GEORGIA ASSOCIAITONS OF HEALTH UNDERWRITERS
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
AUGUST 5, 2002
Call to Order: 12:07 p.m.
Present: Lance Ledbetter, Lisa Hellman, Ken Burns, Michael Carmean, Steven M. Clement, RHU REBC, Elena Merino, Donna Hill, FLMI, Bob Guenther, Susan Cook, Ron Hatch, Patty Murphy, RHU, Lacita Husband-Perez, Trey Tompkins, JD, Larry Schmidt, ChFC, CLU, David Johnson, LUTCF, Donald Jackson, CLU, David Knight, Ron Levine, Russ Childers, CLU, Jennifer Pender, Michael Wardrip, David Oshinski, and Gina Grantham, CAE of AESI.
Absent: Bob Swanson, Ben Singer, Quincy Lee, Melinda Fulghum, Phil Harrison, Lena Andrews, Sam Macfie, Janette Balkcom, Deborah Phillips, LUTCF, Ray Williams and Russell Head.
President’s Report: President Ledbetter acknowledged Canada Life for their contribution of meeting space for the Board.
· President Ledbetter requested any further NAHU Convention reimbursement forms be submitted now.
· Feedback on the GAHU goals and objectives was also requested.
· All were encouraged to attend the upcoming Regional Leadership meeting.
· President Ledbetter planned to work with Gina Grantham to make sure our locals are aware of the NAHU dues increase of $20.00.
· Interest was expressed in producing GAHU Board notebooks similar to that of the Atlanta AHU when pricing was provided.
· Staff to distribute updated GAHU Board list.
Minutes: Minutes of the July meeting of the Board were approved with a revision to listing of the Kathy Cruce award.
Finance Committee / Treasurer’s Report: Financial Report for period ending 7/31/2002 was reviewed with points noted: 1) Total Income of $35,266.21; 2) Total Expenses of $17,429.98; and 3) Total Funds Available of $63,495.83. Question arose as to a late reimbursement for Cap Conference approved by the Executive Committee due to the member indicating they had submitted the request, although it had not been received. Lisa Hellman advised the new P & P would require a board vote for such decisions. The Proposed Budget was reviewed with a goal to approve at the next meeting. The Financial Report was approved with one abstention.
· Ken Burns, Danny Tompkins and Gina Grantham to meet and address accrual issues and earmarking convention funds.
· Requests for Budget changes were to be directed to Ken Burns prior to the next meeting of the Board.
REGIONAL REPORT: Previously addressed.
PAC REPORTS: Lisa Hellman reported $4,500.00 was raised at the Convention for GAHUPAC toward a goal of $10,000.00. Special thanks were extended to Lee McGraw of AFLAC for donating their duck, which helped raise an additional $1,000.00. She hoped to take the sign to the upcoming Atlanta meeting to continue to promote the effort. Recommendations were requested of active people with grass roots knowledge to build a regional scope of participation in a committee being formed for candidate selection to be headed by Gene Choate. Donna Hill advised six new members contributed to HUPAC for a total of $600.00 and encouraged all to contribute at the Regional meeting.
OLD BUSINESS: No report.
NEW BUSINESS: Motion made and seconded to limit committee reports at Board meetings to 2-3 minutes unless additional time requested in writing the prior to the meeting. Following discussion, motion passed with one abstention. Discussion followed with regards to developing spending guidelines for the President’s Awards and was tabled to the Awards Committee.
· Agenda items to be requested in writing one week in advance and distributed to the members of the Board. Staff to prepare agenda based on requests.
· Awards Committee to review and make recommendation to Board regarding guidelines for President’s Awards.
CHAPTER REPORTS:
· Lance Ledbetter stated a goal to contact local Presidents the Friday before each meeting.
Atlanta – Lacita Husband-Perez advised their next meeting was 8/23 with Eddy Taylor on DI. She reported receiving an ethics complaint against a carrier and encouraged cognizance of anti-trust issues in discussing such items. Patty Murphy advised our guidelines deal with members rather than companies. President Ledbetter tabled the issue to the Ethics Report.
Chattahoochee – Ron Hatch reported working on a 10/3 fundraiser for Commissioner Oxendine, adding it was hoped this campaign would encourage new members to join. Their first Chapter meeting was slated for 9/26.
Coastal Empire – President Ledbetter expressed his appreciation to Harry Lowe and the Chapter for their efforts in conjunction with the GAHU Convention.
Middle Georgia – Ron Levine advised their first meeting was anticipated to be held 8/23.
Northeast Georgia – President Ledbetter requested anyone interested in support this Chapter’s efforts was welcome. The current President had been removed due to non-responsiveness.
Northwest Georgia – Gina Grantham requested assistance in helping Program Chair B. J. Meadows secure an August presenter.
· David Oshinski and Gina Grantham were requested to work with the Northwest AHU on coordination of an August meeting.
South Georgia – No report.
CSRA – No report.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Government Affairs – Russ Childers advised of having good meetings with candidates Perdue, Byrne and Schrenko, as well as with the Governor. The next meeting of the Governor’s Action Group was to be held the next day. A phase in new regulations had been discussed with Don Roof of the DOI and an opportunity offered for them to provide an explanation of the new regulations for the newsletter. We were also requested to provide a list of our areas of concern relating to disincentives and to help develop a list of questions for people to ask relating to low-cost health insurance plans. Input from NAHU had been requested. Michael Wardrip suggested we form a working group to develop questions and answers to educate agents and consumers. Any instances or practices that should be addressed relating to these areas were to be directed to Russ Childers. Lisa Hellman, Gene Choate, Dave Adams and Donald Baggett were commended for their efforts at the Convention.
· Motion passed to purchase a table of 8 for $320 at Chamber Congressional Luncheon scheduled for 9/22.
Federal Legislation – Ron Levine reported that through Raymer’s efforts a meeting was held with Congressman John Linder and Lisa Hellman presented him with a PAC contribution. Pending legislation in front of Congress included Medicare Reform with prescription drug benefits included, Health Care Insurance Tax Credits, and Medical Practice Liability. Committees had also been formed to address Terrorism Insurance. It was anticipated the High Risk Pool legislation would go through. Locally, he advised of working on a program to promote awareness of legislative activities and help our local Chapters.
Awards – David Johnson reported sending all local Presidents a CD with convention photos.
Technology – Administrative access to the new website was now available. David Johnson planned to contact Codewriters regarding the actual site transition.
· David Johnson requested information to be posted to the website be sent to his attention.
Chapter Liaison – David Oshinski reported having met with several Chapter Presidents and planned to continue this effort.
· David Oshinski to contact Lena Andrews regarding the Northeast AHU.
· David Oshinski to send email to all locals encouraging attendance at the Regional Leadership meeting.
Newsletter – Larry Schmidt desired to feature a guest columnist on practice management and all agreed this would be great. He requested articles on legislation, HUPAC, GAHUPAC and the Kathy Cruce Award. He felt we might need to change software to do some of the things we would like to and Gina Grantham requested to work with him in this area.
· Articles for the newsletter were to be sent to Larry Schmidt by the 10th of the month.
Education – Donald Jackson advised HS325 was scheduled to begin in September with Julie King from Kaiser instructing. Five were registered and it was hoped to have at least fifteen.
Programs – Bob Guenther advised of distributing lists of approved programs and Chapter usage history to Chapter Presidents or Program Chairs.
· Bob Guenther to communicate programming ideas picked up at Convention to locals.
Carrier Relations – Elena Merino reported meeting with Eric Frazier and subsequently proposed a new Regulatory Committee be developed to educate members and serve between the Legislative and Education Committees. The goals of the committee would be to identify existing group regulations members should know, develop seminars, identify and recommend sources of information, develop a quest for carriers and work with the DOI.
Ethics – Trey Tompkins advised the ethics issue that had arisen was not an item for the GAHU Board as we do not deal with carrier issues and the individual registering the complaint was not currently a member. He planned to reply formally to the individual. Discussion followed regarding forwarding complaints to the DOI and it was advised for the Association there were Anti-trust issues to consider. Michael Wardrip added the Association has been very selective with the positions we’ve taken and cautioned anyone from naming the company as it could cause a potential liability for GAHU.
· Trey Tompkins to distribute P & P on handling ethics issues.
Events – Donna Hill thanked the Board for their support and participation in the Convention, with a record-number of registrations and great programs. She commended Michael Wardrip for his hard work coordinating the political presentations and Ken Burns for his work with the budget. The event was anticipated to net $38,000.00. Michael Carmean requested any input available to his Chapter as the Host Committee for the 2003 Convention and it was felt Harry Lowe had offered his assistance.
· Gina Grantham to email list of Convention sponsors to Larry Schmidt for the newsletter.
Fundraising / Public Service – David Knight distributed directions to the Fall Festival and all were encouraged to attend. Lisa Hellman inquired about funding for the event and it was reported this was built into the Leadership Retreat item in the budget.
· President Ledbetter requested that David Knight request input from the local Presidents on providing prize and cash options to winners in the GAHU Raffle.
· President Ledbetter requested that David Knight email information on the Fall Fling to him for distribution to local Presidents. Directions were to be distributed to all Board members.
Historian – Patty Murphy advised of doing profiles of past GAHU Presidents for the newsletter.
Membership (New) – No report.
Membership (Retention) - Susan Cook reported not having access to YODA, although reports had been submitted.
· Susan Cook was to contact NAHU regarding YODA access.
Public Relations / Communications – President Ledbetter reported some press on hand at the Convention. Donna Hill advised Deborah Phillips was working on sending out press releases. President Ledbetter expressed hope we could communicate with our members with a Convention Survey similar to the one distributed by NAHU.
There being no further business, motion to adjourn seconded and passed at 2:50 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Gina Grantham, CAE
Executive Director