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Keeping your feet healthy can help you avoid embarrassing and uncomfortable problems.
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| About Us | |
A not-for-profit ministry of
Church of the Brethren Benefit Trust Inc.
Church of the Brethren Insurance Services provides ancillary coverage for ministers and other employees of congregations, districts, and camps.
Medical and ancillary plans are available to Brethren-affiliated employer groups.
Long-Term Care Insurance is available for all members of the Church of the Brethren, their family and friends, and employees of Church of the Brethren-affiliated agencies, organizations, colleges, and retirement communities.
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Contact Us
1505 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120
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Greetings!
On a day-to-day basis, they're your biggest supporters. You put a lot of pressure on them to succeed at what they do. Life would be very different if they weren't around. We're talking about your feet --- and for the month of April, the American Podiatric Medical Association wants you to think about your heels and toes during Foot Health Awareness Month. We've included a health guide about feet (left) and a simple checklist below that can help you assess your foot health today and make good foot choices tomorrow.
Speaking of tomorrow --- what do you do if your ongoing prescription medication runs out and you need that medicine tomorrow (or worse, today)? To help prevent you from running out of medication or having to take regular trips to the pharmacy, Brethren Medical Plan offers its members PrimeMail, a mail-service pharmacy that can give you access to 90-day supplies of your prescriptions --- and possibly discounts, too. Read the article below to learn how you can streamline your prescription-filling process.
Brethren Insurance Services hopes that your Spring gets off to a sunny, flowery start. We appreciate the opportunity to serve you no matter the season!
 Scott, Tammy, and Connie
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The initial evaluation: What kind of shape are your feet in? 
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Take your shoes off and follow these simple steps for self-examination.
- Skin. Check your skin for calluses, blisters, or areas of irritation. Now stand next to your shoes. Are they shaped like your feet or do they not follow your foot's natural outline? Are they constricting your feet in ways that may result in calluses, blisters, or irritation? Now put your hand inside your shoe. Are there seams, tacks, or rough places in the shoe that correspond to the areas of irritation, calluses, or blisters on your feet?
- Circulation. Look at the color of your toes. Are they red, pink, purple, or blue? Press down on the nail of your big toe until the color blanches. Now let go and allow the blood flow to return to your toe. Normal color will return to the toe of a person with average circulation in about 2 to 5 seconds.
- Flexibility. How flexible are your toes? Try to pick up a marble (excellent) or a small dishtowel (good). To test your ankle flexibility, hang your heel over the edge of a stair while standing on the stair facing the stair. Now let the heel go below the level of the stair. If this causes pain, stop the test. If your heel goes below the level of the stair without causing strain in your calf, that is excellent. If there is some strain, this can be improved with flexibility exercises.
- Sensation. Take a pencil eraser and lightly run it on the top, bottom and both sides of your feet. The sensation should feel equal in all quadrants. It may tickle on the bottom of the feet. That is normal.
- Pain. There should be no pain in the average foot.
- Balance. A good test for balance involves standing on one foot with your arms out to your sides and your eyes closed. If you are under 30 years old, you should be able to balance for 15 seconds, 30-40 years old for 12 seconds; 40-50 years old for 10 seconds; and over 50 years old for 7 seconds. Balance can also be improved with exercises.
Information provided by the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society.
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Brethren Medical Plan brings the pharmacy to you
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PrimeMail, the mail-service pharmacy trusted by your Brethren Medical Plan, delivers your maintenance or long-term medications right where you want them. No driving to the pharmacy. No waiting for your prescriptions to be filled.
Savings
- 90-day supplies offer deeper discounts through bulk purchasing and no dispensing fees --- that means lower out of-of-pocket pharmacy costs for you.
Convenience
- Prescriptions delivered to the address of your choice.
- Medications ordered your way --- online, over the phone, or through the mail.
- Up to a 90-day supply of medication for each order.
- Plain-labeled packaging protects your privacy.
Service
- Notification through email or over the phone --- your choice --- when your order is received and when your prescriptions are sent.
- Members service agents available 24/7.
- Licensed, U.S.-based pharmacists available seven days a week.
- Refill reminder notifications.
- Regular delivery at no additional cost.
Online
Visit bcbsil.com to refill a prescription or renew an expired prescription.
Over the phone
Call the automated PrimeMail refill system at 877-357-7463.
Through the mail
Complete and mail in the prescription refill form with your order.
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| Long-Term Care Insurance |
When you think of long-term care insurance, do you think of a nursing home? Think again. Today, most long-term care insurance benefits start as home care (50 percent of newly opened claims). Only 31 percent of claims start for nursing home care.
When you think of the care you want later in life, consider the expense of long-term care, and the options you might have with long-term care insurance.
We offer Long-Term Care Insurance to all Church of the Brethren employees and members, as well as their families and friends.
If you are interested in obtaining this coverage, contact Brethren Insurance Services at insurance@cobbt.org or 800-746-1505 for a free, no-obligation proposal or click here to request more information.
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