Conference Insurance Savings
On Conference insurance? Want to pay less? There’s an important deadline coming up on August 31st!
Don’t forget to complete the Health Check online assessment and the Blueprint for Wellness® health screening by August 31. When you complete the Health Check, you avoid a higher HealthFlex deductible in 2024, and when you complete the Blueprint for Wellness, you earn $100 Pulse Cash. These programs do not apply to retired clergy/lay members over age 65.
To take the Health Check, log into your Virgin Pulse® account through the website or app, select the “Health” tab, and then choose “Health Check.” If you have a spouse who also is covered by HealthFlex (including spouses of retired clergy and laity who are under 65 ), they must also take the Health Check to avoid a higher deductible. Retired clergy and laity over age 65 cannot take the Health Check. The higher deductible will be $250 extra for individual coverage and $500 extra for family coverage in 2024.
Schedule the Blueprint for Wellness by logging in to your Virgin Pulse® account online or via the app, selecting the “Benefits” tab, and searching for Quest Blueprint for Wellness Screening. You can also call 1-855-623-9355 to register.
Here are a few important reminders about the Health Check and Blueprint for Wellness:
- You must be registered with Virgin Pulse to take the Health Check. Registration also is required at the time of your Blueprint for Wellness screening to receive the $100 Pulse Cash.
- If you or your covered spouse have not yet registered for Virgin Pulse, sign up here: Virgin Pulse – Welcome.
Please disregard this message if you and your spouse (if covered) have already taken the Health Check and Blueprint for Wellness this year. Visit nccumc.org/treasurer/insurance to learn more.
Moved to a New Appointment?
Don’t forget to find a new primary care doctor and new specialists, including a new mental health counselor!
- Resource for finding a new doctor covered by conference health insurance: Blue Cross Blue Shield – Find Care.
- Resource for finding a new doctor: Choosing a New Doctor.
Medicaid Expansion Update
On March 27, 2023, Gov. Roy Cooper signed Medicaid expansion into law for North Carolina after 13 years of debate. This makes North Carolina the 40th state to adopt Medicaid expansion.
While this is a big step forward toward Medicaid expansion, it is important to know that expansion is not a done deal. Funding the expansion is part of a comprehensive state budget bill. The budget was due by July 1, but protracted negotiations over issues such as tax cuts and casino gambling have stalled progress.
“If the budget is passed by the end of August, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary will be able to begin Medicaid expansion on Oct. 1. If it isn’t approved by then, the start date would have to be pushed back to Dec. 1 or later. That leaves lawmakers about three weeks to reach a deal on the budget.” – Laura Leslie, WRAL News Capital Bureau Chief
What can you do?
- Educate yourself on and continue to advocate for Medicaid expansion to be included in the NC budget.
- Help ensure that Medicaid expansion is not removed from the budget during upcoming budget negotiations.
- Keep advocating for Medicaid expansion until the budget is passed.
- Please reach out to your state lawmakers and encourage them to ensure that the expansion of Medicaid happens by October 1st. They can do this by passing a state budget in August or changing the language around Medicaid expansion to ensure that it is passed without being contingent on the passage of the state budget.
Learn more: NC Health Secretary Pushes for Medicaid Expansion
COVID Update
In conversation with Dr. Wes Wallace, adjunct professor in emergency medicine at the UNC School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, this month, we learned that COVID cases are once more on the rise. The newest COVID variant is more contagious but less severe. We have seen a pattern of a rise in COVID during the summer for the last 3 summers. The good news is that this summer spike is expected to be a smaller wave than seen in previous summers.
Epidemiologist Katelin Jetalina suggests that based on previous summer waves, we should expect 10-15% of the national population to contract COVID-19 during this wave. This lower percentage is due in part to the fact that 78% of the United States population has been infected with COVID, and at the end of 2022, 98% of the U.S. population has COVID antibodies either from infection or vaccination. We are also seeing fewer cases this summer because we are not dealing with dramatically new variants of COVID. Most current cases of COVID in the U.S. are from relatives of the Omicron variant.
There has been a recent increase in hospital admissions — 239 hospitalizations in NC in the first week of August for COVID. To put that in perspective, 5-10 hospital admissions at UNC med center were for COVID out of approximately 1,000 beds. Overall, this is still a low level of hospital admissions but an increase from recent months. COVID continues to have the biggest effect on seniors — two-thirds of hospital admissions are among seniors. Seniors, especially, are encouraged to get their bivalent booster. The FDA says a new vaccine will be available in October, but everyone, especially seniors, should make sure that they are up to date on their vaccine boosters now.
Don’t forget you can continue to protect yourself from COVID by getting a Paxlovid prescription if you contract COVID, wearing a mask for safety, and ventilating worship spaces. This is especially important for seniors and others at-risk for COVID. Finally, please note that the federal government has extended the expiration dates on COVID at-home tests.
Faith & The Overdose Crisis
Thursday, August 31, 7 – 8 p.m., online
Partners in Health and Wholeness Initiative (PHW) will be offering mini-grant opportunities to all Collaborative members in the focus area of Overdose Response beginning mid-August 2023. This webinar is intended to help your faith community understand the need for the congregation to be involved in overdose response and to learn how PHW can help you in that work. Join us along with special guest, Rev. Sarah Howell-Miller, Pastor of Green Street United Methodist Church in Winston-Salem.
Register for “Faith and the Overdose Crisis”
Update compiled and submitted by Rev. Lindsay Collins, NC Conference Health Team chair.