A Letter From The President
To each of my fellow NYSAHU members, I would like to extend my thanks to you for allowing me the opportunity to serve as your President this year. The first thing I need to say is that it is an honor to take the reins of this organization from our Past –President, Dan Colacino, an amazingly dedicated and gifted leader whose vision has made NYSAHU one of the true success stories in all of NAHU today.
I have spent the past 17 years of my life working in the healthcare industry in New York. I have met many of you over the years, and you have shaped my life or my career in very positive ways. I am grateful to each of you for the role that you have played in my life. I can say with a large degree of certainty that change is all around us. The 2008 election has already proven that healthcare is a concern for all Americans and New Yorkers and we need to continue our fight to reform and positively shape our current system so it is more affordable and assessable to all. It is our duty to educate our legislative bodies about our industry to help them make informed decisions. We have a responsibility to be honest and truthful at all times. Above all, we should value the respect that has been given to us and accept the challenges that lie ahead of us with an open mind, a kind spirit, and a keen sense of action. It is through our actions that we will prove that we are the leaders in our given field, and that we know better than anyone else in this country how to repair the issues within the healthcare industry.
Over the next year, my number one goal will be to establish clear communication channels that will unite our chapters from Western New York (Rochester-Buffalo) to Greater Central New York (Syracuse- Utica, I live in the Utica area), Northeast New York (Albany Region) to the Downstate Chapter ( Greater NYC). I vow to each of you that when this year is over, we will have a solid communication infrastructure that allows each of you to communicate with your peers with the simple push of a button or the click of a mouse. We will have a website, thanks to the amazing efforts of Barb Wagner and others, that will become a tool so valuable that each you find yourself visiting us on a regular basis to look for information that adds value in what you do each day.
We will continue to remain active in the legislative process to ensure that our voice is heard across New York as well as in Washington, D.C. For those who may not be aware, NYSAHU has made the investment to back our legislative goals by utilizing the talents of our lobbyist Tom Faist, a truly talented individual who has truly helped us to become infinitely more visible and respected in Albany, New York City or wherever else we may need him to be throughout the state. If your local chapter ever invites him to speak at your membership meeting I would highly recommend attending he is truly a gifted speaker as well.
I urge each of you to become more involved in NAHU, NYSAHU and your local chapter to ensure that our voice continues to be heard! Please provide candid and critical feedback to your local Presidents on what we can do at the state level to better support your “grassroots” efforts, and I commit to you that we will implement change beginning at the local level. Each of our local Presidents has been empowered to make decisions that need to be made. The team is working together harder than ever to ensure that our chapters unite with one voice! I have made a commitment that we make whatever resources that our local chapters need available to them, and I intend to keep that promise to your local leaders.
Lastly, like all successful organizations we need to continue growing and we need to get our message out to those non-members. I have heard various reasons over the years why someone hasn’t yet joined, in fact I heard some of these during a recent membership meeting at a local chapter “I’m just starting out and it’s too expensive”, “My employer doesn’t pay for it”, and “I’m too busy to attend the meetings so why join”. To non-members I say, enough already! It is time to step up and participate for the greater good of your profession. It’s up to each of us to give back, invest in yourself and the future of your industry so that we can continue to serve our clients and the consumer. Did you know that our association is the only one that advocates specifically for the health insurance agent? If you are unable to pay the annual fee of $295 at one time, did you know you can pay monthly by credit card for less than $25 per month?
Here is a quote attributed to Theodore Roosevelt that does not ring more true than for those of us in this industry.
“Every man owes a part of his time and money to the business or industry in which he is engaged. No man has a moral right to withhold his support from an organization that is striving to improve conditions within his sphere” .
I am looking forward to the year ahead, and I want to thank you again for this wonderful
honor! Let’s make it happen together!!
Regards,
Ross W. Kraft
President
New York State Association of Health Underwriters
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