Flu Shots, do they really work?

Log into myuhc.com  Benefit Awareness News | September 2017 Do flu shots really work? Yes! Here’s how What to do next Don’t wait. Get your flu shot from a network provider as soon as it’s available. Here’s how to find a flu shot near you. Be sure to bring your health plan ID card with you. And tell your provider the flu shot is covered under your medical benefits, not your pharmacy benefits. Also in this edition Do flu shots really work? Yes! Here’s how Did your child catch something at school? Try a Virtual Visit Is your hospital safe? Discover a healthier you with Rally® Is it a cold or the flu? Colds and the flu have some similar symptoms. So it isn’t always easy to know which one you have. With a Virtual Visit, you can see a doctor from the comfort of your home or on the go. Connect with a doctor from your mobile device or computer 24/7. *Check your benefit plan to see what services may be covered. Benefit Awareness News sends articles based on topics of general interest to our readers. They are not targeted to individual members, nor are they individually customized. We do not have access to members’ personal health information. Therefore, we cannot send articles to members based on that information. Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; U.S. Food and Drug Administration © 2017 United HealthCare Services, Inc. 9700 Health Care Lane, Minnetonka, MN 55343 USA. Privacy policy

Break Free From Osteoporosis!

Break FREE from OSTEOPOROSIS!

*Repost* National Osteoporosis Foundation

https://www.nof.org/about-us/building-awareness/national-osteoporosis-month/

May is National Osteoporosis Month!

Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a disease of the bones. It happens when you lose too much bone and/or make too little bone. This means your bones become weak and may break from a minor fall or, in serious cases, even from simple actions, like sneezing or bumping into furniture.

Osteoporosis means "porous bone." Under a microscope healthy bones look like a honeycomb but in bones with osteoporosis the honeycomb holes and spaces are much bigger. This means your bones have lost density or mass and that the structure of your bone tissue has become abnormal making the bone weaker and more likely to break.

FACT: One in two women and up to one in four men will break a bone in their lifetime due to osteoporosis. For women, the incidence is greater than that of heart attack, stroke and breast cancer combined.*

May is National Osteoporosis Month! We hope you will help us celebrate by taking the #JumpingJackChallenge. We issued this challenge to raise awareness about building bone strength and density when you’re younger to achieve peak bone mass and to maintain bone health and strength as you age.

Accepting the Jumping Jack Challenge is easy – videotape yourself, your kids, family or friends doing 10 jumping jacks in less than 10 seconds. Share the video via your social media page with the hashtag #JumpingJackChallenge and challenge your friends to do it too – or they should make a donation to NOF at www.nof.org. You can learn more and see an example on this page of our website: https://www.nof.org/about-us/building-awareness/national-osteoporosis-month/. Please remember that if you have osteoporosis you shouldn’t do jumping jacks, but you can do “stepping jacks” (step side-to-side raising your arms above your heard as you would for jumping jacks). This is a safe way for everyone to take part in the Jumping Jack Challenge!

You might wonder why we chose jumping jacks for this challenge. As noted above, we hope to raise awareness about building peak bone mass in children and adolescents. Peak bone mass is the greatest amount of bone an individual can attain. We reach our peak bone mass between 25-30 years of age. Focusing on bone health in children and adolescents is not just about growing strong bones, it also may help strengthen the concept of disease prevention over treatment. Most children do not consume the necessary amounts of nutrients needed to sustain strong bones during the key bone-building years of 9-18. In fact, a quarter of childhood injuries include fractures that could have been prevented through better nutrition.

Prevention of osteoporosis later in life begins in childhood with a strong health curriculum that teaches children healthy lifestyle choices including about proper diet and exercise.

I recently surveyed the community including educators and health leaders to determine if they think a curriculum including bone health is important to implement in schools and more than 75% said yes! Check out the following infographic to learn how you can incorporate bone healthy behaviors with your children or grandchildren before, during or after school.

We hope to see your posts on social media for the #JumpingJackChallenge!

Andrea Portillo, MPH, CHES®
Marketing, Consumer & Professional Education Manager
National Osteoporosis Foundation

Cancer Statistics & How We Can Help

What Is Cancer?

Cancer is the general name for a group of more than 100 diseases. Although there are many kinds of cancer, all cancers start because abnormal cells grow out of control. Untreated cancers can cause serious illness and death.

Lifetime Risk of Developing or Dying From Cancer:

The lifetime risk of developing or dying from cancer refers to the chance a person has, over the course of his or her lifetime (from birth to death), of being diagnosed with or dying from cancer.

These numbers are average risks for the overall US population. Your risk may be higher or lower than these numbers, depending on your particular risk factors.

Males

	Risk of developing		Risk of dying from
	%	1 in	%	1 in
All invasive sites	43.31	2	22.83	4

Females

	Risk of developing			Risk of dying from
	%	1 in	%		1 in
All invasive sites	37.81	3	19.26		5

Economic Impact of Cancer

The financial costs of cancer are high for both the person with cancer and for society as a whole.

The Agency for Healthcare research and Quality (AHRQ) estimates that the direct medical costs (total of all health care costs) for cancer in the US in 2011 were $88.7 billion.

·         50% of this cost is for hospital outpatient or doctor office visits

·         35% of this cost is for inpatient hospital stays

·         11% of this cost is for prescription drugs

*PLEASE NOTE: These estimates are based on a set of large-scale surveys of individuals and their medical providers called the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). Estimates were accessed directly from the MEPS website, www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/.

One of the major costs of cancer is cancer treatment. But lack of health insurance and other barriers to health care prevent many Americans from getting optimal health care.

·         According to the US Census Bureau, about 48 million people (15.4%) in the US were uninsured in 2012.

·         About 10% of children in the United States had no health insurance coverage in 2012.

And according to Cancer Facts & Figures 2015, “Uninsured patients and those from ethnic minorities are substantially more likely to be diagnosed with cancer at a later stage, when treatment can be more extensive, more costly, and less successful.”

This year, about 589,430 US residents are expected to die of cancer – that’s more than 1,600 people a day. Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the US, exceeded only by heart disease. Cancer accounts for nearly 1 out of every 4 deaths in the United States.

Cancer costs us billions of dollars. It also costs us the people we love. Reducing barriers to cancer care is critical in the fight to eliminate suffering and death due to cancer.

References

American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2015. Atlanta, Ga. 2015.

Last Medical Review: 04/15/2015
Last Revised: 04/15/2015

How can we help? || SBS Client Testimonies: 

1. "I am 70 years old and on Medicare.  I also have a good Medicare supplement. When I was diagnosed with Cervical cancer 3 years ago. I knew the medical bills would be covered.  However, the treatment, (Chemo therapy and radiation for 8 weeks) was at a cancer center 180 miles from home.  That’s when I found out how valuable my cancer insurance proved to be. The motel bill for two months, the travel expenses, eating out,  even someone to take care of the house while we were gone were all taken care of  with the funds we received from the cancer insurance policy. Our daughter took time off work to be with me and we were able to cover her expenses too.  We had the peace of mind that all the unexpected expenses were covered. It was a stressful time but the cancer insurance sure eased the financial burden."    

- Virginia  (Missouri)

2. "I have carried Medicare Supplement Insurance with SBS for 8 years.  When my agent spoke to my husband and I about the value of a cancer policy, and we saw how inexpensive the coverage was, we decided to move forward with the plans even though we knew our supplements would cover the majority of the medical bills. Less than 3 years after purchasing the policy I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  Within 2 months of filing the claim after my diagnosis, I had a check in my hands from GTL Insurance Company for $5,000.  That money was such a blessing at a time that was both financially and emotionally difficult!"

     - Lula Bell U. (Missouri)

     3. "I purchased my GTL cancer plan in November of 2010.  By September of 2011 I had been diagnosed with internal cancer.  I was so relieved when I received my $5,000 check from my cancer plan, after having the policy for less than a year!  We were under such serious financial strain at the time, with our home recently being condemned because of black mold, we didn't know what we were going to do.  We were able to use that money for the deposit and rent on a new apartment.  I can't thank our agent enough for stressing the importance of carrying cancer insurance."

     -Georgia S. (Missouri)