Greetings; I am honored and pleased to serve as your President for this coming year.  I am also somewhat in awe that I must try and fill the shoes of our past President, Jesse Sandlin.  I look forward to dealing with the challenges that will come, this year, with our name change from The Retired Officers Association (TROA) to the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA).

     One of our top goals for this coming year will be to increase our local chapter membership.  We can do this by having every member encourage a friend, who has recently retired or is on active duty and about to retire, to join our local chapter of MOAA. 

     Our second top goal is to increase the number of attendees at all of our functions.  If every member would ask a new or prospective member to attend a function with them, this would inccrease our active members. 

     Thirdly, we would like to encourage any member, who is interested in becoming actively involved in MOAA operations, to attend our Board meetings, normally held on the 1st Saturday of every month at the NAB Little Creek Golf Course clubhouse.  The meetings start at 0830. 

     As the New Year commences, legislators in both the House and Senate have begun the process of reintroducing unfinished bills from last year and introducing new ones.  Among the most urgent on MOAA's list are initiatives that would stop or reverse the 4.4% cut in Medicare payments to providers that is scheduled for March 1.  Rep. Bill Thomas (R-CA), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has introduced a resolution that would effectively freeze Medicare payments at the 2002 rates.  Because TRICARE rates are tied to Medicare's, it's important to military beneficiaries of all ages to prevent the March 1 cuts from happening.  Beneficiaries in many areas of the country already have difficulty finding a doctor who participates in Medicare or TRICARE, and additional payment cuts will only make the situation worse.  Those of us who have Internet access may visit the National MOAA web site and click on the "Increase Medicare and TRICARE Reimbursements" link to send messages to your legislators.  If you are not on the Internet, you may send a letter to your legislators indicating your support for more, not less, to providers. 

     A new TRICARE Mail Order Pharmacy Program will become effective on March 1, 2003.  On March 1, Express Scripts Inc. will provide service under the new program.  Current users of the Mail Order Pharmacy should have received a card in January announcing the new services.  That will be followed by a mailing, which will include a registration form, a description of benefits, and a brochure covering the TRICARE program.

                                                                                                          We're Rolling,
                                                                                                          John

 Members will be asked at a forthcoming Social Meeting to vote on the following summarized changes to the Constitution and By-Laws:

 1.  Change references from TROA to MOAA throughout, except where proper context requires the former acronym to be kept.

 2.  Increase discretionary spending approval by the Executive Committee from $50.00 to $150.00 and require Board approval for all other discretionary spending in excess of $100.00.

 3.  Amend the specified duties of the Secretary to reflect accurately the functions which are actually performed by that office. (See Item 5, below.)

 4.  Remove from the By-Laws the subparagraphs which specify dues amounts. (Properly a Board function, with proposed changes to be submitted to the membership for approval; as now published, any change would require both revision of the Constitution and By-Laws and membership approval.)

 5.  Establish a new Information Systems Committee with responsibility for chapter publications and the chapter website. (This absorbs many functions which were the responsibility of the Secretary at a time when chapter membership was much smaller, and before automation of database records and publications.)

NOTE: This synopsis summarizes administrative changes too numerous to present in detail here. Copies of the proposed amended Constitution and By-Laws will be available at the Chapter February and March 2003 Social Meetings for inspection.

Click Here for the full text of the proposed Constitution and By-Laws changes.

 Preparation continues for publication of an updated Chapter Dirtectory, to be issued in May. If ANY of your data has changed, please take a few minutes to fill out and mail the form on the rear cover of the February BULLETIN, marked "UPDATE" so that our published information may be current. Click HERE to fill out an on-line form that you can print and mail.

 Members are asked to assist with the solicitation of advertisements for the forthcoming Chapter Directory, which will be mailed initially to nearly 1000 members. The Ads are used to defray printing and mailing expenses. As new members are recruited, they are provided a copy of the Directory.

 Ad Requirements:

 1.  Shall be submitted in CAMERA-READY COPY in the following sizes:
              Full Page:  4 1/2"w X 6 1/2"h        Cost:  $400.00
              Half Page:  4 1/2"w X 3 1/2"h       Cost:  $250.00

 2.  Sudmission deadline is 1 May 2002; however, not later than 14 April is preferred.

 3.  Make checks payable to HRCMOAA.

 4.  Contact either CAPT Ray Hart, USN at 430-8771 or email:  rayhart71@cox.net, or
      LCOL Lou Baeumel, (NC) USAF at 464-3486 to place your Ad.

     A new Chapter Representative to the Virginia Council of Chapters is urgently needed! The chapter representative attends quarterly meetings of the Council at Fort Lee, Va., where he or she reports on chapter matters and brings back information of concern to the chapter. Partial expense coverage is available. The representative attends chapter Board of Directors meetings as an ex-officio member.

     This is an outstanding position for a member or auxiliary who enjoys participating with the other Virginia chapters in matters that concern the military community of Virginia -- active, reserve, and retired. For further information, please call Col. Floyd Gilbert at 467-6435.