you cannot log in the usual way anymore. The changes to make are outlined by device type at https://asu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe5/form/SV_6A9qkSwPaPEUz2d . Scroll to the bottom of the first page of that article and click on the “Next” button. On the next page, click on the type of device you use to access your e-mail, and again scroll to the bottom and click on the “Next” button. Then follow instructions for that type of device. You can go back and select another device if you are accessing your e-mail from more than one device – select only one type at a time. Note: if you are accessing your mail via a browser such as Chrome, Windows Explorer, or Firefox choose the appropriate “Desktop or Laptop” instructions and scroll to the bottom where instructions beginning “After the migration is complete, web access…” are located. You will want to change any bookmarks in your browser from https://ex2010.asu.edu  to https://outlook.com/asu.edu.

NEED HELP? The e-mail sent to you from ASU’s migration team gives a variety of resources. The Help Center at 844-849-9057 or one of ASU’s campus Tech Studios – locations listed at https://uto.asu.edu/techstudio - are best options. There is no help available at the ASURA office, nor can I provide individual assistance.

Note: There are some people who are not using ASU Exchange/Outlook for their e-mail, calendaring and contacts but still exist in that system and have a mail-redirecting rule set there. Those people will need to log in to the new system at https://outlook.com/asu.edu and set a new redirecting rule. If you don’t know whether this applies to you, you can wait to see if there are people at ASU who are sending you e-mails that you are not receiving. If that happens, you need to set the rule.

Connie McNeill

ASURA volunteer

Board Nominations

Next March the ASURA will be holding elections for five members of  the ASURA Board of Directors. The Board manages the affairs of the Association and establishes policies as needed to carry out is mission. Members of the Board are elected for a term of three years; the Board meets monthly during the academic year. You may offer your own name or the name of another current ASURA member as a potential Board member. To be sure that your nominee’s name gets on the ballot, you can submit a petition of nomination bearing the signatures of at least ten current ASURA members. Nominating petitions must be received by January 31, 2017. Send names and/or nominating petitions to: Jim Fordemwalt, Chair, ASURA Board Nominating Committee 2017, P.O. Box 873308, Tempe, AZ 85287-33078, or jfordemwalt@cox.net.

Medicare At Risk

On November 10, 2016, House Speaker Paul Ryan told Fox News that he would push legislation in early 2017 that would end Medicare's guaranteed health care benefits. For more information, see the article by the Alliance for Retired Americans at https://retiredamericans.org/medicare-risk-2017