In this Email:

• A Message from the VRTA President
• Today’s Interest Rates
• What Medicare Product Is Best For Me?
• Look on the Bright Side 
• Important VRTA Dates to Remember

July 2022

A Message from the VRTA President

During VRTA’s Spring Delegate Assembly (May 2-4, 2022) new officers were elected. The election yielded a slate of officers that intertwined new faces along with the established. Some officers moved up a notch while others were re-elected to their previous posts. The newly elected officers will serve a two-year term that began on July 1, 2022, and ends on May 30, 2024. The new officers include: President—Jean Marrow, President-Elect—Karen Whetzel, Vice-President—Mable Scott, Secretary—Reba Evans, Treasurer—Weldon Martin. Contact information for the new officers is posted on the vrta.org website.

For a number of months, I have submitted articles to the Creekside Newsletter as President-Elect. Our Immediate Past President, Glenn Pair, Sr. was and still is dealing with the effects of Covid-19. Now, I will be submitting articles as President. Nothing has changed except the title. It is in order that I introduce myself to those of you who were not in attendance at the Spring Delegate Assembly.

I was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and attended North Carolina Central College, later known as North Carolina Central University. Inspired by my teachers, I decided to get a degree in Education. At the age of twenty, I graduated with a major in English and a minor in French. I attended college on a scholarship, so I was in need of a job. There was a position open in Amelia, Virginia, so I ventured out on my own to Richmond for an interview. I met the principal at the Greyhound Bus Station. At the end of the interview, I was hired to teach students at Russell Grove High School in Amelia Court House, Virginia. At the time, I had never been to Amelia, but I stayed there my entire teaching career. 

I taught students in grades 8-11 during the day and in the evening, I taught adult, GED classes. I worked part-time at a clothing store and in an antique shop. I also served as secretary for four different organizations. Later, I went on to earn a master’s degree in Education Administration from Longwood College in Farmville, Virginia.

After I retired from the Amelia County Public School System, I moved to Chesterfield County. I began volunteering at the Chesterfield County Registrar’s Office as an Office Helper. I served as a precinct chief for a number of years and later became a permanent part-time employee.

I am a member of Zion Hill Presbyterian Church in Amelia where I serve as a Ruling Elder and secretary of the Women’s Missionary. For many years I served as secretary for District D. Currently, I am President of the local RTA unit in Amelia.



Jean Marrow, VRTA President

Phone: 804-350-7719   Email: marrow.j@aol.com

VRTA Benefits

Offered through Creekside Insurance Advisors, Inc.

Call Us Today!! (540) 722-2529

Toll-Free (800) 467 5425

Email: vrta@creeksideadvisors.net

Single premium deferred annuities are guaranteed for 5, 6, 7, or 10 years. Should you choose to continue the annuity after the initial guarantee period, the minimum rate guarantee is 1.00% for contracts issued in 2022. Credited rates effective 7/11/2022 and are subject to change without notice. Quoted rates do not reflect optional liquidity riders. If you choose to add any of the available liquidity riders the interest rate will be reduced accordingly. Early withdrawals may be subject to Surrender charges and Market value adjustments. The IRS may impose penalties for early withdrawals from qualified plans. Contracts issued by Atlantic Coast Life Insurance Company. Not FDIC insured. Rates vary by state. ALCHAVPRE OT 070622

Which Medicare Product Is Best For Me?

Why do I need more than original Medicare Parts A & B?

Medicare A & B do a fair job at paying for your medical expenses, however there are a few serious gaps in coverage that require most retirees to address. For instance, the Part A hospital deductible exceeds $1,500 (2022) per admission, Skilled Nursing Facility co-insurance for rehabilitation requires over $14,000 for those who need the full 100 days to recover from a medical event, and Part B has no out-of-pocket cap on the 20% co-insurance that you must pay for chemotherapy, radiation and/or dialysis treatments that some may require in the future. These noted exposures are just a few things to be concerned with related to original Medicare A & B alone.

So what are my options to protect against these Medicare gaps? There are essentially 2 options to address these and other exposures; Medicare Supplement or Medicare Advantage. Medicare Supplement policies pay these gaps after original Medicare pays its share first. Plan G for instance covers 100% of all Medicare Parts A & B approved claims after you pay the first$233 annual Part B deductible per year (2022). Medicare Supplement also allows you to use ANY Medicare assigned medical provider in the U.S. without a referral.

Medicare Advantage (MA) is not a supplement, but rather, a replacement for Medicare Parts A & B (and sometimes D) by a private insurance company. MAs typically have a PPO or HMO network, cover at least as much as original Medicare and will limit out-of-pocket expenses to as much as $7,550 per year (2022). Some MA plans also include extra benefits such as dental, vision or gym memberships. But be aware of limited provider networks, medical procedure pre-approvals, and harder-to-budget out-of-pocket costs. Another consideration with MA plans is that it may be difficult to move to Medicare Supplement in the future as Medicare Supplement plans require medical underwriting beyond 6 months of your Part B effective date and at least 65 years of age and may not accept those with certain pre-existing conditions.

Do I also need to enroll in Medicare Part D?

Part D covers outpatient prescription drugs and it is recommended to either enroll in a Part D plan along with your Medicare Supplement or add Part D coverage as part of your MA plan. Part D is voluntary, however you will be penalized for waiting to add Part D at a later date as much as a 1% penalty for each month of deferred enrollment.

With whom can I review my Medicare product choices? Creekside Insurance Advisors Inc. specializes in all Medicare plan types and will help you be informed to make the correct decision for your own unique health insurance needs and budget. There is no cost to using our services.

For Medicare questions and needs, please contact one of your agents.

Phone (540) 722-2529

Toll-Free (800) 467 5425

Email: vrta@creeksideadvisors.net

Look on the Bright Side

If you have been paying attention to the news lately (And who among us is not overwhelmed with the news these days?), you may be saying to yourself, “What bright side?”  We have a state budget. Compromises have been made. We will be getting a 3.85% COLA in our next VRS payment on August 1. Education fared well in this budget. Leaders on both federal and state levels are at least taking baby steps toward improvements in the care of our vulnerable populations in nursing homes.

We know that two-thirds of VRS benefits are paid from the return on investments and that the stock market has had abysmal losses over the last several months. However, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch on July 7, VRS just reported that “through the end of March the trust fund had earned a return of 6.07% and held about $106.3 billion in assets.” At the end of April, that return had been cut to 3.1%, and the fund had declined by about $3.6 billion. So, what does that leave? The fund still has about $102.7 billion in value. Many states would be ecstatic over numbers like these. 

The GA is keeping its promise to cut the unfunded liability. An additional $1 billion in state money will be invested into the trust fund to reduce long-term pension liabilities, and the GA decided not to lower the state and local contribution rates. VRS has already received a $750 million payment that is estimated to save the system about $1.4 billion over 20 years. The new state budget includes an additional $250 million by the middle of next summer if revenues exceed the forecast in the fiscal year that ended June 30, which would increase the estimated long-term savings to $2 billion, and they do expect revenues to hit that target. Trish Bishop, VRS Director, told JLARC that the total unfunded liabilities, including those for teachers, state employees, and local political subdivisions, had reduced from $26.7 billion in market value in the 2019-2020 fiscal year to $12.2 billion in the fiscal year that ended in 2021. The funded status of the two biggest plans has risen from 65% for state employees and 62% for teachers a decade ago to more than 85% for both plans last year, based on market value.

During the budget negotiations, the Virginia Nursing Home Reform Coalition, of which VRTA is a member, lobbied the legislators to keep in the budget two amendments that would provide some money for this issue. (Many thanks to all of you who made contacts in support of these amendments.) The jargon that must be waded through to find out what happened is very difficult to decipher. But I believe that, although the specific amendments did not survive, something close to the main intent did. The state collects monetary penalties from nursing homes that receive Medicaid payments, for violations of Medicaid rules and for serious deficiencies based on severity and number of days a facility is not in compliance with its Medicaid agreement. One section of the budget dealing with this issue says, “ Out of the amounts appropriated [monetary penalties] $3,500,000 the first year and $3,500,000 the second year [of this biennial budget] from special funds shall be used for a quality improvement program addressing nursing facility capacity building. The program design may be based on the result of the Virginia Gold Quality Improvement Program pilot project, to include peer mentoring, job-related and interpersonal skills training, and work-related benefits. The [Virginia] Department of Medical Assistance Services shall seek approval from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to implement the program.”  

I encourage those who have a special interest in this issue to click on this link to read this section of the budget.

https://budget.lis.virginia.gov/item/2022/2/hb30/chapter/1/308/  

I hope that the coalition will follow up in the coming year to see if progress is being made in the implementation of this program.

Bea Morris - VRTA Legislative Chairperson

Email: beam1340@verizon.net

Important VRTA Dates to Remember

August 1, 2022: Deadline for submitting Nominations for "Most Active Member" award to Community Service Chair (MAM)

August 8, 2022: Deadline to submit Fall Newsletter article to Newsletter Editor, Susan Martin (susanmartin730@gmail.com)

October 17-19, 2022: Fall Conference at The Double Tree

April 17-19, 2023: Spring Conference at The Double Tree