It’s a good thing February had one extra day this year because NCAHU accomplished a lot in the shortest month of the year. We certainly had our foot on the gas pedal. We advanced our core initiatives of professional development of our members, legislative advocacy, bringing value to our membership, and promoting that value to new and current members. So here we go on a recap. Leading off in the professional development arena we held one of the first class room offerings of NAHU’s Single Payor Certification. Janet Trautwein (NAHU CEO) visited NC to teach the technical but timely curriculum. We had 17 on site students and 7 virtual students who attended by video conference. The virtual attendance was a trial offering but due to its success both in participation and technically, virtual classes will likely be offered again in the future. At this time we have almost 100% of the participants certified. We also offered 3 additional CE classes with one remaining on March 10th along with the discounted ethics courses. I am excited to announce that Hughes Waren (GAAC Committee Chair) won the NAHU Legislative Achievement Award. This honor is presented to members making significant contributions and performing outstanding service in connection with state legislative matters by developing and implementing methods to strengthen and improve NAHU’s stance in the industry. Hughes has certainly accomplished this, bring a 1½ year old committee from infancy to the mature committee that had many victories this past “long session” of the General Assembly. While Janet Trautwein was in NC, we took the opportunity to visit three of NC’s larger benefits agencies to discuss the new NAHU Agency Membership Program. All three meetings were highly informative in exploring the needs of each agency and discussing the tools that NAHU and NCAHU have to meet each agency’s needs. I thank those agencies for their time and Janet Trautwein for running all around NC with Dan and I. As we approach Symposium, April 16th and 17th, participation in the Champions Circle continues to build. I am happy to announce that we also have our “first” Champions Circle MVP, Blue Cross of NC. Thank you Blue Cross of NC for championing our cause at this prestigious level. We appreciate your partnership. If you too would like to join this prestigious circle, please ask how. With only a little over a month to go until the 2020 Symposium and InsurEXPO20 (April 16th and 17th) we continue to field questions about the events content and who should attend. Rest assured this event is for NCAHU membership and should offer some very informative benefit content as well as professional development topics. Both associations wanted to take the opportunity to hold a joint event with an industry partner where we could get our two membership together and network. The event should be bigger, better, with a lot more opportunities to grow professionally. I would say that if you have not attended in a while this is the year to tune back in. The cost to attend is $150 this year, $100 less than previous years. We are back at our un-official Symposium home of the Benton Convention Center, in Winston Salem, NC. So no excuses for traffic or travel. I have confidence I will see you in April! Action steps for Symposium: 1. Read the Symposium FAQ 2. Register for Symposium (don’t wait till the last minute, it helps us in planning) 3. Book your hotel room 4. Pack your business cards for networking We rounded out the month by attending Capitol Conference 2020 in Washington DC, February 23rd to 26th. We had just over 30 NCAHU participants with 4 first time attendees. Our contingent met with the offices of almost all NC Congressmen/women and both Senators offices. Topics discussed included; surprise billing, employer exclusion of healthcare, single payer legislation (Medicare for All), Cobra coverage and Medicare, employer reporting requirements and observation status issues. NCAHU was well represented on Capitol Hill. As you can see we had a lot going on in Fast February and NCAHU members where hard at work. I would like to thank all our members who attended Capitol Conference, attended the Single Payer Certification Class and helped line up a Janet Trautwein meeting with an agency. Be sure to congratulate Hughes when you see him on his Leg Award and thank Joe Stewart for his support of Hughes when you see Joe. Stay tuned for next month’s sequel when Dan Diesel (Odorizzi) updates us on registrations and new Champion Circle Sponsors. PS: I’ll close by asking you this: Did NCAHU represent a cause on Capitol Hill this month that protected you or your client? If so, we hope that NCAHU has shown you value. If we did, please go to https://www.ncahu.org/pac and make a contribution to our NCPAC. NCAHU Meeting with Congresswoman Virginia Fox (NC 5th District)
