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| Quote of the Month |
I am a great believer in luck,
and I find that the harder I work,
the more I have of it.
- Stephen Leacock |
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Upcoming Meeting
No Meeting Scheduled.
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Let’s start 2009 off right by staying in the business of protecting our customers and keeping private insurance company solutions available!
The lawmakers in Washington are coming to NAHU and asking hard questions about how to solve healthcare cost issues. They are coming to NAHU for a reason. The reason is YOU!
NAHU members are in a unique position of being able to understand and empathize with customers, insurance carriers, medical providers and the complex nature of the system’s moving parts. That is why it is critically important that you be involved.
Please make your membership count by:
- Signing up for and taking action on “Operation Shout” requests;
- Responding to requests for information and/or surveys from NAHU; and
- Getting involved in helping our nation’s leaders find realistic, long-term solutions to our healthcare delivery system and its effective reimbursement.
The elections are over but the real work begins now…the work of protecting our children, and the generations who will come after us, from government rationed sub-standard healthcare.
The following scheduled events are a major part in keeping your voice heard by those who matter, please make time to attend. You won’t regret it!
South Atlanta AHU Symposium – January 22, 2009, 8:30AM - 12:00 Noon, Clarion Hotel, Atlanta Airport
GAHU “Day on the Hill” – January 27, 2009, 11:30 AM – 2:30 PM, Sloppy Floyd Building at Capital, Atlanta
Atlanta AHU Benefits Forum – February 19, 2009, 7:00 AM – 4:00 PM, Gwinnett Civic Center, Duluth
Thank you!
Shan Ricketts - President |
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| On February 21, 2009, at the Renaissance Waverly Hotel, GAHU is holding our annual “Insure the Cure” fundraiser for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Last year, with your help, we raised $50,000 for the CF Foundation. Please plan to come and participate! |
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| First Name |
Last Name |
Designation |
Company |
Chapter |
| Robert |
Brandler |
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Brandler Insurance Services, Inc. |
GAMIDDLE |
| Travis |
Hullinger |
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Aetna |
GASOATLANTA |
| William |
Johnson |
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CIGNA |
GAMIDDLE |
| Jessica |
Montgomery |
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Tolbert and Associates |
GAMIDDLE |
| Faye |
Pitman |
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Cairo Insurance Brokers |
GASOUTH |
| Chuck |
Ray |
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eNrollment Technologies |
GAATLANTA |
| Heather |
Rubnitz |
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Rubnitz & Ebenconcepts |
GACOASTAL |
| Rick |
Simon |
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Walgreens Health Initiatives |
GAATLANTA |
| Jessica |
Stinson |
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BB&T Insurance |
GAMIDDLE |
| Margaret |
Tolbert |
LUTCF |
Tolbert & Associates |
GAMIDDLE |
| Daniel |
Trzos |
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At Work Benefit Co., LLC |
GASOATLANTA |
| Deborah |
Warren |
CISR |
BB&T Insurance Services, Inc |
GAMIDDLE |
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GAHU Local Chapter Meetings - 2009
Atlanta:
3rd Friday of each month 7:30 AM - 10:00 AM
Coastal Empire (Savannah):
3rd Friday of each month 11:30 AM - 2:00 PM
The next monthly lunch meeting is Coastal Empire's biggest meeting of the year with Oxendine speaking on Friday, January 23rd.
CSRA (Augusta):
2nd Wednesday of each month 7:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Middle Georgia (Macon):
2nd Thursday of each month 10:00 AM - 12:00 Noon
CE Meeting topics scheduled include:
January 8th: Ben Singer, Managing Disability in Today's Environment
February 11th: Bob Barr, Voluntary Products
March 19th: Special 3 Hour CE on Ethics 8:00 AM to Noon!
Northeast Georgia (Commerce):
2nd Wednesday of each month 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Up-coming dates and topics are as follows:
January 14th - David Ellsworth of AUL with "Group Disability Insurance Future Perspectives"
February 11th - Donald Jackson of Greater Georgia Life with "New Blue Vision" & "TBD"
Northwest Georgia (Calhoun):
2nd Wednesday of each month 8:30 AM - 10:30AM
South Atlanta (College Park):
3rd Thursday of each month 11:30 AM - 2:00 PM
South Georgia:
Twice per year – to be announced
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Sometimes a bridge to our past can be a bridge to our future. It was not my choosing, but when I was a small child, I lost my father and was denied contact with his family as a result of circumstances too complicated for this short message to detail.
Despite the separation, there was a strong psychic connection between my father and me and it was on the day he died that he came to me in a dream. There I was, on a wide flat plain seeing him off in the distance walking away from me. My dad was as big as I am today so you can imagine how it felt when my little six year old legs couldn't carry me fast enough to get to him and, as is so often the case with a dream, the harder I tried I couldn't catch up. He got further and further off in the distance and just before going beyond the horizon, he silently turned, waved and passed beyond my sight. I had already been calling after him to stop or slow down and let me catch up, but now I was screaming out loud and began to awake from the dream to the realization of my mother shaking me to wake me. She had just gotten the call from the hospital. Several days later, 47 years ago, my father was laid to rest and it was the last memory I had of seeing any of my dad's family.
Over the years, my brother and I had tried on occasions to make contact with my dad's family to no avail. The break came a few days ago when I was 'Googling' my name looking for media hits to report to the GAHU board. I was intrigued by some of the results and expanded my search to find my family. Progress was made! I had enough information to make contact. A lot of anticipation and some tears came to me as I recalled that last memory of my father and his family in that cemetery high above the Pacific Ocean in 1961 and the oceans of time that have passed.
When the time came, Kay and I sat by the phone. A message and return call finally led to a connection with my father’s sister. With a quick explanation for my call, I heard a rather calm voice say, "Oh, my God, I wondered if I would ever hear your voice." We quickly told each other that neither had intended our separation to happen, but that the difficulty and the time that has stretched out over decades and lifetimes made us at times feel like giving up. I made sure she felt like I did and desired to make contact so I could learn more about my dad and his family and bridge the divide that has lasted most of my lifetime. Neither of us really knew where to start, but we both talked and stayed on the phone that first call for an hour or so. I have made plans to reconnect over the holidays and I thank God for finding my family after all these years. I know that God had a reason for letting me sift through the clues to see the door open after all these years.
How quickly times and circumstances can change in our lives! Last night I booked a flight for two to Washington leaving the day after Christmas and coming back on New Year's Day. There's a whole new world for me to see in the lives of my family. I am so grateful to God that I have found them and my simple message to anyone who has taken the time to read this story is that you probably have doors in your life you have wanted to pass through but have not been able to open. Like me, you may have gotten frustrated with one failure after another and just moved on and coped as best as you can. My prayer is: whatever that closed door is in your life, that you will seek whatever divine guidance you rely on and try a new approach and know that God has a plan and that at the right time that door will be revealed and you'll know how to open it. I wish every one the most profound blessings of spirit and family this Holiday Season.
Michael Waldrip
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| Below is a snapshot of up-coming events to come throughout the state. More information will follow and/or be available through the applicable Chapter.
SAAHU Symposium January 22, 2009, 9:00 AM – 12:00 Noon featuring Stewart E. Browning's presentation: “Is a Single-Payer System Like Canada's the Prescription For U.S. Health Care Woes?” Registration Fees GAHU Members: $25 GAHU Members and $30 Non-Members. Register Today by mailing your form to: Mark Phillips, SAAHU Treasurer , 305 Autumn Glen Circle, Fayetteville, GA 30215 or email to rsvp@saaahu.com. The Annual Symposium will offer 3 hours of CE and be held at the Clarion Hotel on Old National Highway. For questions, please call Paula Ormsby at (770) 710-8778.
GAHU Day At The Capitol will be held Thursday, January 27, 2009, 11:30 am – 2:30 pm. It’s a new General Assembly session with the greatest opportunity ever to work closely with State Legislators and Regulators. For more information or to register go to: http://www.gahu.org/meetinginfo.php
On February 19, 2009, from approximately 7:30 AM-3:30 PM, the Atlanta Chapter will host their annual Benefits Forum at the Gwinnett Civic Center.
On February 21, 2009, at the Renaissance Waverly Hotel, GAHU is holding our annual “Insure the Cure” fundraiser for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Last year, with your help, GAHU members raised $50,000 for the CF Foundation.
In March 2009, GAHU plans to hold a combination seminar where we will offer COBRA and a Group 101 course for agents and their larger clients.
May 5-8, 2009 are the scheduled dates for the 2009 GAHU State Convention. Though earlier than in previous years, the committee moved the date forward to better train our Chapter leaders and to organize the year before vacations start for the summer. The event will be held at the Renaissance Waverly Hotel at I-285 and I-75 north of Atlanta. Please save the date on your calendar. This is going to be bigger and better than ever before! |
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