Saturday, May 31, 2008

Duane Tron to Congressman Jim Jordan (his former student): Why I want to boot you and other 'career' politicians out of D.C.


From Duane Tron, May 31, 2008
Subject: Do you think it has finally started to sink in?
Congressman Jim,
This article [below] is a keeper. It really sums up the reality of things as my wife and I have been experiencing serious financial issues since 2002 when the Ohio State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) eliminated the spousal subsidy on health insurance four years after I retired. I am currently paying over $10,200.00 of my retirement check each year to maintain health insurance for my wife and myself. During the past four years I have paid nearly half of my annual retirement check for health insurance premiums, co-pays, deductibles, and prescription costs. Now we're paying nearly four dollars a gallon for gas and I have seen the price increases in everything we have to purchase to live. My wife works in Cincinnati as this is the only place she could find a job at her age after being unceremoniously pink slipped when her company closed its Columbus office in 2000 after she served over 36 years of exemplary service with them. They told her she no longer had any health insurance and tried to beat her out of her pension. We obtained an attorney and fought them. For all of our efforts she obtained a paltry retirement benefit of $10,000.00 a year. She gave 36+ years to a company, trained her replacement when they were bought out, and they told her to have a nice life.
I have been aware of the economic decline across Ohio for the past six years as we have been living it. Some have asked why we don't move to Cincinnati or closer? Because our house in St. Paris isn't paid off and it's almost impossible to sell houses in St. Paris. We have seen houses up for sale for years and they haven't sold. Secondly we would never get enough out of it to buy another house or condo because at our age we can't obtain any long term financing. The most we can get is a 15 year mortgage at higher interest rates. And you want to know why I'm angry and bitter? You want to know why I want to boot your fanny out of office along with the rest of the career politicians? Ask a silly question! I've worked for the past 50+ years only to arrive at a point in life where we're trying to figure out how we're going to pay the bills down the road!
Last month we saw our stock portfolio take another big hit with heavy losses. Since 2002 we have watched our stock investments lose over $80,000.00. And you want to know why middle class Americans are ticked off and the approval rating for Congress remains lower than the President? Granted there are several parts of the country where their economies are booming, Ohio just doesn't happen to be one of them and hasn't been for the past eight years.
I was wondering how long it would be before the people in many parts of this country started speaking up and fighting back. I'm now seeing this happen after six years of struggling in our household to maintain what I describe as a frugal lifestyle. The car I'm driving is eight years old and we can't afford to replace it. I keep it in very good shape and most people don't have any idea it's that old. I have strong mechanical skills so I am able to do a lot of my own maintenance. Not everybody is equally blessed. I doubt that you are!
The backlash I have been predicting has finally started. You tout all of this "free market" economy stuff when citing oil prices. Jim, I am an educated man who majored in social studies with a strong background in economics so I understand the basics of economics quite well. There isn't any "free market" at play in the world of oil. I remind you that oil prices are controlled by a cartel of foreigners who are NOT friends of the United States or the American people. They set oil prices, they create bogus shortages when they want to drive prices up, they conspired by announcing over three years ago that they were going to raise gas prices in the USA to $7.00/gal, and they continue to play games with our economy and national security. Then I have to listen to your remarks in the Urbana Daily Citizen spewing a bunch of economic garbage that just ain't so! The oil companies have been, and are, conspiring to drive up gas prices by every means at their disposal and to harm the American economy! In doing so they are undermining the national security of the United States and undermining and destroying the American way of life. Please don't insult us by telling us a bunch of hogwash about how this is just the result of a "free market" economy at play coupled with the "laws of supply and demand," in a world where a small group of people hold a virtual monopoly over oil and can blackmail and hold the American people hostage to get what they want. Some might be stupid enough to buy your arguments. We're not among them! We know better!!
I listened to a so-called economic guru on Fox News recently touting the ideals of the "Laws of Economics & Supply and Demand" I don't want to burst his bubble, or yours. but there is no such thing as "Laws of Economics or Supply and Demand." There are 'economic principles' but they are not "laws!" There are 'laws of gravity' but there is no such thing as "laws of economics!" This is a bunch of crap and I used to teach students that there aren't any laws governing economics apart from what men make them. Quit defending big oil and the lies they are spewing! The only thing driving gas prices higher is excessive greed and the desire by the oil cartel to destroy the United States! Read the following article from Mr. Marshall of the Plain Dealer.
Sincerely,
Duane & Mary Tron
St. Paris, OH 43072
Reality undergoes a revival at Statehouse -- Aaron Marshall's Round the Rotunda
Posted by Plain Dealer
May 30, 2008
Reality rears its ugly head rarely enough at the Statehouse that it often seems as if the entire building were sheathed in heavy-duty bubble wrap that keeps bad news at bay.
Spend enough time being wined and dined over $30 steaks by the just-got-the-new-Beemer crowd and it becomes hard for even the most grounded state lawmakers to see that everything isn't so hunky-dory in the streets.
Not this year, though. The economic hard times that have sent this state reeling are puncturing even the insular, backslapping world of state government.
Just ask Lyndhurst Rep. Josh Mandel, freshly back stateside after a second stint with the Marines in Iraq. Mandel spent most of a recent Sunday knocking on doors in Mayfield Heights, a solidly middle-class area.
The Republican said he heard hard luck story after hard luck story from his constituents about jobs lost and budgets torn to tatters thanks to rising fuel and grocery prices.
"It was a lot of 'My brother lost his job' or 'My wife lost her job,' " said Mandel, who rang 20,000 doorbells during his first run for state representative in 2006. "Now knocking on doors, this is by far the worst that I've ever heard it."
And it's not just Northeast Ohio. Reporting back on rumbling in suburban Cincinnati, Sen. Bill Seitz told his colleagues that it was the absolute worst he has seen in all his years as they debated an economic stimulus package last week.
So even suburban voters are broke and (presumably) angry from one corner of the state to another? That's going to make for an especially long and hot summer as politicians of all stripes make their case for why they deserve to stay in office.

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Friday, May 30, 2008

John Curry: HC Questions at STRS and Express Scripts settlement

HCQuestions (Michelle Jump, STRS) to John Curry, May 30, 2008
Subject: RE: HC Questions at STRS and Express Scripts settlement
Mr. Curry:
Thank you for your inquiry.
The State of Ohio will receive approximately $410,000 as its share of the $9.3 million total settlement. How these monies can be accessed or utilized is still being determined.
Nationally, there is an additional $200,000 available for all individuals that were impacted. Affected consumers identified by Express Scripts may be eligible for up to a $25 reimbursement if all eligibility requirements are met.
There is only a remote chance that any STRS Ohio enrollees have been impacted. If any STRS Ohio enrollees are identified as being impacted, Express Scripts will notify those individuals directly by mail with instructions on how to seek reimbursement. As of May 29, 2008, Express Scripts has not informed STRS Ohio of any enrollees that are impacted by this settlement.
I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Michelle Jump
STRS Ohio

Thursday, May 29, 2008

John Curry: I signed and sent it in...will you?

From John Curry, May 29, 2008
Subject: I signed and sent it in...will you?

Give seniors and taxpayers a break on drug costs!

The private insurance companies that run the Medicare prescription drug benefit aren’t getting the best prices for seniors, some charge more than twice what the Veterans Administration does for the same drugs! And those same insurance companies billed taxpayers almost $15 billion last year to administer the program.

Why are we paying more to private insurance companies to provide costly prescription drug coverage to seniors, when it has been estimated Medicare could do it for billions less?

Because Congress specifically prohibited Medicare from offering seniors drug coverage and it prohibited negotiating with drug companies for lower prices.

Tell Congress to give us a break! Ask your representatives to support new legislation that gives seniors the option of a Medicare-run prescription drug benefit, with the power to negotiate lower drug prices. Why should we pay more for less?

Click
here to send your message to Congress.

STRS Flashback -- 2 Years Ago.....Was Hazel hiding under a rock?‏

"With all due respect, anyone who works for state government has to be hiding under a rock if they had not heard of an ethics law."
Franklin County Municipal Court Judge Carrie Glaeden
ETHICS VIOLATION
Ex-pension board member sentenced
Friday, May 12, 2006 Alayna DeMartini
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

A former member of the state teachers pension board apologized to a judge yesterday for twice accepting freebies from companies the board hired.

"I would like you to rethink that it was only on two occasions that you let the teachers you represented down," Franklin County Municipal Court Judge Carrie Glaeden told Hazel Sidaway. "I think it was more than two occasions."

A jury convicted Sidaway last month of two misdemeanor ethics violations of accepting four free tickets to a Cleveland Indians game in 2001 and two free tickets to a Broadway production of Hairspray in 2003.

"I?m having a hard time understanding why ... you thought it appropriate to accept that," Glaeden told Sidaway yesterday when she sentenced her.

A year before Sidaway accepted Cleveland Indians tickets in 2001 she had accepted other baseball tickets, Glaeden said. She also accepted a free meal for her grandchildren, the judge said. The allegations came out during the trial; she was not charged in connection with them.

Glaeden sentenced Sidaway, a retired Canton elementaryschool teacher, to two years on probation and ordered her to pay $670 in fines and $5,382 for the cost of the investigation. She also required her to serve 200 hours of community service split between the Canton school district and a retirement home or senior center.

"I tried for 17 years to represent the teachers of Ohio with dignity and dedication," Sidaway said. "I accepted something of value that I should not have taken."

The free tickets Sidaway received were from investment consultants who had contracts with the State Teachers Retirement System.

The jury acquitted Sidaway of four other ethics violations for accepting free meals at Columbus restaurants from companies the pension board hired.

The companies included the cost of the meals for board members in their bill to the board, H. Ritchey Hollenbaugh told jurors.

If that was the case, the judge said, then the cost was coming out of the pensions of teachers and retired teachers across the state.

Hollenbaugh said his client wasn?t aware of the ethics law when she accepted the tickets.

"At the time there were no red flags raised. There should have been, but there weren?t," he said.

But Glaeden questioned that.

"With all due respect, anyone who works for state government has to be hiding under a rock if they had not heard of an ethics law."

ademartini@dispatch.com

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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

A little more on the Express Scripts settlement from Forbes.com: Express Scripts to pay $9.5M in settlement

From John Curry, May 28, 2008
Subject: a little more on the Express Scripts settlement from Forbes.com: Express Scripts to pay $9.5M in settlement
STRSers...It appears that the drug switching involved primarily cholesterol medications. Has Express Scripts changed any of your cholesterol medicines (without prior notification to you) since the changeover from our old Pharmacy Benefits Manager to Express Scripts on Jan. 1, 2008? If so, you might want to take note of the article below. John
Express Scripts to pay $9.5M in settlement
By MARK JEWELL

John Curry: HC Questions at STRS and Express Scripts settlement

From John Curry, May 28, 2008
Subject: HC Questions at STRS and Express Scripts settlement
Dear HC Questions at STRS,
I am assuming that the settlement (below) involving Express Scripts will also apply to Ohio STRS Express Scripts current benefits recipients. Rather than having to assume...could you please tell me if, in fact, it does apply to our Ohio STRS benefits recipients? Thank you.
John Curry
An STRS benefits recipient
A CORE member
From John Curry, May 28, 2008
Subject: Thanks to the Vermont AG we now have some details of the Express Scripts settlement!

Today’s settlement, in the form of an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance, asserts that Express Scripts engaged in deceptive business practices by encouraging doctors to switch patients to different brand name prescription drugs and representing that the patients and/or health plans would save money. But doctors were not adequately informed of the effect this switch would have on costs to patients and health plans.

Today’s settlement generally prohibits Express Scripts from soliciting drug switches when:

  • The net drug cost of the proposed drug exceeds the net drug cost of the originally prescribed drug;
  • The cost to the patient will be greater than the cost of the originally prescribed drug;
  • The originally prescribed drug has a generic equivalent and the proposed drug does not;
  • The originally prescribed drug’s patent is expected to expire within six months; or
  • The patient was switched from a similar drug within the last two years.

    The settlement requires Express Scripts to:

  • Inform patients and prescribers what effect a drug switch will have on a patient’s co-payment;
  • Inform prescribers of Express Scripts’ financial incentives for certain drug switches;
  • Inform prescribers of material differences in side effects or efficacy between prescribed drugs and proposed drugs;
  • Reimburse patients for out-of-pocket expenses for drug switch-related health care costs and notify patients and prescribers that such reimbursement is available;
  • Obtain express, verifiable authorization from the prescriber for all drug switches;
  • Inform patients that they may decline a drug switch and the conditions for receiving the originally prescribed drug;
  • Monitor the effects of drug switches on the health of patients;
  • Adopt a certain code of ethics and professional standards;
  • Refrain from making any claims of savings for a drug switch to patients or prescribers unless Express Scripts can substantiate the claim; and
  • Inform prescribers that visits by Express Scripts’ clinical consultants and promotional materials sent to prescribers are funded by pharmaceutical manufacturers, if that is the case.#

    http://www.atg.state.vt.us/index.php

    Attorney General William H. Sorrell Settles Consumer Protection Claims Against Express Scripts, Inc.

    CONTACT: Julie Brill, Assistant Attorney General, (802) 828-5479

    May 27, 2008 - Attorney General William H. Sorrell announced today that he has entered into a settlement of consumer protection claims against Express Scripts Inc., one of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefits management (PBM) companies. Joining Attorney General Sorrell in today’s settlement are 29 other states.

    As part of the settlement, Express Scripts is required to significantly change its business practices. Vermont will receive a total of $372,500 from this settlement. A portion of Vermont’s payment, $100,000, can be used to benefit low-income, disabled or elderly consumers of prescription medications, to promote lower drug costs for state residents, to educate consumers concerning the cost differences among medications, or for similar purposes.

    PBMs enter into contracts with employers and government health plans to process prescription drug claims for drugs provided to patients enrolled in the health plan; negotiate with drug companies to obtain volume discounts; negotiate discounts with participating retail pharmacies to provide dispensing services at a discount; and dispense drugs to patients through PBM-owned mail order pharmacies. In the thirty years since the first PBMs appeared, their services have evolved to include complex rebate programs, pharmacy networks, and drug utilization reviews.

    Today’s settlement, in the form of an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance, asserts that Express Scripts engaged in deceptive business practices by encouraging doctors to switch patients to different brand name prescription drugs and representing that the patients and/or health plans would save money. But doctors were not adequately informed of the effect this switch would have on costs to patients and health plans.

    “Today’s settlement completes our effort to clean up the PBM industry,” said Attorney General Sorrell. “Now that all three of the nation’s largest PBMs are under orders from our office and the court to reform their practices, we expect that the rest of the industry will take notice and follow the requirements we have established.”

    In 2004, a group of 20 of states settled with Medco Health Solutions, Inc., the world’s largest pharmaceutical benefits manager. In February of this year, a group of 29 states settled with Caremark Rx, LLC, another of the world’s largest pharmaceutical benefits managers.

    Today’s settlement generally prohibits Express Scripts from soliciting drug switches when:

  • The net drug cost of the proposed drug exceeds the net drug cost of the originally prescribed drug;
  • The cost to the patient will be greater than the cost of the originally prescribed drug;
  • The originally prescribed drug has a generic equivalent and the proposed drug does not;
  • The originally prescribed drug’s patent is expected to expire within six months; or
  • The patient was switched from a similar drug within the last two years.

    The settlement requires Express Scripts to:
  • Inform patients and prescribers what effect a drug switch will have on a patient’s co-payment;
  • Inform prescribers of Express Scripts’ financial incentives for certain drug switches;
  • Inform prescribers of material differences in side effects or efficacy between prescribed drugs and proposed drugs;
  • Reimburse patients for out-of-pocket expenses for drug switch-related health care costs and notify patients and prescribers that such reimbursement is available;
  • Obtain express, verifiable authorization from the prescriber for all drug switches;
  • Inform patients that they may decline a drug switch and the conditions for receiving the originally prescribed drug;
  • Monitor the effects of drug switches on the health of patients;
  • Adopt a certain code of ethics and professional standards;
  • Refrain from making any claims of savings for a drug switch to patients or prescribers unless Express Scripts can substantiate the claim; and
  • Inform prescribers that visits by Express Scripts’ clinical consultants and promotional materials sent to prescribers are funded by pharmaceutical manufacturers, if that is the case.

    Express Scripts will pay $9.3 million to the States and up to $200,000 in reimbursement to patients who incurred expenses related to certain switches between cholesterol-controlling drugs. The other states participating in today’s settlement Express Scripts are: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.
  • Tuesday, May 27, 2008

    Looks like our House Bill 315 will have to wait once again, doesn't it?


    From John Curry, May 27, 2008
    Subject: Looks like our House Bill 315 will have to wait once again, doesn't it?

    Soon, your friendly local legislator will be doing the rubber-chicken circuit for his/her summer recess. Lots of baby kissing and county fair visiting with a healthy dose of "just look at how much I have done for you!" Will your rep also tell you just how much he/she didn't do for you? I doubt it!
    It looks like HB 315 (increased contributions to the STRS HC fund) will sit idle on a shelf in an Ohio House committee for the duration of this season......are you surprised?
    If, per chance, you happen to bump into one of your favorite House members at a summer function you might remind him/her of how the Ohio House this year did manage to pass a bill relating to the classification of Llamas but just somehow couldn't quite come up with the effort to ensure the stability of your retirement system's healthcare plan....I'm sure he/she would not like to know that! Maybe, come election time, you might just be able to place your representative "below" the black line! Paul Kostyu's article below will explain a little more about that black line.
    John
    P.S. I know that my House Rep, Cliff Hite (also a retired public school educator), will be at my county fair...I saw him there last year wearing a cowboy hat. He also happens to be on the F.I.R.E.S. committee...the very same committee in which HB 315 still is resting and collecting dust. Cowboy hats aren't hard to find in a crowd, are they?

    http://www.cantonrep.com/
    Can Legislature act quickly? Just watch
    BY PAUL E. KOSTYU
    REPOSITORY COLUMBUS BUREAU CHIEF
    Canton Repository, 5/27/08


    COLUMBUS Can he do it?

    Last week, House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, announced, though not entirely seriously, that he wanted to pass 50 pieces of legislation in 10 days, and some major ones at that, including an economic stimulus package and capital budget.

    To put that into perspective, as of May 16, the Legislature had passed and the governor had signed 67 bills into law in the past 17 months.

    To help him achieve his goal, Husted told House members to prepare to meet in an unusual Friday session at 9 a.m. if it's needed. State Rep. Larry L. Flowers, R-Canal Winchester and majority floor leader, said late last week he thought it would be.

    The Legislature is scheduled to go on its extended election-year summer recess this week. Lawmakers will barely make an appearance in Columbus before the November election unless it's for a fundraiser.

    A week ago, the House passed six measures, all by overwhelming majorities, dealing with a constitutional amendment, adoptions, veterans boards, divorces, cigarettes and management of institutional funds. The latter was sponsored by state Rep. Scott Oelslager, R-North Canton.

    On Wednesday, another seven bills were added to the list, again all by overwhelming majorities, including four unanimously. Notable among them were House Bill 554, the governor's and Legislature's economic stimulus plan, and Senate Bill 289, which creates a Department of Veterans Affairs. Gov. Ted Strickland signed it into law Friday. Other bills dealt with liquor permits, pawnbrokers, voyeurism, child neglect and school employee misconduct.

    On Thursday, in the closest vote of the week, 54-42, the House passed House Bill 477, which requires all public meetings, their related records and correspondence to be in English. Not the same as declaring English as Ohio's official language but pretty close. Strickland has promised a veto if it reaches his desk.

    The House also passed the two-year capital budget and five other bills, dealing with watercraft laws, initiating a referendum, marriage and family- therapy practices, handgun purchases by military personnel and subdivision levies.

    The budget passed late Thursday evening. Strickland said he would veto parts of the budget if the Senate doesn't make changes first.

    That's 20 bills (one of which was introduced in February 2007) in three days.

    A freshman lawmaker asked state Rep. Allan R. Sayre, D-Dover, what he had to do to get legislation "above the black line."

    That line on a chamber's agenda separates legislation from action and inaction. Above the black line means a bill will get a chamber floor vote on a particular day.

    Over the years, legislation below the black line has died for want of interest by a House speaker or Senate president or their caucuses. At the end of the legislature's two-year term, which comes in December, anything left below the line dies.

    Sayre's answer to his colleague: "Luck."

    With Husted's ambitious goal, some lawmakers and their legislation may be more lucky than good.

    Reach Repository Columbus Bureau Chief Paul E. Kostyu at (614) 222-8901 or e-mail:

    paul.kostyu@cantonrep.com

    Monday, May 26, 2008

    While House Bill 315 sits gathering dust in the House F.I.R.E.S. committee...we have this "wheel spinning" instead!

    From John Curry, May 26, 2008
    Subject: While House Bill 315 sits, gathering dust, in the House F.I.R.E.S. committee...we have this "wheel spinning" instead!

    Round the Rotunda: Apathy abounds at the Statehouse, comprende?

    Posted on cleveland.com by Aaron Marshall May 23, 2008


    Have a question about state government and politics? Ask Plain Dealer Statehouse reporter Aaron Marshall by e-mailing him at amarshall@plaind.com.
    You can tell when the calendar is flipping closer to Election Day at the Statehouse, because that's when the bills chock full o' symbolism and devoid of content come out of hiding.

    Such was the case Thursday as House Republicans, joined by a trio of Democrats, saddled up to take charge of an issue that is ruining Ohio government down to its core. We are referring, of course, to the unchecked use of foreign languages such as Spanish in official state records and proceedings across Ohio.

    Thanks to Rep. Robert Mecklenborg, a Republican from the Cincinnati area, no longer will state agencies be allowed to conduct business in any language other than English. In his floor speech, Mecklenborg explained that "no serious person is suggesting that we become an English-only state, but we decidedly do not want to become an English-optional state."

    He then proceeded to list example after example of state and local government bodies in Ohio where languages other than English are being used. Just kidding. He didn't list any examples, but in his defense there was a real good reason for that -- no state or local government agency in Ohio uses any language other than English. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

    Even the Ohio Commission on Hispanic and Latino Affairs conducts all of its official business in English, as one Columbus Democrat, Rep. Dan Stewart, pointed out during the debate. If you don't believe me, just go online and read up on their policies and procedures. (Well, um, only if you can read English.)

    The bill also lists exceptions to the policy permitting languages other than English when needed to comply with state and federal law and to protect the public health, safety or welfare. Or when it's needed to protect the rights of parties and witnesses in civil or criminal court. Or when it's needed to provide instruction in a foreign language or to help foreign students learn English. Or when the state needs to promote international trade and commerce. (There are a couple more "ors," but you get the picture.)

    So what's the point of a partisan bill that doesn't accomplish anything while tapping into anti-immigrant passions? You may see the answer to that question broadcast on your TV screens before Election Day.

    Note from John...this committee in the Ohio House (Financial Institutions, Real Estate and Securities-F.I.R.E.S), that HB 315 is sitting and collecting dust in contains these members below....might it not be a good idea to light a fire under them....especially the Chair, Rep. Widener? He calls the shots....in English!

    Financial Institutions, Real Estate and Securities

    REPUBLICAN DEMOCRAT
    Widener
    Chair
    Evans
    Vice Chair
    Bacon
    Member
    Batchelder
    Member
    Daniels
    Member
    Gardner
    Member
    Gibbs
    Member
    Hite
    Member
    Patton
    Member
    Schindel
    Member
    Sears
    Member
    Zehringer
    Member
    Budish
    Ranking Minority Member
    Book
    Member
    D. Stewart
    Member
    Dodd
    Member
    Goyal
    Member
    Koziura
    Member
    Miller
    Member
    S. Williams
    Member
    Sayre
    Member
    Slesnick
    Member
    Szollosi
    Member

    Sunday, May 25, 2008

    Public hearing scheduled for June 3 at STRS re: procedure for filling Board member vacancy

    Public Hearing Notice for June 3, 2008
    The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio will hold a Public Hearing on Tuesday, June 3, 2008, at 4 p.m. at 275 E. Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, to consider:
    Adoption of proposed new rule:
    3307-2-02 Election of successor member when vacancy occurs on the state teachers retirement board.
    The proposed rule sets forth the procedure for filling a vacancy in the term of a member of the board of the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio. The rule is proposed in accordance with Section 3307.075 of the Ohio Revised Code as enacted by Sub. S.B. 133 of the 127th General Assembly.
    All interested parties will be given an opportunity to be heard. Any interested party unable to attend the public hearing may submit written comments to the undersigned prior to the public hearing.
    Click here to view a PDF of the full and complete text of the proposed rule. It is also on file in the office of the Secretary of State, the Legislative Service Commission and the office of the Joint Commission on Agency Rule Review.

    Sunshine in the air?

    .
    .
    .
    Click image to enlarge

    Medical Mutual employees being paid just to call and chat with you?


    Sondra Stratton to John Curry, May 23, 2008
    Subject: please ask retirees......
    John,
    Would you please send out a message to retirees and ask them if any of them have been called by Medical Mutual of Ohio to just chat???? I would like for any one who has received such a call to contact me (sstratton1@yahoo.com).
    I received a call about a month ago and they just wanted to "chat." It is NOT lifemasters as I have not and will not deal with them. When the end came, the lady could not write down any of the info and send it. They were not allowed to put anything in writing!!!!!
    I was and still am suspicious of the call I received. I would like to talk to anyone who has received a call from them. When I questioned they as to WHY they were calling me, I was told they called everyone once in a while. Now I have been retired almost 8 years and this is a first even though I have had MMOH since 2000. When I talk to retirees I know, no one has ever received a call like I did. I suspect the call came as the result of a doctor I went to once. I am dealing with him at the present time and just would really like to know and talk to anyone else who may have been called.
    Thanks
    Sondra Stratton
    Larry KehresMount Union Collge
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