ANNUAL MEETING REMINDER - TUESDAY APRIL 16, 2024
2023 Member’s Meeting Minutes
Please Review prior to the 2024 Annual Members Meeting
Just a reminder that the SRS Retiree Association will hold our Annual Meeting on Tuesday April 16th at the Etherredge Center (USCA campus). Doors open at 11:00 for registration and meeting starts at 1:00. Hope to see you there.
If you have a question you want answered at the meeting submit to our website – – srsretirees.org – – use the “Contact” button and please include “question for annual meeting” in your text. Deadline for submitting questions is Tuesday March 19th.
SPECIAL IMPORTANT MESSAGE!
SRMC has notified the SRSRA Retiree Resource Center today that they have extended the deadline for filing HRA reimbursement claims incurred prior to 1/1/2024 through WageWorks/HealthEquity initially from 1/31/2024 to 2/15/2024, and now until February 29, 2024. These are important extension because it helps SRMC retirees with larger current balances in their WageWorks/HealthEquity Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRA’s) to be able to file medical claims which they have incurred prior to 1/1/2024, and to be reimbursed a long as they file by February 29, 2024.
SRNS/BSRA Retirees
LIG does not yet have current insurance rates so they are reimbursing at the end of 2023 rates. They are reimbursing 3 or 4 months at a time at the request of SRNS/SRNL Benefits. The difference between 2023 and 2024 rates will be made up in your 2nd quarter reimbursements.
Annual Rx Plan Review October 15th – December 7th
Your biggest medical savings can be from your annual review of your Medicare Rx program. Medicare CMS, Consumer Reports, and other organizations strongly encourage these annual reviews. You can do this: (a) by yourself online with Medicare.gov; (b) through calling LIG Solutions for SRNS, or VIA Benefits for SRMC/SRR; (c) in person by appointment, or mail with the SRSRA Retiree Resource Center; or (d) through a local insurance agent.
Our Retiree Resource Center has conducted 3,200 Medicare Part D Prescription Drug reviews during the past four years and has replaced 73% of the reviewed retirees’ plans with cheaper plans for the following year. The Rx plans change their drug plan formularies, copays, deductibles, premiums, and pharmacy networks annually to maximize their profitability. These annual reviews have saved our retirees $2.7 million in out-of-pocket expenses for 2016 to 2023 plans.
However you do your annual review, do it! Don’t leave your hard-earned money on the table!
Our telephone message line is 803-508-7065 or email us at srsra@LSCOG.org.
LIG Solutions for SRNS is 855-662-0681 and VIA Benefits for SRMC is 800-848-1831
Origin of SRS Retiree Association
SRS Retirees recognized the strong need for a greater role in helping determine the future of their benefit programs when in 1997, WSRC announced changes to the retiree medical benefits that were inconsistent to what had been originally promised to retirees. Over the following years, changes in site management with strong cost control initiatives and incentives to reduce expenses, and the overall economic climate, continued the impetus for retiree benefit reduction. The retirees recognized that without an organized response including a large number of retirees, they would continue to lose what they had worked so hard to earn over the years.
The first general meeting was held on September 9, 1997, at the Knights of Columbus building on Dougherty Road in Aiken. Bylaws were written to meet the Federal Internal Revenue Service 501( c ) (4) regulations for a non-profit organizations, and for meeting the State of South Carolina regulatory requirements. The original by-laws provided for a 30-member Board of Directors to give the organization a wide breadth of expertise and experience. Initially, a 13-member Executive Committee met monthly, and the full Board of Directors met quarterly. That has been changed and now the SRSRA BOD meets monthly and votes on all items for consideration.
If you are interested in serving on the Board of Directors, please contact us.
Approved at the 2023 SRSRA Annual Meeting
SRSRA Board of Directors
Mission
The mission of the SRS Retiree Association is to work to advocate for the maintenance of retiree pension and medical benefits in current dollars, provide assistance and support of the greater SRS retiree population, ensure that the retiree benefits and needs are visible to the broader community, and support current and future missions of the SRS.
Why should YOU join the SRS Retiree Association?
There’s increased strength and greater shared purpose with numbers.
More members guarantee more support from elected and appointed officials.
More members leverage a better response from SRS and the DOE.
More members provide a more representative retiree viewpoint.
More numbers increase funding for our Retiree Resource Center.