HCBC ALERT FOR VERIZON RETIREES

 

Verizon Retirees, Cindy Ebner, our Health Care Benefits Coordinator (HCBC) has retired effective 3-31-21. The new Coordinator is Tom Ballek.. Tom will be our point of contact for issues with Medical, Dental and Enrollment. The contact number will remain the same (866-248-4449). The email for Tom is Thomas.L.Ballek@verizon.com. Tom is the contact for retirees only. Please make note of this change for your records. I sent Tom an e-mail yesterday to confirm that we've got the correct phone number and e-mail and he promptly replied. He said that he is temporarily working from home during the pandemic, as Cindy did, so he will not be using the fax number until he goes back to the office. Tom said thank you and that he appreciates everyone's patience as he is still transitioning into the position. Be well, Vickie

CWA Local 2105 Retirees, We hope this finds you all doing well and staying safe.   Many of you have probably had your vaccines by now, or at least have made appointments for them. Your Local Retirees Chapter Officers continue to monitor the COVID situation and we have decided not to have our regularly scheduled meeting in April.  Our priority is the good health and safety of our members.  We sincerely hope that we will be able to get together for our July 20 meeting. In the meantime, we will do our best to keep you updated by e-mails or phone calls. For those of you who have not paid their yearly membership dues, you can send them to our treasurer, Terry Schildt.  If you aren't sure if you've paid, Terry will be able to check his records.  His number is 301 824- 6354.  Dues are $10 per member and $5 per associate member. Make your check out to CWA Local 2105 RMC and send it to Terry Schildt, 14319 Edgemont Rd. Smithsburg, MD 21783.  If you have already paid, thank you! Also, a reminder that several scholarships are available to children or grandchildren of CWA members and retirees. Our CWA Local 2105 scholarship was originally established in 2007 in memory of Jim Farris, and a few years ago was changed to the Local 2105 Memorial Scholarship, in memory of all of our deceased members. The application and accompanying information must be postmarked no later than June 21, 2021.  Also, the CWA-Joe Beirne Scholarship is available.  Applications are due by April 30, 2021.  Here is the link: https://cwa-union.org/pages/beirne_scholarship_application One other important item of interest : There will be nominations for the offices of President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer at the July 20, 2021 meeting of our Retirees Chapter. We hope you will give this some serious thought between now and July. Our Local Retiree Chapter was started in 1993 .  Since that time, a number of dedicated folks have stepped in to the various offices.  Your current officers have been serving in their positions for quite some time.   We are grateful for your support, but it is very likely that not all of us will run for office again. Please realize that if no one runs for these offices, our chapter will probably disband.  There are a lot of you out there who lead busy, productive and vital lives.  We hope you will consider stepping up and being a part of the running of our chapter.  The term is for three years.  As you know, we meet four times per year.  If you become an officer, we will gladly help you with any training you need.  The most important requirement is to be committed to serving our members. Take care and be well, Roger, Dick, Vickie and Terry

"Life and Personal Events Info."

Hello Everybody, I wanted to share this and remind people about the additional death benefit offered by Verizon which was bargained for in 1986. Thanks to John Shickman for sending this reminder. Written below is some important information and I would suggest that you print it, put it in a safe place and make sure that someone in your family knows about it. Also, I would recommend that you call the benefits center and have them send you a written confirmation. Keep in mind that this benefit will not come automatically - a surviving spouse needs to initiate a call to the company Benefits Center to receive the money. Under the Verizon Pension plan, a death benefit is available to members and retirees who were on the Bell Atlantic Payroll as of August 9, 1986. This benefit is over and above the life insurance our members currently receive from Verizon. Verizon's basic life insurance is one year's salary at the time of death, or what your salary was when you retired. This benefit reduces at age 65 and goes to half of your final salary at age 70. The additional death benefit is a single cash payment. Based on your salary as of August 1986, with a maximum payable of $39,000, this amount does not reduce with age. This benefit would go to your mandatory beneficiary. You cannot name a beneficiary for this death benefit. The beneficiaries for this benefit are called "mandatory beneficiaries." lf you are married at the time of your death, the mandatory beneficiary is your spouse as long as your spouse is living with you at the time of your death. lf you do not have a spouse, your mandatory beneficiaries are your unmarried dependent children under age 23, or any age if disabled and incapable of self-support. Your parents who are dependent upon you for support are also eligible. lf there is more than one mandatory beneficiary when you die, Verizon's Bell Atlantic Claims Committee will determine how the benefit is paid to your surviving beneficiaries. We recommend that you call the Verizon Benefits Center at 1 855-489-2367 to confirm that you qualify for this death benefit. The system will ask you for the last four digits of your social security number, your date of birth and your zip code. Be sure you ask them to send you a letter or certificate acknowledging this benefit. When you call the Benefits Center, ask for "Life and Personal Events." This group is trained on how to calculate your qualifications and will determine the benefit and send you a confirmation. A family member has one year from the time of death to collect this benefit. Take care and be well, Vickie