Know Your Benefits

Back-to-School (or College) Readiness

When it comes to preparing for school or sending your young adult off to college, make sure that you are taking full advantage of your health plan coverage. The following services are covered once the necessary deductions and co-payments have been satisfied (except preventive care visits, which are fully covered):

• Back-to-school checkups: Preventive care visits are generally covered in full when done according to the plan's schedule.
• Immunizations: Be sure your child has the right immunizations before the first day of school. Check your plan to see which ones are covered. (See next article.)
• Braces: Your plan covers orthodontics, currently 50% up to a lifetime maximum of $1,750.
• Dental Exams: Your plan covers preventive care such as teeth cleaning, usually once every six months.
• Sports: Your plan covers rehabilitation and physical therapy up to 60 visits per calendar year for all therapies combined.
• Glasses or Contacts: Eye exams are covered annually. Glasses or contacts are covered every two calendar years up to $150 maximum payment.
• Off to College: You may continue coverage for an unmarried, adult dependent child—currently through age 23—as long as he or she is a registered student attending an accredited secondary school, college, university, vocational school, or school of nursing. Effective January 1, 2009, PEBB will extend eligibility through age 24. Learn more.

This gives you a general idea of what to expect from your coverage. For further details on your benefits and exclusions, contact the plans directly.

Time to Immunize!

Before you send your children back to school, be sure to check this CDC Immunization Guide to make sure their immunizations are up to date. These services may be covered under your health plan once the necessary deductions and co-payments have been satisfied. For further details on your benefits and exclusions, contact your plan directly.

Beat the Blues

Depression

All of us can get the blues from time to time. The sad feeling that occurs when we’re going through a stressful life experience can be difficult, but sadness will lessen with time. Mental depression, however, is more intense, of longer duration, and can significantly interfere with how you feel, the way you think and act. Millions of Americans are estimated to suffer with depression―affecting nearly twice as many women as men. Fortunately, depression is very treatable. Read more.

Source: UW CareLink, the University's comprehensive faculty and staff assistance program. CareLink provides professional support for issues that can affect your work-life balance—issues like stress, work-related problems, family and parenting concerns, relationship issues, drug and alcohol problems, and grief and depression.

Shape Up!

Take the Adult Fitness Test

Why take a fitness test? If your response is, "Fit for what?" you're asking the right question. Physical fitness means different things to different people. There are two types of fitness:

Performance-related fitness is linked to athletic performance, usually measured by speed, reaction time, and coordination.

Health-related fitness is linked to fitness components that may lower risks such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or low back pain. Health-related physical fitness includes the following components:

• Aerobic fitness - ability of the heart and lungs to deliver blood to muscles,
• Muscular strength and endurance - enough to do normal activities easily and protect the low back,
• Flexibility - ability to move your many joints through their proper range of motion, and
• Body composition - not too much body fat, especially around the waist

Take the Adult Fitness Test.

Source: The President's Challenge

Weight Watchers @ Work

A summer getaway doesn't mean that you have to abandon your weight management program. Weight Watchers provides the tools and resources to help you learn how to eat right and live healthy so you can lose weight and keep it off—even when you're on vacation. So don't put the kybosh on summer fun just because you're "dieting." Read this Vacation Tip Sheet to find creative ways to keep your weight on track while basking in the sun.

Learn other valuable tips and motivation for weight loss by attending a Weight Watchers @ Work group that meets every Tuesday at Mary Gates Hall. If you have questions or want to start your own group, please contact www.weightwatchers.com or benefits@u.washington.edu.

Click here to view Weight Watcher's Schedule.

Group Health Bicycle Saturdays and Sundays

Grab your bike and enjoy a four-mile ride through Lake Washington Boulevard and around Seward Park. Seattle Parks will close the Boulevard between Mount Baker Beach and Seward Park to motorized vehicles from approximately 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on September 13 and 21. The view is great and there are many places to stop for a swim or a picnic. Cyclists can enter the route at any point; there is no fee.

Sponsored by: Group Health Cooperative and Seattle Parks and Recreation Department

Wellness Tools

2008 Health Risk Assessments

Have you completed your 2008 online Health Risk Assessment (HRA) through your health plan yet? If not, here are five good reasons for completing this simple, confidential survey asking about your health habits including diet, exercise, and preventive-care screenings.

1. It’s confidential. Your health information is confidential and protected by law. The University of Washington will not have access to the results of your Health Risk Assessment (HRA).
2. It’s fast and easy. Go online and spend just 15-20 minutes answering the HRA questionnaire about your current health status.
3. It’s free. There is no cost to you for taking an HRA. In fact, if you are a Uniform Medical Plan participant, you can receive a $30 gift card for doing so.
4. It’s useful. After you complete the survey, you immediately receive a personalized report. From this, you can prioritize your next steps to improve your health as well as learn how to take action and get involved with wellness programs and services.
5. It may be done on work time. The Governor has requested that state agency leaders encourage their employees to participate in the HRAs and allow state employees reasonable time to take their HRA online while at work. The issue of state employees completing the survey on state time has been cleared by the State Ethics Board.