According to Bankrate’s Financial Security Index, January 2019, 60% of Americans don’t have savings available to cover an unexpected $1,000 expense such as a deductible. The Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research & Education Trust in their 2018 Employer Health Benefits Survey found that 58% of Americans with health insurance have a deductible of $1,000 or more. Taken together, more than half … Read More
TRASH TALK: Healing Ourselves By Helping Our Planet
“We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.” -Ann Marie Bonneau COVID-19 Trash Effects on the Planet A few months into the COVID-19 outbreak, the media began sharing some inspiring stories of how much cleaner air was in some cities that hadn’t experienced these levels in decades. Pictures showed … Read More
Your Overall Health Matters in Defense against COVID-19
“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations”. -Charles R. Swindoll The COVID-19 Data Unfolds Despite the novelty of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, many of the complications that arise from COVID-19 are far from novel. As data unfolds, it is apparent that many of the challenges faced during this crisis are related to problems that … Read More
Are You Maximizing Your Flexible Spending Account?
Flexible Spending Account Management At Valley Schools, we are always searching for ways to make our employee’s benefit experiences easy and advantageous. A simple way to enhance that experience on an existing benefit plan is to allow carryover and/or a grace period for your Flexible Spending Account plans. Now is the perfect time to explore this option and make a … Read More
Digestive Health Facts
Go With Your Gut You might think that your brain is controlling what happens in your gut to keep your body in rhythm, but a community of microbes greatly influences your digestive health. The microbes and nerves in your body work together like musicians in an orchestra and our gut microbes play a big role in your overall health of … Read More
Kindness RX
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”. – Maya Angelou Prescribe Kindness for Better Connections With the negativity infiltrating our media sources right now, it is clear our world can use a little more kindness. Whether you are struggling to offer yourself … Read More
Strategies to Make Your Open Enrollment for Employee Benefits During COVID-19 Safe and Successful
Open Enrollment Messaging COVID-19 is disturbing public and private employer and employee operations across the board and the country. The extraordinary challenges and questions posed by COVID-19 has created a storm of emotion around health coverage. If your open enrollment for benefits is right around the corner, it couldn’t come at a better time as health coverage is at the … Read More
What Is Your Gut Telling You?
Getting to Know Your Gut To understand the importance of our Gastrointestinal (GI) tract, and how the dynamic environment, including the Microbiome, plays a considerable role in our overall well-being, we have to cover the different components that make up the GI system and its basic roles and functions. Simplistically, the GI tract is responsible for: Obtaining energy and nutrients … Read More
Getting to the Root of Health with Functional Medicine
“When a plant’s leaves are turning brown, you don’t paint the leaves green. You look at the cause of the problem. If only we treated our bodies the same way” -Dr. Frank Lipman The Burden of Chronic Disease The prevalence of the chronic disease burden on our nation is of no secret and continues to climb. According to the CDC, … Read More
The Role of Telemental Services in Healthcare
Technology continues to advance our access to care in the form of telemental services. What Are Telemental Services? Like telemedicine that allows members to access practitioners to remedy acute care situations such as colds, rashes, or minor infections, telemental health solutions have moved into the digital age. With the demands on balancing work, home, family, and self-care, telemental services offer … Read More