Now, employees and their covered dependents who receive health benefits through the Employee Benefit Trust, will find it less costly to access preventative health benefits.

At their most recent meeting, the Trustees of the CBEBT unanimously approved a new preventative benefit. Effective January 1, 2003, the Trust will pay 100% of diagnostic services up to $500 per year for tests as part of an annual routine physical. This benefit applies to PPO providers whose services are performed outside of the physician’s office, and includes charges for the professional reading of lab or x-rays.

The diagnostic tests included within this new benefit are:

Annually for adults:
• CBC & Chemistry or General Health Panel Urinalysis
• Pap test - thin prep or regular (female)

Annually for adults 40 and older:
• Lipid Panel (complete cholesterol screening)
• Mammogram (female)

Annually for adults 50 and older:
• Hemoccult
• PSA (male)

Age 50 and over:
• Colonoscopy, one every three years
• Bone Density Study, one every three years

Staying healthy should be a primary goal for everyone. Each of us should have an annual routine physical. Today’s screening techniques can help identify a disease before symptoms occur. Ask your physician which preventative services are appropriate for you, given your age, gender and medical history. In the long run $500 worth of preventative care could be worth much, much more.

by John Airola, Managing Director of Employee Benefit Services