AFSPA Talks

Happy Pride! For this week's episode, we wanted to share some information that would be helpful to members who have contacted us with questions about care and support for their children who are exploring their identities. We went back into our archive, and we're sharing an episode with Alyssa Clayden, PhD, LICSW, from the Truman Group that we originally published in June 2024. You can stay in touch with AFSPA and all we have coming up by visiting www.afspa.org/events or by following up on our social media channels: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @afspacares. Join us for AFSPA Live at 11 am ET on Thursday, June 26, on Facebook, LinkedIn, or YouTube.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. The recent changes to the federal workforce and the uncertainty that continues for many have resulted in mental health concerns for many with ties to federal employment - employees and family members alike. Stress, anxiety, fear, anger, and worry are all understandable reactions, but you do not have to face these challenges alone. We at AFSPA encourage you to make use of resources that may be available to you through community groups, employee assistance programs, and your health benefits. In today's episode, we highlight the long-term partnership between the Foreign Service Benefit Plan and the Truman Group. During our interview, Diane Nickeson-Mendheim, MSW, LCSW, describes how ex-pats can access care from the Truman Group for a variety of mental and behavioral health needs. To learn more about the Truman Group, visit https://trumangroup.com/. For more on mental wellness programs offered through the Foreign Service Benefit Plan, please visit https://www.afspa.org/fsbp/wellness-programs/manage-specific-conditions/#mental_wellness.

In this episode of AFSPA Talks, we continue our conversation from Annual Meeting about weight loss, cardiovascular health, and diabetes management. Today's focus is on Chronic Care Management Programs. To tell us more about those programs, we have Grace Silverio from Teladoc Health. For more information about the Chronic Care Management Programs available to Foreign Service Benefit Plan members at NO COST, click here. If you have questions about these programs, join AFSPA Live, our live Q&A session, on Thursday, April 24, 2025, at 11 AM ET. If you would like to submit a question in advance, fill out this form.

This month, AFSPA Talks takes a look at some of the support programs available to members of the Foreign Service Benefit Plan. To begin, we'll discuss the Lifestyle and Condition Coaching (LCC) program with Dr. Vivian Ogueli and Leah Perry, RN. They offer details on how to complete a health risk assessment (HRA) and earn $75 in wellness incentives, utilize the LCC offerings to mitigate any health risks, meet your goals, and generally improve your health. For more information about LCC and other support programs, please visit www.afspa.org/fsbp/wellness.

In this podcast episode, AFSPA CEO, Kyle Longton provides a comprehensive overview of how Medicare and the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) program work together. Learn about each part of Medicare - A, B, C, and D - and what factors you should consider when deciding whether to enroll in Part B. Please note: this presentation addresses only how Medicare and FEHB work together. It is not intended for audiences beyond those with FEHB coverage. The information is accurate as of March 4, 2025. For information on Part B premiums and Part D premiums/IRMAA amounts, please visit: https://www.medicare.gov/Pubs/pdf/115.... To learn more about signing up for Medicare, visit: https://www.ssa.gov/medicare/sign-up. To learn more about the Foreign Service Benefit Plan and Medicare, visit: https://www.afspa.org/fsbp-and-medicare/

Two years ago, access to on-base care for Department of Defense civilians changed, which had a particular impact on those living and working in Japan. Since then, DoD leaders have been working on a program to support the needs of civilian employees in Japan. That program launched at the beginning of this year, and we wanted to know more about how it came about, how it works, and who it helps. Joining us to walk us through the Japan Health Insurance Enhancement Pilot are: Susan Orsega, Deputy Assitant Secretary of Defense for Health Services Policy and Oversight, Department of Defense Danielle McCammon, Chief, TRICARE Overseas Program DoD Civilian employees in Japan can reach the International SOS Government Services call center in the following ways: International callers can request a "callback" by sending an email to an email to avoid additional charges. For routine, non-urgent requests, it is best to email DODHealthcareSupport@internationalsos.com. Join us on January 30 at 11 am ET for AFSPA Live! You can submit your questions in advance here or join us live on YouTube, Facebook, or LinkedIn. See our other upcoming events here: www.afspa.org/events Register for the AFSPA Member Annual Meeting here. Links referenced in today's episode: January 2023 episode - AFSPA Talks Care in Japan October 7, 2024, Press Release from DoD on Pilot: https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3927934/dod-announces-health-care-supplement-program-pilot-for-dod-civilian-employees-i/ January 16, 2025 Article from U.S. Forces Japan on Pilot Program: https://www.usfj.mil/Media/Press-Releases/Article-View/Article/4031045/dod-launches-247-health-care-support-for-dod-civilian-employees-in-japan/ AFSPA Overseas Care Details: https://www.afspa.org/fsbp/overseas/ Searchable List of AFSPA Overseas Direct Billing Providers: https://www.afspa.org/fsbp/overseas/overseas-partners/

With Open Season over and a new year underway, hosts Kyle Longton and Maddie Norton use the first episode of 2025 to provide tips for the 10,000 new FSBP members and the more than 100,000 continuing members. Here are links to the resources they mentioned during this episode: AFSPA Website: www.afspa.org Online Portals for FSBP Members (including demo videos): https://www.afspa.org/online-member-portals/ FSBP Provider Search Tool: www.afspa.org/fsbp/provider Teladoc Health (telehealth in the U.S.): https://www.afspa.org/fsbp/wellness-programs/#telehealth-us vHealth (Worldwide) (telehealth outside the U.S.): https://www.afspa.org/fsbp/wellness-programs/#telehealth-overseas AFSPA Annual Meeting: https://events.zoom.us/ev/Ap2pSvh2nz0z7F5_7HFrAs6bwKbNUGLVGNVLf2PvrJvlxnY-fkp_~Agq7R07nRuUtjQNzMHfAgYQfhknsFMKrig226MqCMLSGs9totE2UdR3hQA Socials: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/afspacares Instagram - @afspacares LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/afspa/ AFSPA's other programs: www.afspa.org/aip Other AFSPA Events: www.afspa.org/events Please join us on January 30 at 11am ET on YouTube, Facebook, or LinkedIn for AFSPA Live! Send your questions here: https://lnkd.in/eK2VsF9u

It's November, which means Federal Benefits Open Season is almost here. Today, Maddie and Kyle discuss health insurance, dental and vision insurance, and flexible spending account options before diving into changes for the Foreign Service Benefit Plan for 2025. This is just the start of AFSPA's Open Season work. Please find more information at www.afspa.org/openseason. Join us for a webinar or other event throughout Open Season. You can find the full list of webinars at www.afspa.org/events. View our past recordings of podcasts and AFSPA Live events at www.youtube.com/afspacares. To learn more about the open enrollment period through December 1, 2024, for our Group Enhanced Life (GEL) and Immediate Benefit Plan (IBP) programs, visit www.afspa.org/life.

To wrap up life insurance awareness month, we have another episode. Our focus today is on the open enrollment period AFSPA is offering from October 1 through December 1 for our Group Enhanced Life (GEL) program and our Immediate Benefit Plan (IBP). AFSPA Sr. Director for Ancillary Insurance Programs Adrienne Coleman-Seabrooks returns to the program to walk us through the details of these programs, what open enrollment means, and how you can take advantage. For more information, visit www.afspa.org/life. Watch September's AFSPA Live episode on Life Insurance here.

September is Life Insurance Awareness Month (LIAM), and we are kicking things off with a focus on millennials. With our guest, Nicole Devlin from Prudential, we discuss the needs of this population and why now might be the best time for them to consider this important part of their financial portfolio. This episode is just the start of a busy month. Join us for more events, all available at www.afspa.org/events. What You Should Know About Life InsuranceRegister here.Register here.Register here.

It’s August, and for many families, that means preparing for a return to school. This can be a challenge for kids and parents. Changing routines, decreasing free time, and, for many of our members, new locations can make for bumpy August and September. Our guests today, working from Brightline Health, will provide some strategies for families to ease the return to school for everyone. Learn more about Brightline Health and sign up for it at www.hellowbrightline.com/fsbp. (Brightline is considered an in-network provider with FSBP. Services are available to FSBP members in the U.S. only. Calendar year deductible and coinsurance apply.) Dr. Kendra Read is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Vice President of Therapy at Brightline. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. She completed her internship in pediatric psychology at Nemours Hospital for Children and her postdoctoral fellowship at the Stanford University School of Medicine in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Department. Previously, she served as the Director of the Mood & Anxiety Program and Director of Anxiety Programs at Seattle Children’s Hospital, as well as the Director of Psychotherapy Training at the University of Washington School of Medicine Child Psychiatry Fellowship. Dr. Read specializes in the treatment of youth with anxiety disorders and OCD from a cognitive behavioral therapy perspective. She is highly invested in increasing access to evidence-based behavioral health interventions for youth and their families. Irene Biscante is a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC) and the Vice President of Coaching at Brightline. She holds a bachelor's degree in Public Health with an emphasis in Health Education and Promotion from Brigham Young University - Idaho and is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Marriage and Family Therapy with a specialization in Child and Adolescent Therapy at Northcentral University. With over seven years of experience in health and behavior change startups such as Noom, Omada Health, and Sanvello Health, Irene has specialized in scaling evidence-based and personalized behavioral coaching through 1:1 video sessions, secured chat, and group/peer sessions. Irene was part of the early team at Brightline where she established the Behavioral Health Coaching function, built the coaching team, co-created coaching programs using evidence-based tools and practices, and developed quality oversight programs to ensure safe and high quality care services at Brightline. With behavioral coaching as an emerging field and a brand new service offering for youth, she successfully transitioned this offering from a direct-to-consumer, out-of-pocket service to a service covered by health plans and employers due to strong care outcomes across all ages. Prior to joining Brightline, Irene served as a coach manager at Noom Inc., where she managed teams, led hiring and onboarding processes, and was a founding internal faculty member in the company’s accredited national board certification program for health coaches. She has coached thousands of individuals both in-person and across digital platforms on a national and international scale. Irene is passionate about expanding access to mental health services independent of income or social status, developing coaches, behavior specialists, and health educators to focus on youth mental health using evidence-based and culturally competent care practices, and reshaping the narrative around youth and family mental health through proactive prevention, early intervention strategies, and behavior change initiatives.

In this episode, we talk with John McQuillan from Teladoc Health UK. He walks us through the care and consultation options available to Foreign Service Benefit Plan (FSBP) members outside the U.S. for general medical and mental health needs. He offers some examples that will be familiar to many of our members worldwide. These benefits are branded as vHealth (Worldwide) in the FSBP Brochure Sections 5(a) and 5(e): https://www.afspa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2024_FSBP_Brochure_-RI-72-001_Final_1.8.2024.pdf. To access the Teladoc Health services outside the U.S. - branded as vHealth under FSBP benefits, download the vHealth (Worldwide) app from the App Store or Google Play Store. You also can visit https://vhealth-teladochealth.com/en. To reach them by phone, call +1-857-256-3784 (U.S.) or +44-20-3499-2851 (UK).

In this episode, we talk with John McQuillan from Teladoc Health UK. He walks us through the care and consultation options available to Foreign Service Benefit Plan (FSBP) members outside the U.S. for general medical and mental health needs. He offers some examples that will be familiar to many of our members worldwide. These benefits are branded as vHealth (Worldwide) in the FSBP Brochure Sections 5(a) and 5(e): https://www.afspa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2024_FSBP_Brochure_-RI-72-001_Final_1.8.2024.pdf. To access the Teladoc Health services outside the U.S. - branded as vHealth under FSBP benefits, download the vHealth (Worldwide) app from the App Store or Google Play Store. You also can visit https://vhealth-teladochealth.com/en. To reach them by phone, call +1-857-256-3784 (U.S.) or +44-20-3499-2851 (UK).

It's Pride Month, and we're talking with Alyssa Clayden, PhD, LCSW. She first joined us in 2021 to discuss support for LGBTQ+ youth, and we're exploring the same topic in this episode. Our focus is on how parents and other family members and allies can support children and adolescents who are exploring their identities in terms of sexual attraction and gender identity. We take some time to discuss what parents may experience and how this support can be different in the U.S. and overseas. Alyssa is a provider with The Truman Group - https://trumangroup.com/ - long time partners of AFSPA/FSBP. We appreciate their partnership in providing our members with access to mental health care around the globe and making today's episode possible. For more information on benefits and programs available to FSBP members, please visit www.afspa.org/fsbp. Some resources that may be helpful to our listeners: glifaa - LGBTQIA+ pride in foreign affairs agencies - https://glifaa.org/ The Trevor Project - https://www.thetrevorproject.org/ Foreign Service Youth Foundation - LGBT in the Foreign Service - https://www.fsyf.org/LGBT

May is mental health awareness month. Just as many factors can influence our mental health, there are a variety of support programs and treatment options to explore. Today, we welcome Jennifer Pertofsky-Plotnek, LCSW-C, CDCES, NCB-HWC. She is currently the Director of Coaching at Teladoc Health. Jennifer talks us through the differences between counseling and coaching. She provides details on the coaching available to Foreign Service Benefit Plan (FSBP) members at no cost through two Teladoc Health programs: myStrength and chronic care management (formerly Livongo). Links: FSBP members can access Teladoc's programs, including myStrength and chronic care management and mental health counseling, through www.teladochealth.com or through the Teladoc Health app, available in the App Store and through Google Play. Other access options include: FSBP members aged 13 and older can enroll in myStrength at www.mystrength.com, select "Sign-up," and enter the access code "FSBP." To access the chronic care management programs (formerly known as Livongo), members can visit http://get.livongo.com/FSBP. You can enroll in diabetes management, hypertension management, and/or weight management. Chronic care management and myStrength are available worldwide. For more details, please review the 2024 FSBP Brochure at https://www.afspa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2024_FSBP_Brochure_-RI-72-001_Final_1.8.2024.pdf.

In this episode, AFSPA CEO Kyle Longton, CAE, REBC addresses some of the most frequent questions AFSPA has received about the FSBP Express Scripts Medicare Prescription Drug Plan, or PDP. While he touches on some basics of the PDP, you can learn more about the specific PDP benefits from our October 23, 2023 podcast and our November 30, 2023 AFSPA Live (see links below). Kyle will address questions about Medicare during AFSPA Live on March 30, 2024 at 11 ET. If you would like your question to be answered live, submit your question here: https://forms.office.com/r/jPzsTE0TKz Links: FSBP Express Scripts Medicare Prescription Drug Plan webpage: www.afspa.org/pdp October 23, 2023, AFSPA Talks PDP: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1756283/13816947 November 30, AFSPA Live on PDP: https://www.youtube.com/live/n-9IAB-c2cY?si=Ej5OuciIfM7tGqxM Medicare Part D IRMAA Information: https://www.medicare.gov/drug-coverage-part-d/costs-for-medicare-drug-coverage/monthly-premium-for-drug-plans Social Security Administration Contact Page: https://www.ssa.gov/agency/contact/ AFSPA Events: www.afspa.org/events

In this episode, AFSPA CEO Kyle Longton provides a comprehensive overview of how Medicare and the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) program work together. Learn about each part of Medicare - A, B, C, and D - and what factors you should consider when deciding whether to enroll in Part B. Please note: this presentation addresses only how Medicare and FEHB work together. It is not intended for audiences beyond those with FEHB coverage. The information is accurate as of March 2024. For information on Part B premiums and Part D premiums/IRMAA amounts, please visit: https://www.medicare.gov/Pubs/pdf/11579-medicare-costs.pdf. To learn more about signing up for Medicare, visit: https://www.ssa.gov/medicare/sign-up.

With this episode, we continue our February focus on fertility. For some people receiving treatment for diagnoses of infertility, prescription drugs can account for half the costs of their treatment. Ensuring on-time delivery of the drugs, understanding how to administer them, and having a resource for understanding the side effects are key to one's starting any new drug therapy. FSBP has partnered with Freedom Fertility Pharmacy, part of the Evernorth family, to provide all of this and more to our members in the U.S. Today, we have two experts from Freedom joining us to talk about their services for FSBP members. For more information, please visit www.freedomfertility.com Coverage of medications may be subject to prior approval and prior authorization of fertility services by the Foreign Service Benefit Plan. For prior approval of comprehensive infertility and ART services, whether services are rendered in the U.S. or outside the U.S., please contact the Plan’s infertility care manager line at 800-593-2354. Prior approval is required for services received in the U.S. and outside the U.S. Please see our January 2024 episode on Maven to learn more about their support for infertility, maternity, and more. Join us on February 29 at 11 am ET for AFSPA Live and a discussion focused on fertility. Join us on March 1 at 11 am ET for AFSPA's Annual Meeting. More information on all upcoming events at www.afspa.org/events

Our focus for the month of February is on fertility. We'll have more content later this month about the enhanced infertility coverage under the Foreign Service Benefit Plan for 2024. Today, though, we are talking about coverage for contraception. All of the information in the podcast comes from Sections 5a, 5b, and 5f and Section 7 of the 2024 FSBP Brochure available at https://www.afspa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2024_FSBP_Brochure_-RI-72-001_Final_1.8.2024.pdf. To initiate the contraceptive exception process, members can call Express Scripts at 800-841-2734.

In this episode of AFSPA Talks, we discuss a new solution from Teladoc. Lisa DeLarso joins us to share about Virtual Primary Care. Primary360 is a virtual primary care solution that inspires lasting relationships between people and care providers through longitudinal care plans, continuous care team support, and a unified, whole-person experience. Primary360 offers a solution that isn’t always available with traditional care—including personalization, flexibility, choice, convenience, and care coordination. From the new patient visit to every checkup afterward, Primary360 allows people to be fully supported by a care team across their healthcare needs. For more information about virtual primary care, please visit Teladoc.com/Aetna or call 1-855-835-2362. Please note that the virtual primary care program is available only to FSBP members physically located in the United States.