January 2012
Happy New Year! I hope 2012 finds everyone with prosperity, happiness and general well-being. This is the time of year where we continue to kid ourselves about making some sort of resolution. For those of you who had the fortitude to complete last year’s wish list, congratulations. As for the rest of us . . . how about a compromise? I’m going to work on just trying to not repeat any of my previous mistakes. Anything beyond that is just icing on the cake.
I’m proud to announce the passing of our most recent By-law changes. We will be selecting the names to be associated with each of the designated Trustee groups, and on completion, will notify the membership. As stated previously, this change will allow us to better serve you and your families. I am confident that you were in agreement, as we had an approval rate of more than 95% from the ballots that were returned.
I am encouraged to pass along the good news that your Relief Association is continuing thrive and prosper. We have been fortunate in maintaining a strong financial picture for the organization. Our efforts in the portfolio have been centered on capital preservation to ensure that we be here for your over the long haul. A continual effort is being made towards seeking improvement of benefits to our membership, as well as protecting the ones we currently have. Technology has allowed us to do more with less and we will still strive toward becoming as efficient as possible. I don’t want to sound as if I’m giving you our mission statement, but I want to be sure that our members are fully aware of the path on which we are traveling. The Relief Association is truly a one of a kind organization and not all of us are fortunate enough to see it in action from the front row.
You will find a not so interesting notification on one of the accompanying pages of this issue. However, the notice is required and in the best interest of all, and should be read and understood. The Affordable Care Act has a significant number of sections incorporated into it. The Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP) allows a plan sponsor (LAFRA) to apply for reimbursement for a portion of the cost of health claims for early retirees and their dependents. Plan Sponsors can use the savings to offset future health care cost increases or reduce member benefit cost sharing. We have received an initial reimbursement, but must re-file under the new ERRP criteria that were established. Once the filing is complete and all the dust has settled, we will notify our membership of the intended use of these funds. It is not necessary for individual Medical Plan members to take any action in this regard.
We keep pushing all of you to participate in the use of electronic mail and the internet. The future is only going to bring more of the same, so hold on. In that vein, I think it might be appropriate to offer some advice on how to deal with some of the many scams that have grabbed a significant part of the population.
Be careful of e-mails from companies claiming that there is some issue with your account and you need to login and fix it.
1) If you don't have an account with that company, i.e. you get an e-mail from WellsFargo, yet you don't bank with them, just delete the e-mail.
2) If you get an e-mail from a company that you do have an account with, the best thing to do is to NOT click on the link in the e-mail, but instead open a browser and log into the website (or try calling the company). The link in the e-mail might say "http://www.wellsfargo.com" but if you click on it, it could take you to a website that looks just like WellsFargo. However, if you look at the address bar of your browser, you will see a different URL in there. A URL is a “Uniform Resource Identifier” which serves as the name and address on the World Wide Web. With some e-mail programs (i.e. Outlook), you can hover over the link with your mouse and it will show you the real URL.
I certainly don’t want to continue on with the propeller head language, but in today’s day and age it is necessary. The long and short of it is, be sure who you are dealing with.
We have received many inquiries about Grass Valley for this year. We will be certain to post it in the upcoming issues of the Grapevine, but the dates to mark your calendar for are May 16th-19th. The specifics will be forthcoming, but this should give you a place holder.
Respectfully,
John E. Jacobsen
President@lafra.org
323 259-5200