Last year, I was attending a national meeting when, during a question and answer period, a gentleman from the audience asked, “If I pay my state association dues and I pay my national association dues, why do I have to write letters and make phone calls?” At first, I was taken aback by what I thought was a question with such an obvious answer. After all, I had just completed two years as vice president of the Florida Association of Medical Equipment Services and was finishing up my first year as president. And here was this man asking, essentially, what have these associations done for me? To me, the answer was clear. Associations offer support, advocacy, and in some cases, protection for their members. Such...