Member Benefits…

Hi all-

Starting today – Sunday, 8/5/12 – there are a number of LTA folks at the CTA Summer Leadership Conference at UCLA.  We’ll be here all week learning more about things like the Common Core standards, school finance and (me) member benefits and community involvement.  One thing I’m looking forward to is finding out about benefits that we already have access to but don’t use, ways we can save money or get something more than we do now.  Money’s tight.  We should be taking advantage of everything we can to get the most out of our LTA, CTA and NEA memberships.  I’ll try to keep a running list of the benefits I learn about here on the website.

Download CTA Member Benefits Handbook

Download NEA Member Benefits Handbook

LTA/CTA/NEA Benefits You May Not Know About

[Began with an interesting discussion of how companies endorsed by CTA and/or NEA are vetted and supervised.  They also pointed out that marketing, etc. done by these companies are paid for by the companies and NOT by our CTA/NEA dues.]

  1. CTA/NEA Educators Employment Liability [FREE, and you’re already signed up whether you know it or not] – up to $1,000,000 in liability coverage for things that happen at school, $35,000 for criminal cases, $1,000 bail bond, $500 for assault related property damage.  I’m not qualified to explain the details, but see for yourself; download the Certificate of Insurance at CTA.org, go to Member Services, then go to Legal Services and you’ll see the download for the certificate.  Or just download it here.
  2. CTA Death & Dismemberment Plan [FREE!] – I know it’s kinda’ grim, but, hey, free life insurance.  $2,000 for anything, $10,000 for accidental death/dismemberment, $50,000 if it’s on the job.  All you have to do is sign up.  Go to CTA.org, sign in, and designate your beneficiaries.  [You can also update your own address, phone number, etc. when you sign into your CTA account.]
  3. NEA Complimentary Life Insurance [FREE!] – More life insurance.  $1000 for anything, $5,000 for accidental death/dismemberment, $50,000 if it’s on the job, $150,000 for “unlawful homicide while on the job” (gulp).  Again, all you have to do is sign up.  Go to NEAMB.com (“NEA Member Benefits”), sign in, and designate your beneficiaries.  (Out of 300+ members, we currently only have about 100 who have designated beneficiaries.)
  4. CTA Disaster Relief Funds – Grants for teachers who suffer losses from natural disasters.
  5. Vision Discount Program through VSP for members of CTA-Retired.  20% off doctors’ fees, 20% off glasses, 15% off contact-lense exam fees, 15% off laser vision surgery.

So that’s the FREE stuff.  There are also a bunch of programs like low interest rate credit cards and loans, lower cost car and home insurance, etc. that we can take advantage of as members of CTA and NEA.  These aren’t free but could potentially save you money.

  1. CTA Group Voluntary Life Insurance through the Standard Insurance Company – CTA.org/thestandard.  If the free life insurance above isn’t enough for you, Standard offers $25,000-$400,000 in coverage for members, spouses (spice?), domestic partners, and dependents.  If you already have life insurance, you might look into the costs vs. benefits of your plan vs. what’s available here, and if you don’t have life insurance, should you have it?  Download the Standard Guidebook.
  2. CTA Group Voluntary Disability Insurance, also through the Standard Insurance Company.  Pays up to 75% of your lost salary if you’re out on disability.  They also seem to have some opportunities for folks with pre-exisiting conditions to participate without having to get medical exams or anything.  Download the Standard Guidebook.
  3. CTA Well-Baby Program – If you’re in one of the two voluntary programs above, Life Insurance or Disability Insurance, and you’re in the first 20 weeks of a pregnancy, you qualify for CTA Well-Baby, which includes 24-hour phone access to nurses at the Mayo Clinic and a free Mayo Clinic pregnancy book.  Download the Well-Baby Guide.
  4. CTA Auto and Home Insurance Program through California Casualty – calcas.com/cta.  Good rates, often lower than other companies because of your CTA discount, discounts for doing both home and auto wit them, no deductible if your car is broken into or vandalized at school, summer skip plans available so you won’t have payments in summer.  Download California Casualty Ad.
  5. CTA Financial Services -through Provident Credit Union – providentcu.org/100cta.  Low interest mortgage loans, summer skip-a-pay loans, and personal loans for CTA members.
  6. CTA Credit Card Services through Bank of America – applyonlinenow.com/us/CTA/.  A couple of different cards, one a cash-back card and one travel-miles card.  Supposedly have good rates.
  7. CTA Travel, Entertainment and Purchasing Discounts through TSA – tsaspecialservices.com.  These are the folks who sell discount tickets to amusement parks and the movies.  Download TSA Guide.
  8. CTA Rental Car Program through Enterprise – enterprise.com, company = CTA, account number = NACA068.  Did you know we got discounts at Enterprise?  I didn’t.
  9. NEA Rental Car Program.  Alamo – neamb.com/travel/alamo-car-rental-discount.htm, Enterprise – neamb.com/travel/enterprise-car-rental-discount.htm, and Hertz – neamb.com/travel/hertz-car-rental-discount.htm.  People seem to be falling all over themselves to rent us cars!
  10. NEA Home Appliance Discount through Whirlpool – neamb.com/shopping-discounts/nea-whirlpool-vip-link.htm.

And tons more stuff.  CTA’s website is pretty good, but DANG! NEA just did a tone of work and the NEAMB.com website is amazing.  Lots of stuff and really easy to use.  Probably worth a visit before any trip or big project around your house.  Enjoy!

Download CTA Member Benefits Handbook

Download NEA Member Benefits Handbook

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