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 TACT offers Benefit Plans for both

Dental (Plan) and Vision (Plan).

TACT has partnered with Benefit Groups to offer all TACT members dental and vision benefits programs that provide care through a vast network of providers. Specific information can be viewed by visiting here.

Contact the TACT office for enrollment information. Vision is standard with existing policies. Information for dental open enrollment will be mailed out in December. Plans begin January 1. 

Obamacare

Law Leaves Doctors Uncertain

By Becca Aaronson

Texas Tribune, October 18, 2013

As consumers weigh coverage options available in the newly launched federal health insurance marketplace, three of the largest medical associations in Texas have raised concerns about the uncertainty of provider networks offered by health plans in the marketplace.

The Affordable Care Act requires most people to carry health insurance beginning in 2014. While some states received federal financing to set up a state-run health insurance marketplace, Texas chose to participate in the federal marketplace, which offers dozens of health plans and sliding-scale tax credits to help poor individuals and families in Texas purchase coverage. Since the marketplace launched on Oct. 1, technical glitches have plagued the federal website and made it difficult for consumers to create accounts and compare health plans.  

The Texas Medical Association, Texas Hospital Association and Texas Academy of Family Physicians said many physicians and hospitals have also been unable to determine which health plans offered in the marketplace include them in their provider networks. 

"Physicians, they just want to know who's walking through their door and what kind of coverage they're going to have," said Lee Spangler, vice president of medical economics at the Texas Medical Association. "They'd like that uncertainty to be settled."

Many insurance companies participating in the marketplace have created health plans with provider networks based on existing contracts with physicians and hospitals, and did not contact those providers to sign new contracts or ask if they were willing to participate in the new health plans, according to the associations. As a result, many providers do not know which of the health plans offered in the marketplace will pay them for services. Read the entire story here.

Cold and Flu Season Has Arrived

 In times of cold and flu season many of us get sick with viral infections. Runny nose, sneezing, coughing, body aches, fever, chills and general malaise seem to be the hallmark of these. The infections themselves are usually short-lived and make us miserable in the process. The prodrome lasts a day or two followed by worsening symptoms.

Many people come to the physician at this point usually saying, "I have a sinus infection" and in actuality they are correct. But what we can do about it is limited and designed to treat the symptoms not the cause. With the exception of the Influenza viruses, we have little treatment against the viral infection itself. There are a wide variety of respiratory viruses that circulate in our community every year.

The virus has been acquired via droplets sneezed into the air or inoculated by a contaminated finger into an eye or nose. Respiratory viruses love tissue found in the nose, sinus passages, throat and airways and are pretty effective and efficient agents of disease. They carry little luggage, infect the host's own cells and uses the host's own machinery to reproduce itself. The whole process of viral replication is fascinating, complex and well organized. But equally amazing are the body's mechanisms designed to fight these attacks. Have you ever wondered just how the body recognizes something foreign, like a viral particle, instead of itself? How does it recognize a cell of it's own that has been infected by a virus? Have you ever wondered how the millions of proteins are produced to stop the immediate infection and then provide immunity to the host that can often last a lifetime?

Most cold symptoms are gone by 4-7 days. Help your body with rest, fluids and nutrition. While infectious, you will be spreading virus with your coughing and sneezing. Try to limit droplet spread by covering the mouth when you cough or sneeze; or better, do these under your shirt or into an elbow. Wash your hands with soap and water frequently and keep your fingers out of your eyes and nose. Stay away from populated areas like school, work, grocery store and airplanes until your symptoms have calmed down. Chose not to visit a pregnant woman, newborn, elderly or anyone whose immune system is compromised or has serious disease.

Of course, not everyone is the same. Come see a physician if 1) symptoms drag out for longer; 2) fever that doesn't respond to acetaminophen or ibuprofen; 3) predominance of one major symptom, like a really sore throat; 4) stiff neck; 5) appearance of a rash; 6) trouble breathing; 7) suspect influenza infection, and 8) anything odd or other concern that you might have. There is nothing at all wrong with consulting. This is why physicians spend years and years training. They are trained to recognize and distinguish the common from the more serious disease.

Texas Ag Coop Trust Health Plan 

At TACT, we realize the only way we could fight healthcare costs was to quit focusing on the health costs and start focusing on the health issues.

TACT offers onsite wellness screenings and our contracted nurse has been making onsite visits doing flu shots in the Lubbock and Panhandle area. TACT encourages you to talk to your physician about the benefits of this year's flu vaccine and decide whether taking it is right for you.

  

 

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