Webinar on Investing Your HSA
Health Equity is hosting webinars on investing HSAs for retirement savings. Sessions will take place on Tuesday, June 6, at 11 am and Wednesday, June 7, at 3 pm.
Attendees will learn:
- Why HSAs are suited for long-term healthcare savings
- It’s never too early or too late to invest an HSA
- HealthEquity technology makes investing funds easy
2024 HSA Health Plan Benefit Changes
Wespath has approved the health plan changes shown below. These changes affect only the Health Savings Account (HSA) health plans and will take effect on January 1, 2024.
Blueprint For Wellness Coming to Annual Conference
The Blueprint For Wellness (BFW) health screening includes a blood draw and a few measurements, such as blood pressure and waist circumference. This screening is open to enrollees (participants and spouses) on the conference’s active health insurance plans.
Attendees will receive:
- $100 in Pulse Cash in their Virgin Pulse well-being program. This incentive reward is redeemable as a transfer to your checking account or can be redeemed for gift cards, merchandise, or a charitable donation.
- Up to 140 Wellness Credits for achieving healthy results. Earn a total of 150 Wellness Credits before the end of the year and receive an additional $150 in Pulse Cash.
- Free, personalized, confidential data on 30 health factors that can be shared by the participant with their primary care provider. Healthcare providers have indicated that this valuable information supports them in creating an overall plan for the health of their patients.
BONUS: This year’s results can be entered in the Virgin Pulse Health Check. When participants and their covered spouses take the Health Check they avoid a higher deductible in 2024. Plus you’ll have a baseline for next year’s BFW screening.
Registration is strongly recommended. Walk-ins are very limited. Register by June 2 in either of these ways:
- Log in to your Virgin Pulse account and find Quest Blueprint for Wellness Screening under the “Benefits” tab or through Benefits Access (for participants) under the “Well-Being” tab.
- Call Quest Diagnostics at 1-855-623-9355. Employer group = HealthFlex or United Methodist Church
If you can’t attend the BFW event, you can complete the BFW at a Quest Diagnostics facility or via Self-Collection Kit, or with a Physician Results Form. The deadline for completing both the BFW and the Virgin Pulse Health Check is August 31.
HealthFlex Educational Events
Previously Held Webinars (Updated 10/27/2022):
- Introduction to ALEX webinar recording
- The ALEX Benefits Counselor tool is the best tool to help participants select their plans and estimate health account contributions. As it is used by 30+ Annual Conferences, it is programmed to display rates according to general Wespath rules. For church and personal rates specific to the NC Conference visit our Rates webpage.
- Prescription Drug Coverage webinar recording
- Additional Slide Presentation
- OptumRx Drug Pricing Tool
- Dental & Vision Plans webinar recording
- Health Accounts webinar recording
- Plan Overview webinar recording
HealthFlex Plan Design
The Insurance Committee’s recommendation to the 2022 Annual Conference (Annual Conference Workbook page 53) included changes to the conference insurance plan design, benefits, and costs. Additional information shared at that time included:
- A conference-wide Zoom session held May 27, 2022
- An Introduction to HealthFlex Zoom session held June 7, 2022
- Insurance Plans Recommended Changes – Zoom session outline
- HealthFlex 2023 Plan Comparisons – details about the HealthFlex plan benefits (includes details about Health Accounts)
- Frequently Asked Questions – (updated 6/9/2022) will be updated as questions arrive – send us yours at benefitsteam@nccumc.org.
- Introduction to HealthFlex Webinar PowerPoint presentation
- Finding a Dentist in the Dental HMO plan
- OptumRx Drug Pricing Tool – to check your prescription coverage and prices under HealthFlex
Golden Cross and One Who Is Loved Benevolent Grants Available
The Golden Cross Benevolent Fund supports the laity of any age in our Annual Conference who are experiencing financial
difficulty due to excessive medical expenses such as hospital/physician services, dental, pharmacy, mental health, vision
needs, home health services, and medical travel expenses.
A special grant called “One Who Is Loved” makes possible love gifts to benefit children under the age of 18 who have special needs. Examples of special needs include specialized medical equipment or supplies/medicine, transportation to hospitals or treatment, or other special needs.
Pastors of the NC Conference are encouraged to recommend adults who are members of, or children (18 years old or younger) who are members of, or children who have at least one parent who is a member of, a local United Methodist Church in the NC Conference. Golden Cross grants are available for up to $2,500 per year. One Who Is Loved grants are available for up to $1,000 per year per child. Complete the application here. Applications are open year-round and subject to the availability of funds.
Donations are encouraged to enable this special grant fund to serve the needs of many children and should be directed to the United Methodist Foundation.
Identity Protection Services from Experian & BCBS
As an added benefit of the NC Conference Health Plan, BCBS is making identity protection services from Experian available to eligible members and their dependents. There is no cost for these services as long as the member and dependent are enrolled in the conference health plan. Conference members who are enrolled only in the dental and/or life insurance plans are not eligible. Services include credit monitoring, internet surveillance, identity restoration, child monitoring, and more. Enrollment is required. Refer to this Flyer for enrollment instructions and FAQ for more details.
Post-Retirement Insurance Policies History
See the Insurance Plan History document for an historical account of the policies affecting post-retirement insurance benefits.