It's November, which means Federal Benefits Open Season is almost here. Today, Maddie and Kyle discuss health insurance, dental and vision insurance, and flexible spending account options before diving into changes for the Foreign Service Benefit Plan for 2025. This is just the start of AFSPA's Open Season work. Please find more information at www.afspa.org/openseason. Join us for a webinar or other event throughout Open Season. You can find the full list of webinars at www.af...

To wrap up life insurance awareness month, we have another episode. Our focus today is on the open enrollment period AFSPA is offering from October 1 through December 1 for our Group Enhanced Life (GEL) program and our Immediate Benefit Plan (IBP). AFSPA Sr. Director for Ancillary Insurance Programs Adrienne Coleman-Seabrooks returns to the program to walk us through the details of these programs, what open enrollment means, and how you can take advantage. For more information, visit www...

September is Life Insurance Awareness Month (LIAM), and we are kicking things off with a focus on millennials. With our guest, Nicole Devlin from Prudential, we discuss the needs of this population and why now might be the best time for them to consider this important part of their financial portfolio. This episode is just the start of a busy month. Join us for more events, all available at www.afspa.org/events. What You Should Know About Life Insurance webinar on 9/17 at 8 AM...

It’s August, and for many families, that means preparing for a return to school. This can be a challenge for kids and parents. Changing routines, decreasing free time, and, for many of our members, new locations can make for bumpy August and September. Our guests today, working from Brightline Health, will provide some strategies for families to ease the return to school for everyone. Learn more about Brightline Health and sign up for it at www.hellowbrightline.com/fsbp. (Brightlin...

In this episode, we talk with John McQuillan from Teladoc Health UK. He walks us through the care and consultation options available to Foreign Service Benefit Plan (FSBP) members outside the U.S. for general medical and mental health needs. He offers some examples that will be familiar to many of our members worldwide. These benefits are branded as vHealth (Worldwide) in the FSBP Brochure Sections 5(a) and 5(e): https://www.afspa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2024_FSBP_Brochure_-...

It's Pride Month, and we're talking with Alyssa Clayden, PhD, LCSW. She first joined us in 2021 to discuss support for LGBTQ+ youth, and we're exploring the same topic in this episode. Our focus is on how parents and other family members and allies can support children and adolescents who are exploring their identities in terms of sexual attraction and gender identity. We take some time to discuss what parents may experience and how this support can be different in the U.S. and...

May is mental health awareness month. Just as many factors can influence our mental health, there are a variety of support programs and treatment options to explore. Today, we welcome Jennifer Pertofsky-Plotnek, LCSW-C, CDCES, NCB-HWC. She is currently the Director of Coaching at Teladoc Health. Jennifer talks us through the differences between counseling and coaching. She provides details on the coaching available to Foreign Service Benefit Plan (FSBP) members at no cost through two Te...

In this episode, AFSPA CEO Kyle Longton, CAE, REBC addresses some of the most frequent questions AFSPA has received about the FSBP Express Scripts Medicare Prescription Drug Plan, or PDP. While he touches on some basics of the PDP, you can learn more about the specific PDP benefits from our October 23, 2023 podcast and our November 30, 2023 AFSPA Live (see links below). Kyle will address questions about Medicare during AFSPA Live on March 30, 2024 at 11 ET. If you would like your question to...

In this episode, AFSPA CEO Kyle Longton provides a comprehensive overview of how Medicare and the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) program work together. Learn about each part of Medicare - A, B, C, and D - and what factors you should consider when deciding whether to enroll in Part B.  Please note: this presentation addresses only how Medicare and FEHB work together. It is not intended for audiences beyond those with FEHB coverage. The information is accurate as of March 2024.  For...

With this episode, we continue our February focus on fertility. For some people receiving treatment for diagnoses of infertility, prescription drugs can account for half the costs of their treatment. Ensuring on-time delivery of the drugs, understanding how to administer them, and having a resource for understanding the side effects are key to one's starting any new drug therapy. FSBP has partnered with Freedom Fertility Pharmacy, part of the Evernorth family, to provide all of this and more...

Our focus for the month of February is on fertility. We'll have more content later this month about the enhanced infertility coverage under the Foreign Service Benefit Plan for 2024. Today, though, we are talking about coverage for contraception. All of the information in the podcast comes from Sections 5a, 5b, and 5f and Section 7 of the 2024 FSBP Brochure available at https://www.afspa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2024_FSBP_Brochure_-RI-72-001_Final_1.8.2024.pdf.  To initiate the...

In this episode of AFSPA Talks, we discuss a new solution from Teladoc. Lisa DeLarso joins us to share about Virtual Primary Care. Primary360 is a virtual primary care solution that inspires lasting relationships between people and care providers through longitudinal care plans, continuous care team support, and a unified, whole-person experience. Primary360 offers a solution that isn’t always available with traditional care—including personalization, flexibility, choice, convenience, and...

To kick off our 2024 podcasts, we have an episode focused on one of the new programs available to FSBP members: Maven Clinic. Maven is a comprehensive virtual care platform providing critical support across fertility, pregnancy, adoption, parenting, pediatrics, and ongoing care including all stages of menopause. This program became available to FSBP members on January 1 at no cost.  Marcy Cuneo and Teresa Wilkinson from Maven join AFSPA Talks to provide an overview of what Maven offers and...

With today's episode, we address the most frequently asked questions on open season. A panel of AFSPA experts joins to provide answers and clarity on changes for 2024.    For more information on open season, please visit www.afspa.org/openseason  To contact the infertility prior approval line, call 1-800-593-2354.  To contact the Plan's fertility advocate, call 1-833-415-1709.  For more information about the FSBP Express Scripts Medicare Prescription Drug Plan, visit www.afspa.org/pdp. You...

Today, Kyle and Maddie discuss the 2024 open season with a particular focus on the improvements under FSBP. In particular, their discussion focuses on:  Increases in the allowance for alternative benefits: massage, acupuncture, and chiropractic services; Expansion in the coverage of infertility services; and The new Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) Don't miss other upcoming open-season events. Find all of our events at www.afspa.org/events.    We couldn't fit all the information...

There are an increasing number of diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in both children and adults. Despite the prevalence of this diagnosis, many do not understand this condition. Today, we welcome a health coach from Brightline Health who will walk through the basics of ADHD including behaviors, symptoms and treatments. Our guest discusses the support offered by Brightline Health, an in-network, stateside provider for Foreign Service Benefit Plan members.  Learn...

Beginning in January 2024, many Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) plans will be offering a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) to their members. The Foreign Service Benefit Plan will be among them. This program will result in savings for our members aged 65 and older. Join us for a detailed discussion of PDPs generally and the specifics of the FSBP PDP.  Mark your calendars for two upcoming discussions of the FSBP PDP:  October 31, at 12 noon ET - We will offer a live...

In 2021, we offered an episode diving into the various options that are available for long-term care insurance. Shortly after we aired that program, the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIS or LTCFEDS) stopped accepting new applications and enrollments and changes to existing enrollments, and the stoppage is expected to last through at least December 2024. At the same time, the program is going through a contract renewal which is resulting in premium increases for many...

Today, AFSPA welcomes Dr. Kandis Daroski, PT, DPT, to our show to discuss a new offering from Hinge Health: their Women's Pelvic Health program. Dr. Kandis talks through common pelvic floor issues and how they manifest themselves and how they are typically treated (or more commonly not). She then talks through the innovative solution offered for treating pelvic floor disorders - remote exercise and physical therapy from Hinge Health. This program is available to FSBP members beginning October...

For many of us, the end of August means a return to school. That transition can come with a number of changes and challenges. Today, we explore some of the mental health challenges that may arise and how parents can promote mental wellness for their kids of all ages. Jodi Harris, LCSW, of Active and Connected Family Therapy brings her unique experience as both a mental health professional working with Foreign Service families and an EFM herself to the discussion.  Jodi also will be our guest...

Skin cancer is the most common cancer and 1 in 5 Americans will be diagnosed with it in their lifetime. As we spend more time in the sun due to summertime, it is important to know the different types of skin cancer, how to prevent it, and what treatments are available. To help us understand more about skin cancer, we have Leah B. Jacobson, Sr. Medical Director at Aetna joining us. Links discussed in today's episode: UV Awareness blog:...

It's summer, and for many of us, that means some travel. These days, travel is rarely without some interruption or challenge, and there's help available when the unexpected becomes inevitable. AFSPA's Sr. Director for Ancillary Insurance Programs Adrienne Seabrooks joins us to help demystify travel insurance and tell us what to look for when considering policies. This month, AFSPA wants to see your best vacation or travel photos. The photos don't have to be from 2023, and they don't have to...

This episode has been in the works for more than a month. April was Autism Awareness Month. Approximately 1 in 36 people are diagnosed with autism, but many of us understand little about the diagnosis. Today, Heather Buzbee of Brightline Health joins us to share her experience as a practitioner and a parent and help us understand this condition. In this interview, we learn about diagnoses, the uniqueness of each person diagnosed with autism, prevalent struggles faced by people with autism,...

This week, we bring you an overview of health topics for the month of May: Mental Health Awareness Month, Blood Pressure Awareness Month, Better Speech and Hearing Month, and Women’s Health Week. There are a number of programs mentioned in this episode, and here are links to those:   AFSPA’s events calendar: www.afspa.org/events AFSPA’s blog: www.afspa.org/blogs myStrength: www.mystrength.com – access code FSBP AbleTo: www.AbleTo.com Brightline: www.hellobrightline.com/FSBP Teladoc (U.S.):...