bWell Rocks Tour Battles Holiday Stress
The bWell Rocks Tour heads into its third month in November. We’re also heading into the holiday season. Starting November 13, you can sign up for several new challenges to help you manage holiday stress. Remember, the holidays don’t need to take a toll on your health. Join the challenges and keep a check on over-indulging and over-spending. Maintain a relaxed and positive outlook, and find the joy in volunteering. If you complete all five modules by December 31, you'll earn 555 bWell points while you de-stress.
Time to Rockā¦ and Enroll!
It’s time to make your choices for the coming year. Annual Benefits Enrollment runs until Nov. 10 and is your chance to:
- Make changes to your benefits (medical, dental, vision, life insurance, etc.).
- Enroll or drop dependents.
- Enroll in the Flexible Spending Accounts (Health Care and Dependent Care)
If you do not take action during Annual Enrollment, your medical, dental, vision and other benefits will automatically roll over to 2018. However, if you want to participate in any of the plans below for 2018, you must make an active election because your current elections for these plans will not carry forward.
- Health Savings Account
- Health Care FSA
- Limited Use FSA
- Dependent Care FSA
See how much you can
contribute to these and other tax-savings accounts in 2018.
Read More...
Onsite Health Screenings Reminder
Free, confidential health screenings will be held at three BMC locations in November and December:
Tampa: November 2
Santa Clara: November 8 & 9
Cary: December 6
The health screening is one of two steps you must complete to “cut a demo tape” (complete level 1) and join the bWell Rocks Tour. When you participate in a health screening and complete the online Well-Being Assessment, you join the wellness program tour, earn 1,000 bWell points and pick up a $100 reward card. Sign up for a screening now.
If you can’t attend an on-site event, see the links to forms for getting screenings through your doctor or a LabCorp facility.
Get Hip to Hypertension
BMC and the American Heart Association (AHA) are teaming up to get your blood pressure down.
Starting November 1, we’re launching Check. Change. Control™, a three-month educational blood pressure management program. Everyone is encouraged to sign up, whether they have hypertension or not. Why? While you might not feel symptoms of your hypertension — high blood pressure — it could be silently causing serious problems inside your body.
To participate, you’ll take your blood pressure reading every month and record it on the AHA BP Tracker website. Then, you’ll learn what your numbers mean and what steps to take to get or keep them under control. Wireless blood pressure monitors will be available at all BMC offices.
When you get hip to hypertension, you’ll earn 100 bWell points. And, when you complete the program in February, your name will be entered into a drawing for tickets to the Heart Ball in Houston. The winner will receive two tickets to this gala event and airfare (if you don’t live in Houston). The Heart Ball is an annual black-tie celebration held in February featuring heart and stroke survivor celebrations, dinner, dancing, live band and live and silent auctions.
Watch your e-mail for details on how to get started.
Something to Smile About
The BMC Dental Plan covers three dental cleanings each calendar year at no cost to you—and no deductible. If you haven’t booked your third dental cleaning of the year, now is a good time … before the hustle and bustle of the holidays.
Like all preventive health care, regular dental cleanings can help protect your oral health and help you avoid more costly and expensive procedures.
Read the 6 things a dental cleaning can do for you from Delta Dental, our new dental insurance company starting January 1, 2018.
How to Have Difficult Conversations with Your Family
At some point in their lives, adult children will have to face the challenge of talking to their parents about the practical and financial issues associated with potential chronic illness, disability, or death. Join Magellan’s live interactive webinar on Wednesday, November 8, Caregiver Coaching: How to Have Difficult Conversations with Your Family. In this webinar, you will learn how stress can affect the ability to communicate effectively, tips for engaging in difficult conversations with aging loved ones and self-care tips for managing stress when dealing with difficult conversations. Space is limited so register now.
Useful Links
Get 4 Tips for Difficult Family Conversations from AARP.
Read Fidelity’s How to Care for Aging Parents and Yourself to learn how to protect your financial future while caring for aging loved ones.
Tips for Avoiding a Holiday Spending Hangover
Decorating the house. Buying plane tickets. Playing Secret Santa at work. Preparing elaborate meals. Dressing up for holiday parties. Shopping for gifts. There’s no question that the days between Thanksgiving and New Year's challenge us with obligations and expenses.
Since being extra-busy and having lots of gifts to buy is stressful enough, why add to that burden by blowing your budget or even going into debt? It's difficult to enjoy the holidays when you're worried about money, so use these holiday budgeting tips to take some of the stress out of the holiday season.
Source: Investopedia.com
Useful Links
Read the 4 Tips to Holiday Budgeting from Feed the Pig.