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History of NEALR:
The Roots of The New England Association
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters chartered the Teamsters Local 251
Retirees Chapter in April of 1988. In April of 1992 John A. Pernorio was elected
President. One of Mr. Pernorio’s first orders of business was a pledge to
transform the retiree organization form a socially oriented club to a service
organization. There was growing concern that many older retirees were living on
a pension less than $300 a month. It became clear to the leadership of the
retiree organization that many members were forced to make a choice between food
and shelter and needed medicines and health care. Declining purchasing power and
escalating expenses for prescription drugs made the problem severe for many
members. Unfortunately the Retiree Chapter does not have sufficient assets to
pay for actual health benefits. However, in the spirit of new organizational
goals, over the next several years discount dental, vision, and hearing aid
services were established. These programs are essentially a network of
professional offices willing to provide fee discounts ranging from 20 to 30% to
retiree chapter members who could present to the office their membership card.
These programs grew in popularity and resulted in a steady growth of retiree
chapter membership.
Also in 1993, Mr. Pernorio contacted Dr. Joseph Boffa DDS MPH of Boston
University. This initial contact in fact turned out to be the start of an
ongoing working relationship between Boston University and the retiree’s
chapters that continues to this day. What they discussed was the putting
together of a network of dental offices in Rhode Island and Southeastern
Massachusetts that were willing to offer Teamsters retirees a fee discount.
Recruiting of dental offices began in January of 1993 and by March of 1993, a
dental fee discount program was announced to the Teamsters retirees. The fee
discounts offered substantial savings for dental services provided by several
dental providers in Rhode Island. Teamsters Retiree Chapter Local 251
(Providence) did experience membership growth indicating that providing members
access to health care service discounts was a powerful inducement for
enrollment. As membership increased, the ability to negotiate discounts was also
enhanced. In turn pharmacy and vision discount services were also instituted.
All these programs helped retiree members save up to 20 to 30% in their dental,
vision, and pharmacy needs.
Continued on page 2
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