About CEA-Retired

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“We cannot keep subjecting our retirees to the GPO and WEP,” Van Roekel said. “These offsets are a double whammy. They are unfair and devastating.”

The Strengthen Social Security Coalition, which represents more than 30 million Americans, says Social Security represents the best of American values — reward for hard work, honoring our parents and caring for our neighbors.

“Social Security is money that American workers paid into the system to support themselves when they reached retirement age,” Van Roekel added. “That money belongs to them, not providing it to them when they need it is wrong. We are urging all of our members to work hard to protect Social Security for all Americans.”

NOTE:  NEA has been involved in the fight to eliminate the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) for many years and formed a Social Security Cadre almost ten years ago.  Connecticut is represented on that cadre by Greta Stanford and Gloria Brown.

Members on Medicare should NOT use the CVS/Caremark Pharmaceutical Plan to order any diabetic supplies (test strips, lancets, and monitors).  They are covered by Medicare and not by the State Teachers’ Retirement Board’s agreement with CVS/Caremark.  Members needing those products should simply go to his/her local pharmacy with a prescription for those products (they might have the local pharmacy contact CVS/Caremark and have an existing prescription transferred or contact his/her physician for a new prescription) and obtain them at that location.  The local pharmacy will submit the charges to Medicare for payment and, in most cases, there will be no cost to the member.

At the recent Annual Meeting of NEA-Retired, CEA-Retired was recognized as one of only two state affiliates in the country for its website.  Every state was invited to submit its website for evaluation in terms of layout, content, and meeting the needs of members.

CEA-Retired President Jon-Paul Roden, in accepting the award from NEA-Retired President Barbara Matteson, commented that the award would not have been possible without the design work done by Sandy Cassineri, CEA Graphic Designer/Editorial Assistant, the timely editing of content by CEA-Retired Associate Danielle Citino, the vigilance of the members of the Newsletter/Website Committee, and the support of all of the departments at CEA who recognized the effectiveness of CEA-Retired for keeping its members informed.

Renewal bills we be sent out late July or early August.  If you have retired this year, your active membership is good through 8/31/2010.  

If you are a new member of CEA-Retired that has joined for the 2010-2011 membership year, your membership will be effective 9/1/2010.

The National Education Association has released a new video highlighting the impacts of the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision on educators.  The video, which runs just over six minutes long, features an introduction and closing call to action by NEA President Dennis Van Roekel, along with testimonials from impacted NEA members about the unfair offsets.

“Members of CEA-Retired can be proud to be a part of the NEA-Retired and NEA ‘family’ that has been working to eliminate those draconian penalties,” said CEA-Retired President Jon-Paul Roden.  “The fight to eliminate these offsets and penalties is not something in which we’ve just become involved.  We have had two CEA-Retired members, Greta Stanford and Gloria Brown, appointed to NEA’s Social Security cadre for several years, have lobbied for these changes, and attended both House and Senate Committee meetings in Washington, DC. 

CEA-Retired is the only retired teacher organization in Connecticut that is affiliated with the NEA.

The video can be seen on the NEA website at http://www.nea.org/home/16491.htm.

To view the video, click on the video icon on the right-hand side of the page.  We encourage you to forward the video link to colleagues, friends and others who can help spread the word about the need for repeal and the work that CEA-Retired is doing working hand-in-hand with NEA and CEA.

CEA-Retired held its state-wide Annual Fall Issues Conference in late September.  It was an extraordinary event with more members participating than ever before.  NEA Lobbyist Al Campos kicked-off the event providing our members with the very latest information on Social Security and NEA’s WEP/GPO campaign. That was followed by a panel composed of Clare Barnett, Chair of the Connecticut TRB; Darlene Perez, TRB Administrator; Jamie Stirling of Stirling Benefits; and, our CEA Retirement Specialist Robyn Kaplan-Cho.  They brought everyone up-to-date on the latest changes from the TRB.  What an information filled successful day.

Click here to view highlights of the presentation . 

Not only has NEA Member Benefits’ re-designed its website as showcased to our members at the New London County Retired Meeting just recently, but also added several new offers. Mike Reilly, NEA Member Benefits Regional Representative, made the presentation pointing out the many benefits available to retirees and active members including new ones like HeatUSA, a fuel oil Co-Op offering NEA members a great discount.. You should really check out the new NEA Member Benefits website and add its new URL to your bookmarks. As Mike pointed out, it has so much information that will help you in daily life providing you with many choices in many areas and save money as well. The "Click and Save" feature has also expanded with new store offerings appearing regularly. It is amazing!

The web site is www.neamb.com

You won't be disappointed.

NOTE: Even if you used this website previously, you must re-register to be able to log onto the newly revised and expanded site.

Did you ever wonder how all of the materials are assembled for a mailing to potential and new members? It doesn’t happen just once a year nor is it a task that we ask our professional staff at CEA to perform for us.  It’s a function of both our Membership Committee and some dedicated members who are willing to travel to CEA, work on some necessary project, and renew long standing acquaintances.

Seen in the photo below are some members who got together to assemble and send out a mailing to potential members.  They are (left to right, Marilyn Ettman, Lucy Petrella, Membership Chair Vicky Greenberg, Barbara O’Keefe, and Marge Hubbard.

If you are interested in helping out on projects such as this or other committees, please send an e-mail to Danielle at daniellec@cea.org.

Click the icon below for the Fall 2010 issue of the Beacon.