November has begun, and that means that the start of open season is only a week away. We've got your preview of open season changes in today's episode. Be sure to follow us for further updates, as we'll be diving deeper into some of the benefit changes in the weeks ahead. Join us for a live event to learn more about our open season changes. See your options at: www.afspa.org/events. Our discussion today is full of references, so here are some of the links we mentioned: ...

October is Menopause Awareness Month. In this week's episode, we discuss the symptoms of Menopause and how it can affect daily life for women. We are joined by Shardae Jackson, Senior Manager of Client Success at Maven Clinic. Maven Clinic has a Menopause and Midlife Health program that focuses on treatment for menopause stages and symptoms. To learn more about joining Maven Clinic, please visit this page. Maven Clinic is available free of charge to all FSBP members. To submit a q...

Pelvic health issues can emerge in a variety of ways at any age. Often, people experiencing these issues assume that such problems are just a fact of life and do not discuss their concerns or seek treatment. Our goal for today's episode is to break down some of the taboos surrounding pelvic health issues and provide a solution from our partners at Hinge Health. Dr. Bijal Torpani, PT, DPT, joins us to discuss the Women's Pelvic Health program and how virtual physical therapy can benefit patien...

Today, we answer the question of what to do when facing a serious diagnosis. Where do you turn and when? What are the next steps? FSBP members in the United States can access an expert second opinion program from 2ndMD. Nurse Kim Rebec joins us to talk about the ins and outs of this service, which is available at no charge to FSBP members in the U.S. For more information, visit https://www.2nd.md/ or download the 2ndMD app from the App Store or Google Play. For more information o...

August is Breastfeeding Awareness Month. Mary Rood Cunningham, a Senior Client Success Manager at Maven Clinic, and Dr. Viraj Radia, a pediatrician with Maven Clinic, join us to discuss breastfeeding's benefits, best practices, and obstacles. To learn more about Maven Clinic and to join at no cost for FSBP Members around the globe, check out www.mavenclinic.com/join/fsbp. Check out our Events page for free webinars and other events to stay connected with us. Join us for AFSP...

For this week's episode of AFSPA Talks, we revisit an episode from July 2023 about Skin Cancer. Now that it is summertime, we know that many of our listeners will be spending time in the sun. Skin cancer is the most common cancer. To help us understand more about skin cancer, we had Leah B. Jacobson, Sr. Medical Director at Aetna join us. You can stay in touch with AFSPA and all we have coming up by visiting www.afspa.org/events or by following up on our social media channels on Instagram, ...

Happy Pride! For this week's episode, we wanted to share some information that would be helpful to members who have contacted us with questions about care and support for their children who are exploring their identities. We went back into our archive, and we're sharing an episode with Alyssa Clayden, PhD, LICSW, from the Truman Group that we originally published in June 2024. You can stay in touch with AFSPA and all we have coming up by visiting www.afspa.org/events or by following up...

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. The recent changes to the federal workforce and the uncertainty that continues for many have resulted in mental health concerns for many with ties to federal employment - employees and family members alike. Stress, anxiety, fear, anger, and worry are all understandable reactions, but you do not have to face these challenges alone. We at AFSPA encourage you to make use of resources that may be available to you through community groups, employee assistance ...

In this episode of AFSPA Talks, we continue our conversation from Annual Meeting about weight loss, cardiovascular health, and diabetes management. Today's focus is on Chronic Care Management Programs. To tell us more about those programs, we have Grace Silverio from Teladoc Health. For more information about the Chronic Care Management Programs available to Foreign Service Benefit Plan members at NO COST, click here. If you have questions about these programs, join AFSPA Live, our live...

This month, AFSPA Talks takes a look at some of the support programs available to members of the Foreign Service Benefit Plan. To begin, we'll discuss the Lifestyle and Condition Coaching (LCC) program with Dr. Vivian Ogueli and Leah Perry, RN. They offer details on how to complete a health risk assessment (HRA) and earn $75 in wellness incentives, utilize the LCC offerings to mitigate any health risks, meet your goals, and generally improve your health. For more information abou...

In this podcast 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 Mar...

Two years ago, access to on-base care for Department of Defense civilians changed, which had a particular impact on those living and working in Japan. Since then, DoD leaders have been working on a program to support the needs of civilian employees in Japan. That program launched at the beginning of this year, and we wanted to know more about how it came about, how it works, and who it helps. Joining us to walk us through the Japan Health Insurance Enhancement Pilot are: Susan Orsega, ...

With Open Season over and a new year underway, hosts Kyle Longton and Maddie Norton use the first episode of 2025 to provide tips for the 10,000 new FSBP members and the more than 100,000 continuing members. Here are links to the resources they mentioned during this episode: AFSPA Website: www.afspa.org Online Portals for FSBP Members (including demo videos): https://www.afspa.org/online-member-portals/ FSBP Provider Search Tool: www.afspa.org/fsbp/provider Teladoc Health (telehea...

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....

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...

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. (Brightl...

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 overseas. ...

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...