If it’s October it must be time to say good bye to 100-degree days and say hello to health insurance and open enrollment. This month’s E-news features the following:

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

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 re-enroll 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.

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 E-news. The idea is for members to post requests in E-news for the creation of a small group activity while other members view E-news 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 a request to the E-news editor 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 the activity.

A submitted item will appear in three successive E-news 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.