May Luncheon & CE

Please join the Fort Worth Association of Health Underwriters on Thursday, May 13^th, 2010 for our Monthly Luncheon + 1 Hour of Continuing Education

Our luncheon speaker will be Lt. Col. (Ret.) Brian Birdwell, who is running for Texas State Senator in District 22. Our CE speaker will be Danielle Kunkle, who will talk about the 2010 Medicare Supplement changes. Lunch begins at 11:30 with the CE starting around 1pm. Following the lunch and CE, please stick around for a social hour / networking event. FWAHU meets at Rolling Hills Country Club in Arlington.

Click HERE to RSVP

Small Group Agent Certification (8 hours) Coming to Fort Worth!

Many of you have seen the recent announcement from the Dallas Association of Health Underwriters about the new 8 hour small group agent certification that they are offering May 14^th.  We’ve received a number of calls, emails, and texts asking if we’ll be offering the class in Fort Worth, and the answer is YES!!  Misty Baker, who created the special certification class, will be coming to Fort Worth in the next couple months (June or July) to provide the course to Fort Worth members. This will be a separate event held on a different day than our normal meeting. As soon as we have more details we’ll let you know.

Join FWAHU on LinkedIn

FWAHU now has a group on LinkedIn! Please consider joining to network with your peers and learn about upcoming events. Just search for Fort Worth Association of Health Underwriters in the Groups section of LinkedIn.

FWAHU Text Alerts

Stay in the know – sign up for text alerts on the FWAHU website.  We’ll begin sending text reminders about upcoming events next week to those who register.  (Note: standard text messaging rates apply – check with your carrier.)

About our Luncheon speaker, Brian Birdwell

Lt. Col. (Ret.) Brian Birdwell is a native Texan, decorated military veteran, and lifelong conservative Republican whose story of survival and recovery following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon has inspired people around the nation. On March 18, he announced his candidacy for Texas State Senator in District 22.

A resident of Granbury, Brian is a 1984 graduate of Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. Upon graduating as the Distinguished Military Graduate through the Army ROTC program, he was commissioned as a Field Artillery officer and began his service in the United States Army at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. Brian served in numerous locations around the world, including South Korea and Germany, and from coast to coast in the United States. His assignments included numerous training deployments and two operational deployments. In 1990, he deployed to Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm during the first Gulf War (Desert Storm), and he was awarded the Bronze Star for Exceptional Meritorious Achievement. In 1998 he deployed to Central America as the J3 (Joint Operations Officer) for JTF Aguila to conduct humanitarian operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch. At the time of the Pentagon attack, Brian served on the Department of the Army staff as the military aide to the Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management.

On September 11, 2001, when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed just yards away from his second floor Pentagon office, Brian was thrown to the ground and engulfed in flames. Of the burns that covered 60 percent of his body, nearly half were third degree in severity. On his second day in the hospital, he received a surprise visit from his Commander in Chief, President George W. Bush.

Today, following 39 operations, months of hospitalization and numerous skin grafts, and the undying support of his wife Mel, Brian has made a miraculous recovery. Despite physical limitations, he testifies not only to his physical healing, but also to his spiritual healing-the ultimate miracle of grace through Christ. For his wounds at the Pentagon, he was awarded the Purple Heart, and upon retirement received the Legion of Merit Award. Col. Birdwell was also part of the 2nd Armored Calvary Battle Group which received the Valorous Unit Award for its action at the Battle of the 73 Easting inside Iraq when the lead elements of 7th Corps hit Saddam Hussein\’s Republican Guard. He is a graduate of Command and General Staff College and holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

After his retirement from the U.S. Army, Brian and his wife, Mel, launched Face The Fire Ministries, a non-profit organization that supports critical burn survivors and wounded servicemen and women and their families. Together, Brian and Mel authored \”Refined by Fire: A Family\’s Triumph of Love and Faith,\” which chronicles their life-changing ordeal. Brian has served as a national speaker for WallBuilders, a pro-family organization that presents America\’s religious, moral, and constitutional heritage. He has been a guest on Fox News, NBC Today Show, CBS Early Show, CNN News, a panelist on Hannity\’s Great American Panel and has been profiled in media outlets such as the Washington Post, U.S. News and World Report, and the Los Angeles Times.

A lifelong Republican, Birdwell was a featured speaker at the 2006 Republican State Convention in San Antonio and was Keynote Speaker for the 2007 Texas State Presidential Straw Poll in Ft. Worth. He was a 2008 delegate to the RPT State Convention in Houston and is Immediate Past Vice President of the Hood County Republican Club. In announcing his candidacy for state senate, Birdwell said, \”Texas faces great challenges in the next session on issues ranging from the budget, standing up to an overreaching and out of control federal government, and preserving the conservative values which have made Texas the envy of the nation. Citizens can count on me to be a conservative champion on these issues.\” Brian and Mel have been married for 22 years and they have one son, Matt, who is a junior at Texas Tech. They attend Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury.

About our CE speaker, Danielle Kunkle

Danielle Kunkle is the co-owner of Consumer Benefits Group, LLP, a family-owned agency specializing in Texas Medicare related insurance products. She is also the co-founder of ComedyCE.com, a continuing education company whose goal is to make learning fun.

As a Medicare Supplement Accredited Advisor and a member of the National Association of Medicare Supplement Advisors, Danielle’s primary focus is in providing Medicare education for Texas beneficiaries, so that they can make informed choices about their coverage. In 2008, she was one of only a handful of agents in the nation to be named a recipient of the AARP/Aetna Service Superstar Award.

As an independent agent, she serves her fellow agents and consumers by sitting on the board of directors for the Fort Worth chapter of NAHU, where she was named Outstanding Member of the Year in 2008, Recruiter of the Year in 2009, and also won the state’s Membership Growth Award in 2009. She regularly writes magazine and newsletter articles for our organization, which as you know, has a strong focus on providing consumers with ethical and honest service so that they can access quality affordable healthcare coverage.

Danielle is a summa cum laude graduate of Texas Christian University. In her spare time, she participates in volunteer activities for the Dallas County Susan G. Komen Foundation Race for the Cure, the TCU Guild, and a number of other local community organizations.

About the CE Presentation

As part of the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, Congress included language to encourage the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to modernize the Medigap market. The NAIC followed through and did review the plans to determine areas where they could improve standardization of the plans.

With the recent health reform legislation, it’s difficult to keep up with all of the coming changes, but the best way to learn about them is one piece at a time. The purpose of this course is to provide attendees with an overview of the current Medigap plans and explain the coming changes so they can be ready to accurately educate consumers about the new options available to them.

Course Name:        2010 Modernized Medicare Supplement Plans

Course Number:     80239

Provider Name:      Agent Allies, LLC

Provider Number:  33714