With the 2009 Daytona 500 in the books, spring cannot be far off. Next comes Mardi gras, St Pat’s day, and tax day. The Daytona 500 was rain shorten so I am feeling a little cheated this Monday morning. Although the race went 400 of the 500 miles the last 50 miles is always the most exciting. It’s on to CA no offense to our CA folks, but CA is for surfing, hiking, wine tasting and movie stars not NASCAR racing. At least they should not have rain, “it never rains in Southern CA.”
Spring or mid-winter is a good time to check on your credit health. Your are entitled to a free copy of your credit report each year. It is a good idea to verify your current accounts and make sure there is no unauthorized activity. We at MAH are taking steps to ensure your information is secure but you should also monitor your credit reports. The Federal Trade Commission has complete information on their web site www. FTC.gov

It is hard to believe that we are already in the second month of 2009. It seems like 2008 just started. My how time flies when you are having fun. This year is going to be an exciting and busy one in the Recruiting Department. We have  wonderful career opportunities available, which we are diligently working to fill. We also have several career fairs and dental conferences we will be attending. A couple to look forward to are the IDA Conference in May and the ODA conference in August. OH, how those warm and sunny months sound so nice…

Mid America Health, Inc. is a national leader in the delivery of cost effective on-site dental services.
MAH’s portable units provide the following:
*Cost Savings – Our portable units are ususally less expensive than the cost of traditional dental appointments – and we come to you!
* Fixed Dental Costs – You will be able to budget an entire year of dental costs and maintain your budget. We do not charge a fee per service. Rather, we offer billing on a flat-rate schedule. We charge one price for the entire day – no matter how many patients we see or how many procedures we perform.
* Comprehensive On-site Dental Services – No more dental trips out. We bring all our equipment, supplies and our personnel to you.
* Reduced Security Risk – Since you no longer need to transport offenders off-site, there is no security risk involved in their transportation.
If  you would like to schedule a one-time free visit or if you would like more information, please contact Cassandra Wuensch at 888-309-8239 or via email at cwuensch@mahweb.com.

I am looking forward to making the trip to Fort Wayne this Friday, February 13th for the Isaac Knapp District Dental Society meeting. Mid America Health will have a booth set up in the exhibitor hall and we will be looking forward to seeing you there! I am hoping this warm weather will hold out until weeks end. What a taste of Spring. I must say if there is a such thing as spring fever, I have it!!

Last Friday I had the opportunity to go on my first “site visit” at Wabash Valley Correctional Institution, near Terre Haute, Indiana.  Although the clinic was not seeing patients, it was interesting to see how everything was set up and to learn about the clinic and how it operates. Because I primarily function in the Military division of MAH, I was pretty close to clueless about the operational side of the DOC division.

The prison itself was not what I expected. My only look into a prison before Friday was through the TV screen. My main concern based on my TV education was security; feeling safe and segregated from the offenders– I wore shoes I could run in, just in case. I felt and the inmates were not menacing as I had feared they would be. Overall, it was an educational and positive experience.

I did learn a valuable lesson: when dealing with a metal detector, don’t wear an underwire.

Just a Quick Reminder: Open Enrollment period has expired!

At this point, you cannot make changes or additions to your benefits unless:

• you are a new hire within your first 90 days of employment
• you have experienced a “qualifying life event” such as loss of coverage from another source, birth of a child, marriage, or divorce

Your next opportunity to make changes to your benefits will be during  Open Enrollment 2010 which will take place in October/November 2009 to be effective January 1, 2010.

Please keep in mind that you can enroll in 401k at any time. This is the one benefit that does not have a time-sensitive enrollment. Now is a great time to begin a 401k if you don’t already have one because stock shares are bieng sold at low prices, thus you can get “more for your money”.

What a weekend!! The Ground Hog predicted 6 more weeks but could have fooled me. The weather was so pleasant I had to get the old Harley out for a ride. Along with the spring fever comes tax time. Everyone should have received their W2 by this date. If you have not received it contact us so that we can research the issue. This is also a good time to verify your exemptions and make sure your withholdings are correct. No one likes to find out they owe a lot of taxes at the end of the year. Those with spouse’s that work or may have a second income should be aware of the tax issues of the added income. Sometimes you can find yourself under reporting. If you are unsure consult a tax advisor.
One of the things we did to help keep the cost of benefits down was to move to a new administrator for the dental program. We are no longer using Delta Dental but under Guardian. One new item Guardian has brought to the table is a website each employee can use to track payments and get benefit information. I would suggest that everyone log in and set up a user name. Simply go to www.GuardianAnytime.com and select self register and follow the instructions.