We were delighted that Probus member Donna Crozier provided musical selections on her harp as members gathered and socialized. Many members of the Management Committee channeled their latent Irish ancestry with interesting accessories.
President Sandy Dreger welcomed everyone to the meeting at 2:35. Members were reminded for the need to sign our new waiver form and provide emergency contact information . John McGinn and Ron Watkins are collecting forms. Sandy reminded members that there are still two openings on the Executive - Vice President and Facilities director. There are volunteers lined up to help with facilities but a leader is needed
There are six tickets left for the Prisma Festival in Campbell River on June 27. Details have been circulated to members.
The bowling Special Events outing was very successful and the rescheduled Games night will be held on Tuesday, March 24. There are lots of spaces for games night.
Jim Belair asked for input for a special event "blindfolded" archery. He suggested that if you haven't tried it you "don't know what you are missing".
Jim Belair (acting for Steve Hill) introduced our guest speakers. Steve shared a picture of himself performing important Probus business in Mexico.
Rich Leche planned to share a wonderful slide show to illustrate the work in this year's Imagefest 2020 which will be held at the Sid Williams Theatre on March 27th. Unfortunately technical difficulties prevented him from showing the slides. Tickets are available through the Sid Williams Box Office. There is also a static show of the images at the Pearl Ellis Gallery. Imagefest 2020 is a multimedia extravaganza of images and video clips set to music. The Comox Valley Photographic Society shares their passion for photography, showcasing people and places from both far away and close to home. This, the 10th annual production, promises to be the best ever. Rick is a member of the CV Photographic Society and Glacier Probus. The winner of the draw for two vouchers to Two Imagefest was Marilyn Owens-Jones.
Next up was Alan Brown on the topic "Beer Spies". Alan discovered as a university student that he didn't really like the taste of beer. That changed in 1985 when Alan tasted his first craft beer. At that precise moment, the heavens opened up, the glory shone down, the Choir Celestial sang and Alan fell to the ground crying tears of joy. Although he worked for many years in communications and administration, Alan always thought about a career in the craft brewing industry. He eventually returned to school to earn a diploma in Brewing Sciences. He worked at Black Oak Brewing in Toronto before joining the staff of Niagara College's Brew master and Brewery Operations Management program. In 2014, Alan won the Master Brewers Association of Canada "Iron Brewer" competition. Alan retired in 2016 and moved to Comox with his wife Elaine. He writes about the craft brewing industry on his blog, "Student of Beer", and teaches classes about beer at Elder College, and is a member of Glacier Probus.
Alan shared a short presentation from his History of Beer course from Elder College. He told us how two young sons of European beer brewers used subterfuge to learn how British breweries made a beer that was far superior to the beer made in small breweries on the continent. This beer was called British Pale Ale and was sold throughout the British Empire, but not in Europe. The "spies" returned to Europe and took over their fathers' breweries and transformed them to resemble the much larger breweries in Britain. The Austrian brewer called his new beer Lagerbier. In Germany they called this beer Oktoberfestbier. They became the most successful brewers in Europe.
Our third speaker was Jay Nadler on the topic Travel Insurance: What you need to know before you travel. Jay is an insurance specialist (but, no longer sells travel insurance.) For 15 of his 17 years in the industry he has owned his own independent brokerage that specializes in insurance based financial & estate planning for business owners and families. As part of Jay’s practice, he provided travel insurance for his clients. The policies ranged from basic emergency medical policies to complicated policies for people with existing medical conditions, for hazardous activities and for those travelling to dangerous locations. Jay moved to the Comox Valley in the beginning of 2017 and now owns a new brokerage called Naviguide. Jay continues to help business owners properly structure their group benefit plans, buy/ sell agreements, life policies and estate plans. He teaches a course on travel insurance at Elder College that expands on this topic.
Jay’s talk focused on the details of what travel insurance is and is not. Since insurance is mostly based on contract details, it is important that our members know how to determine if their insurance will actually cover their expenses when they leave our province or country.
The travel insurance business is very complex. There are many nuances that the consumer must be aware of. Insurance is a great tool for preventing accidental poverty. He gave examples of sample claims from American hospitals that ranged from $400,000 to $2,000,000 for fairly common medical procedures. He also emphasized the need for travel insurance even for interprovincial travel within Canada.
Important points - read your Contract. First two things you need to worry about are stability and eligibility. Stable means absolutely no change in your treatment - even as a result of an improvement. It includes even planned changes after your return. Consult your insurance provider with your specific questions. Get your answer in writing with employee names. The waiting period qualification for stability are also important.
If you purchase a policy where personal questions are asked be sure to read the completed application to ensure the questions have been answered accurately.
Always check your credit card travel insurance for age exclusions. Most policies only cover you if you also have provincial coverage - be careful to not opt out of BC MSP if you travel.
Read carefully about the need to contact the insurance company before seeking care - usually before seeking care (if you can speak for yourself), sometimes as soon as possible (48 hours). Seek information from you insurance provider before travelling for information about where the best place to seek care. When you print off your insurance coverage card put it someplace where it will be easily found if you are unable to locate it yourself.
Filing claims can be a challenge - some care providers will expect you to pay upfront and will not deal directly with your insurance provider. Be very careful to keep every scrap of documentation - included exchange rates. Usually your insurance company will negotiate with the hospital to pay the bill. Some American hospitals will 'rebill' later and send you a dunning letter saying your claim has not been paid. Do not pay - contact your insurance company and have them deal with the hospital.
Most insurance providers expect you to be stabilized and sent home. For us that may mean to the closest hospital once you enter your province of residence - i.e. Vancouver.
Covid-19. Always check travel.gc.ca for travel advisories because that will have an impact on your coverage. Currently there are many countries listed for Covid-19. The advisory means the date of departure, not the date you bought insurance.
Accidental Opt Outs: sky diving, race car driving, bungee jumping. Check your policy for this.
Other types of coverage: trip cancellation and trip interruption, extreme sports, baggage insurance, rental car insurance. Make sure all parts of your trip are covered - especially if you don't buy all parts of your trip at once.
Other things to consider: Premiums are based on age,
Where to buy insurance: Find a travel insurance independent advisor. They have a variety of policies available and will fit the coverage to your specific circumstances.
Be careful when making extended stays in the US that you don't become liable for non-residents tax.
Meeting adjourned at 4:10.
The next Monthly Gathering will be on Thursday, April 2, 2020 at 2:00 p.m.
We were delighted that Probus member Donna Crozier provided musical selections on her harp as members gathered and socialized. Many members of the Management Committee channeled their latent Irish ancestry with interesting accessories.
President Sandy Dreger welcomed everyone to the meeting at 2:35. Members were reminded for the need to sign our new waiver form and provide emergency contact information . John McGinn and Ron Watkins are collecting forms. Sandy reminded members that there are still two openings on the Executive - Vice President and Facilities director. There are volunteers lined up to help with facilities but a leader is needed
There are six tickets left for the Prisma Festival in Campbell River on June 27. Details have been circulated to members.
The bowling Special Events outing was very successful and the rescheduled Games night will be held on Tuesday, March 24. There are lots of spaces for games night.
Jim Belair asked for input for a special event "blindfolded" archery. He suggested that if you haven't tried it you "don't know what you are missing".
Jim Belair (acting for Steve Hill) introduced our guest speakers. Steve shared a picture of himself performing important Probus business in Mexico.
Rich Leche planned to share a wonderful slide show to illustrate the work in this year's Imagefest 2020 which will be held at the Sid Williams Theatre on March 27th. Unfortunately technical difficulties prevented him from showing the slides. Tickets are available through the Sid Williams Box Office. There is also a static show of the images at the Pearl Ellis Gallery. Imagefest 2020 is a multimedia extravaganza of images and video clips set to music. The Comox Valley Photographic Society shares their passion for photography, showcasing people and places from both far away and close to home. This, the 10th annual production, promises to be the best ever. Rick is a member of the CV Photographic Society and Glacier Probus. The winner of the draw for two vouchers to Two Imagefest was Marilyn Owens-Jones.
Next up was Alan Brown on the topic "Beer Spies". Alan discovered as a university student that he didn't really like the taste of beer. That changed in 1985 when Alan tasted his first craft beer. At that precise moment, the heavens opened up, the glory shone down, the Choir Celestial sang and Alan fell to the ground crying tears of joy. Although he worked for many years in communications and administration, Alan always thought about a career in the craft brewing industry. He eventually returned to school to earn a diploma in Brewing Sciences. He worked at Black Oak Brewing in Toronto before joining the staff of Niagara College's Brew master and Brewery Operations Management program. In 2014, Alan won the Master Brewers Association of Canada "Iron Brewer" competition. Alan retired in 2016 and moved to Comox with his wife Elaine. He writes about the craft brewing industry on his blog, "Student of Beer", and teaches classes about beer at Elder College, and is a member of Glacier Probus.
Alan shared a short presentation from his History of Beer course from Elder College. He told us how two young sons of European beer brewers used subterfuge to learn how British breweries made a beer that was far superior to the beer made in small breweries on the continent. This beer was called British Pale Ale and was sold throughout the British Empire, but not in Europe. The "spies" returned to Europe and took over their fathers' breweries and transformed them to resemble the much larger breweries in Britain. The Austrian brewer called his new beer Lagerbier. In Germany they called this beer Oktoberfestbier. They became the most successful brewers in Europe.
Our third speaker was Jay Nadler on the topic Travel Insurance: What you need to know before you travel. Jay is an insurance specialist (but, no longer sells travel insurance.) For 15 of his 17 years in the industry he has owned his own independent brokerage that specializes in insurance based financial & estate planning for business owners and families. As part of Jay’s practice, he provided travel insurance for his clients. The policies ranged from basic emergency medical policies to complicated policies for people with existing medical conditions, for hazardous activities and for those travelling to dangerous locations. Jay moved to the Comox Valley in the beginning of 2017 and now owns a new brokerage called Naviguide. Jay continues to help business owners properly structure their group benefit plans, buy/ sell agreements, life policies and estate plans. He teaches a course on travel insurance at Elder College that expands on this topic.
Jay’s talk focused on the details of what travel insurance is and is not. Since insurance is mostly based on contract details, it is important that our members know how to determine if their insurance will actually cover their expenses when they leave our province or country.
The travel insurance business is very complex. There are many nuances that the consumer must be aware of. Insurance is a great tool for preventing accidental poverty. He gave examples of sample claims from American hospitals that ranged from $400,000 to $2,000,000 for fairly common medical procedures. He also emphasized the need for travel insurance even for interprovincial travel within Canada.
Important points - read your Contract. First two things you need to worry about are stability and eligibility. Stable means absolutely no change in your treatment - even as a result of an improvement. It includes even planned changes after your return. Consult your insurance provider with your specific questions. Get your answer in writing with employee names. The waiting period qualification for stability are also important.
If you purchase a policy where personal questions are asked be sure to read the completed application to ensure the questions have been answered accurately.
Always check your credit card travel insurance for age exclusions. Most policies only cover you if you also have provincial coverage - be careful to not opt out of BC MSP if you travel.
Read carefully about the need to contact the insurance company before seeking care - usually before seeking care (if you can speak for yourself), sometimes as soon as possible (48 hours). Seek information from you insurance provider before travelling for information about where the best place to seek care. When you print off your insurance coverage card put it someplace where it will be easily found if you are unable to locate it yourself.
Filing claims can be a challenge - some care providers will expect you to pay upfront and will not deal directly with your insurance provider. Be very careful to keep every scrap of documentation - included exchange rates. Usually your insurance company will negotiate with the hospital to pay the bill. Some American hospitals will 'rebill' later and send you a dunning letter saying your claim has not been paid. Do not pay - contact your insurance company and have them deal with the hospital.
Most insurance providers expect you to be stabilized and sent home. For us that may mean to the closest hospital once you enter your province of residence - i.e. Vancouver.
Covid-19. Always check travel.gc.ca for travel advisories because that will have an impact on your coverage. Currently there are many countries listed for Covid-19. The advisory means the date of departure, not the date you bought insurance.
Accidental Opt Outs: sky diving, race car driving, bungee jumping. Check your policy for this.
Other types of coverage: trip cancellation and trip interruption, extreme sports, baggage insurance, rental car insurance. Make sure all parts of your trip are covered - especially if you don't buy all parts of your trip at once.
Other things to consider: Premiums are based on age,
Where to buy insurance: Find a travel insurance independent advisor. They have a variety of policies available and will fit the coverage to your specific circumstances.
Be careful when making extended stays in the US that you don't become liable for non-residents tax.
Meeting adjourned at 4:10.
The next Monthly Gathering will be on Thursday, April 2, 2020 at 2:00 p.m.