Happy New Year!
New health insurance checklist
Here are some things to do to make the transition to new insurance company coverage go more smoothly for you. You will find the email site information on your id cards. The TRB website also has information through the Open Enrollment page. www.ct.gov/trb
Either plan- AETNA Advantage or The Hartford Medicare Supplement
- Sign onto the online accounts for your health insurance and prescription plans.
- Provide new insurance and pharmacy information to all of your medical providers.
- Go onto the SilverScript site to check to see that all of your prescriptions are listed correctly. The information was to be transferred from OptumRx, but as of this date, it is not listed there. Hopefully, by January 1, it will be there and be correct. Check it! (At least, now we won’t confuse bills from prescriptions and the cable company.)
- Provide payment information to the prescription site. That information cannot be transferred, so you must enter it.
- Any durable medical providers you use- check to see the insurance and payment information has been updated.
- Reimbursement amounts for glasses and hearing aids reset. If you used those features with United Healthcare, you may now use them again, starting in January.
AETNA
You will use two id cards, one for health insurance and one for prescriptions from SilverScript.
If you previously had insurance with AETNA while working, you may have difficulty opening a new account. If so, call the Member Services number 1-866-495-0761 and have them delete the old account.
Check Silver Sneakers and arrange for new fitness memberships through them. Note that Silver Sneakers allows you to have memberships with more than one program.
The Hartford
You will use three id cards, your original Medicare card and one for health insurance and a separate card for prescriptions from SilverScript.
Check The Hartford’s Silver & Fit and arrange for new fitness memberships through them.
Check your statements. I recently had denied claims that were clearly not reasonable and not related to me- over $9000 of various orthotic equipment. I called UHC to thank them for catching these claims and ask if I should follow up in some way because my information seemed to have been compromised. The representative said no further action on my part was needed, but I encourage you to read through those monthly statements on claims. Medical scams indirectly cost all of us.
Physical Therapy Services and Physical Therapy termination
This is not the first time we have presented this information, but it seems important to repeat it periodically as a recent conversation with a friend proved, people notice it when they need it. We were advised by Kathleen Holt at our most recent membership program about a decision that impacts the continuation of physical therapy and occupational therapy for persons in long-term care facilities. Use the following site for additional information.
https://www.cms.gov/medicare/settlements/jimmo
Another resource is Connecticut’s Long Term Care ombudsman program. Information can be found here https://portal.ct.gov/ltcop
Non-Insurance Issues
Taxes
We certainly can’t advise you on your taxes, but we can remind you of some provisions to pay attention to in filing. First, a reminder that for Connecticut residents, 50% of the money you receive from the TRB is exempt from CT income tax. This provision is without income constraints, so it is available to all. This year, the Federal tax ceiling for State and Local Tax deductions has been raised, but there are income constraints that reduce the amount deductible for some. There is supposed to be an additional $6000 deduction available for some filers over 65, but it is constrained by income, so may be reduced on your taxes.
Pension Fund
CT Pension Funds Post Major Gains as Surpluses Cut Long-Term Liabilities– That is the headline of an article in The Connecticut News Junkie. The improvement has happened because of the plan put in place to offset the damage from years past where budgets omitted the required actuarial contributions. Putting surplus funds in is making a difference and so is the improved performance of the pension fund investments. You can read the actuarial report in the minutes of the most recent TRB meeting by going onto the TRB site.
Meeting Surveys
Thank you to the retirees who included the Meeting Survey with your membership renewal. We understood that a number of people would be unlikely to attend meetings for a variety of reasons. Some of you live too far away- the West Coast, Virginia, Florida, the Carolinas, Ohio, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and so on. Thank you for staying in touch through your membership and for your kind words about the newsletter.
Some of you cited age as a mitigating factor. More than one person reported being 90 and one person wrote she is 107! (We know who you are, Ruth Wilson and thanks for your continued support!) More than half of the people who said they would not attend a meeting still listed topics of interest, and hoped for online meeting possibilities. Many members did express an interest in attending a meeting and offered information about topics of interest. You have given us a lot of good information to use in planning and more Information from this survey will be reported in the next newsletter after the Board has a chance to meet and review the ideas.
Speaking of the Board, we welcome your interest in supporting the organization through participation on the Board of SFCRTA. The group meets approximately five times a year in Norwalk. If you would like to help plan future activities, please get in touch with Frank Cooper at fjxcooper@gmail.com.
Learning Opportunities!
https://lifetimelearners.org, in Norwalk, single and multisession courses, Winter Session now
https://www.lirstamford.org in Stamford, single session classes, Spring catalog coming soon
Membership
Why do I get this newsletter, what is SFCRTA, and who are the various groups that represent retired educators from Connecticut? Admittedly, it can be confusing. As part of our membership renewal cycle, we send the first two issues of this newsletter in the fall to all educators who retired from one of the eight towns in southern Fairfield County.
Working educators in Connecticut are represented by either CEA or AFT and their dues are generally deducted from paychecks. Retired educators choose to join a group that represents their interests and pay dues/membership to those groups. Some of us belong to all of the groups. CEA-Retired serves retiree members who worked in districts with CEA membership who choose to join through lifetime or annual memberships. They have a group in Fairfield County, also, but without separate membership. ARTC is the Association of Retired Teachers of Connecticut. They were formed to focus specifically on the concerns of retired educators and to include all retired educators from districts that were represented by either CEA or AFT. SFCRTA is an affiliate of ARTC, but we have a separate membership. We encourage you to also join ARTC.
Don’t we all want the same things? Yes, but…. At present, there seems to be only one difference between the two retired educators’ groups and it has to do with representation to the TRB. CEA and CEA-R have long supported voting for active representatives to the TRB by only active educators and voting for retired members to the TRB by both active and retired educators. The irony here is that CEA-R members to the CEA Board are non-voting members, reinforcing the notion that working educators have all the say.
ARTC has supported having TRB Board members who represent retired members be elected by retired members. In fact, they successfully worked to add two additional retired educator members to the TRB who were elected by only retired members and one of the candidates they endorsed, Edwin Vargas, has made good on his promise to ask questions on behalf of members. If you have ever watched the virtual TRB meetings, you will see that there is a session for public comment at the end of the meeting, but it is specifically stated that they will answer no questions and when questions are asked, they are not addressed. ARTC has actively monitored the CT Legislature on our behalf and we encourage you to support them through your membership. www.ARTCT.org
Help support SFCRTA so we can continue to provide this Newsletter, to offer scholarships for future educators, to offer meetings for our members and more. Please join or renew your membership for 2026. Note that our membership rate ($15) has not increased. Can you think of anything else that didn’t increase?
Memberships
Help support SFCRTA so we can continue to provide this Newsletter, to offer scholarships for future educators, to offer meetings for our members, and more. Please join or renew your membership for 2025.
SFCRTA Membership Renewal Information
Our membership goes from – January to December. If you have not yet joined, click here for our membership renewal information for 2026. Remember: Numbers matter and we still face many important issues regarding our pension and health insurance.
Please do not staple your check to the card.
Use a black or blue pen, not a Sharpie as the check reader can’t process it.
We are no longer using membership renewal information with the card to cut off and keep. If for some reason you need verification of your membership, you can contact the Membership Chair.
Fill out the renewal information form completely, including phone and email. SFCRTA does NOT provide your information to anyone. It helps to have your return address on the envelope.
If you did not reply to the survey sent earlier, you can do so now and return it with your membership renewal.
Check all that apply.
_______ I am unlikely to attend any meetings
_______ I am interested in meetings in a nice location with food and an interesting speaker
_______ I am interested in attending casual meetings (coffee and…) with general updates
Possible topics I would find interesting
________ Avoiding scams
________ Internet security tips
________ Services available to retirees
________ Other
Please suggest some topics, speakers, or meeting locations that might be of interest.