The NARFEian

Chapter 185      Gainesville, Florida          April 2008

Linda D. Cook, Editor - jimlinda@bellsouth.net

Hot Line Items


FUTURE PROGRAMS

Kim Mayden from Ronald McDonald House will be our May 12th program. Kim’s topic will be “Caring for the Little Ones”. This is an opportunity to learn about Ronald McDonald House and its great work in support of seriously ill children and their families. Remember that there are no chapter meetings in May, June or July. We will start again in September with Constance Keeton, Alachua General Hospital Volunteer Coordinator. Her topic will be “Patients and Pets”.

NATIONAL DO NOT CALL REGISTRY

If you do not want to receive marketing calls, contact the Do Not Call Registry at 1-888-382-1222. Your request must be renewed in 8 years.


COLLECTING MEMBER E-Mails

Keeping in touch via e-mail helps members stay informed about NARFE happenings and saves the chapter the cost of postage. Please send your e-mail address to Linda D. Cook, NARFEian Editor, at jimlinda@bellsouth.net.

CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION CONTACT INFORMATION

To facilitate your contacting your congressional delegation about premium conversion and other retirement issues, the following names and addresses are provided.

RECEIVE THE NARFEian BY E-MAIL!

The NARFEian is printed monthly and hand distributed to chapter members attending the monthly meetings. With the exception of two or three special mailings each year, because of postage and printing costs we are unable to send each month’s NARFEian to the entire Chapter 185 membership list. We would like to help solve that problem by e-mailing each monthly NARFEian to our chapter members with e-mail addresses. If you do not attend chapter meetings but would like to receive the NARFEian each month, send an e-mail to that effect to Linda Cook, NARFEian Editor at jimlinda@bellsouth.net <mailto:jimlinda@bellsouth.net>. We will get you on the list!

The may also read the NARFEian on our Chapter web page, at www.NARFE185.org.

RETIRED PUBLIC SAFETY EMPLOYEES GET SPECIAL TAX BREAKS

You may be aware that the Pension Protection Act of 2006 provides for qualified public safety employees to exclude from taxable income retirement plan distributions used to pay qualified health insurance premiums, including long term care. The federal government’s retirement program is considered to be one of the qualifying government plans. This could result in savings of up to $1,000 for a retiree, depending on the applicable tax rate. We are glad that retired public safety employees have received this benefit. But, we feel that it should be for all retired federal employees, thereby treating everyone equally. NARFE has been fighting for the retiree’s portion of their federal health premium to be excluded from taxable income (premium conversion) for a number of years, but as yet with no success. If you believe that all federal retirees should be treated the same with regard to health benefit premium exclusions from taxable income, then let your senators and representative know your concern. Their addresses and phone numbers are listed in a previous section of this newsletter. Also, check the NARFE web site, www.NARFE.org <http://www.NARFE.org>, for more information on this matter. If we fail to let our elected representatives know of our concerns, like POGO “we have met the enemy and it is us”!

2008 NARFE Alzheimer’s Cruise

If you have been debating about taking the 2008 NARFE Florida Federation 2nd Annual Alzheimer’s fundraiser cruise, November 29 - December 7, 2008, now’s the time to make that decision. For a description of the cruise, ask Ruth Milton for the written specific information at the April meeting. Carmen Walker recommends it highly.