Smoking Cessation

You may or may not be aware that smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Also, you may or may not be aware that the Lake County Indiana NECA – I.B.E.W. Health and Benefit Plan makes tobacco cessation services available to all participants enrolled in or provided through a physician-supervised smoking cessation program.

Plan P Improvements

Effective July 1, 2019, the following improvements will be made to the Plan:

All existing post 65 participants with Plan P credits less than or equal to $13.00 will be raised to the $14.00 going forward. And,
Participants retiring early (Pre-65) on or after July 1, 2019 that have 40 or more years of credit, will receive the full $58.00 Plan P rate.

Oral Contraceptives

Effective, July 1, 2019 the Lake County Indiana NECA – I.B.E.W. Health and Benefit Plan will cover oral contraceptives.

All current pharmaceutical co-pays and/or co-insurance provisions will apply to all oral contraceptive products prescribed by a treating physician.

Grand Rounds

Medicare data shows that just like there are “good” hospitals and “bad” hospitals, there also exist stark differences between “good” surgeons and “bad” surgeons. Every day, surgeons with the highest complication rates are performing operations in hospitals nationwide.

Diabetic Dietician & Nutritionist Benefit

The Board recognizes that anyone who has diabetes should be working with a registered dietitian or a registered nutritionist. After-all, managing blood glucose levels requires an understanding of how to balance food, exercise, and medication. As every diabetic is aware, unhealthy eating patterns contribute to the risk of complications such as cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure.

Heart Disease

As many of you know, February was American Heart Month. Heart disease is not just the leading cause of death in the United States, but also in the whole world. And it is just not one disease but rather encompasses a whole group of diseases which affect the circulatory system.

Teledoc

The Plan has received some very favorable feed back from members who have utilized Teledoc. For those who have shared their Teledoc experience with the Fund, we thank you for your feedback.

For those that are unfamiliar with this topic, Teledoc is the new Health and Benefit Plan telephonic medical benefit that is available to active participants and their eligible dependents as well as to retirees and their eligible dependents who do not have Medicare as their primary insurer.