Last month’s article about the Care Management benefit caused a bit of consternation amongst the loyal readers of this newsletter. It wasn’t that it was not well received or that it wasn’t informative, it was …., on both counts. But several of you made the case that another article about the misuse of the HRA debit card would have been a better choice for the simple reason that it may stop the incorrect and incessant jobsite prattle of those who have chosen to disenfranchise themselves from learning about how that benefit works.

March. Already.

How is everyone doing with those New Year Resolutions? Are they still intact? Did you even start? Come on, be truthful.

I think you would all agree that with the exception of a few days of negative temps, this winter has been quite comfortable.

If you neither:

• Read the Fund’s January Summary of Material Modification, (a copy of which has been posted to the Funds website) nor,
• Read the Funds January newsletter, (also found within the Funds website) nor,
• Attended any of the last four membership meetings, nor,
• Read thoroughly Business Manager Phil Hernandez Spring 2024 report in the front of the quarterly newsletter.

We all know that current refers to the flow of electricity in an electronic circuit. We also know that the amount of electricity flowing through a circuit is measured in amperes. So, here’s a question for you — or two, actually: outside of work, do you apply the theory behind these terms to any other areas of your life and why not?

The most successful of Local 697 participants do exactly this, especially when it involves learning about their benefits.

Ok. It’s 11:45 P.M. on Thursday, February 29th, 2024. I got Clarence “Gate-mouth” Brown “Sometimes I Slip” playing low, a half of cup of Joe, and metaphors are dancing across the page – some good, some horrible, but no keepers.

All self-payments for Health and Benefit coverage within the second calendar quarter of 2024 must be received by the Fund Office no later than 4:30 P.M. on Friday, March 29th.

Before we jump into this month’s newsletter, we need to ask you a very important question:

Did you have fun?

Yes. We’re serious. During the past 744 hours that comprised the first 8.5% of this calendar year, did you have any fun?

By chance, did you allocate any of those 44,640 minutes to areas in which you want to grow as an individual, to learn new things or to try to earnestly get healthier?

Better yet, did you spend any of those 2,678,400 seconds challenging yourself to better understand the position, opinions, and thoughts of those that may have a different perspective than you?

“Isn’t it Time?”

Time is a funny thing.

As it relates to the Benefit Funds, several things.

Summary of Material Modifications (SMM) were issued to the participants of the Defined Contribution Plan and the Lake County Indiana, NECA – IBEW Health and Benefit Plan. Please make sure that you read them carefully and to keep them along with your Summary Plan Description books and other important documents.

All participants need to notify the Fund Office if they get:

Married,
Divorced,
Have a child,
Adopt a child or take in a foster child,
If they or another family member have other insurance, or,
If there has been a death in the family.

The Board of Trustees believe that this Plan is a “grandfathered health plan” under the Affordable Care Act, which permits us to preserve certain basic health coverage already in effect before the law was passed. As with all grandfathered health plans, our Plan does not have to include certain consumer protections of the Affordable Care Act that apply to other plans (for example, providing preventive health services without any cost sharing). However, grandfathered health plans, like our Plan, must comply with other consumer protections in the Affordable Care Act (for example, the extension of coverage for dependent children to age 26). Contact the Fund Office if you have questions about what it means.