With social distancing and quarantine being widely implemented to prevent the spread of COVID-19, one other measure is being touted as a critical way to keep the numbers of infection down: telehealth. Telehealth, or the ability to connect with a medical professional virtually, is important to controlling this pandemic in a number of ways:

1. Patients who fear they may have contracted the virus can contact a telehealth provider for initial screening. The provider can then make recommendations for further treatment, if necessary. Online screening circumvents a patient potentially infecting other patients and the medical staff at a doctor’s office. According to a Health Leader’s article, "Telemedicine is a good fit for screening. For screening, it is a matter of asking the appropriate questions and ensuring that you have the right answers and a triage plan. We can't do a full examination of someone with telemedicine, but we can screen to determine whether someone is at low risk and can wait to see their doctor the next day, or is at high risk and needs to be seen right away.”
2. Utilization of telehealth visits can alleviate overcrowding of hospitals and urgent care facilities.
3. For older or immune-compromised patients, telehealth lowers their risk of exposure to the virus.
4. Medical professionals, who have themselves been quarantined, can still conduct telehealth consultations reducing the stress on physical medical facilities.
5. With the focus on the pandemic, we must remember it is still our normal flu season, and other conditions exist that require medical attention. However, patients without coronavirus symptoms, but still requiring care, are being warned by the CDC to put off visiting their doctor’s office to protect against possible infection. Telehealth provides these patients a means of care without fear of exposure.

Recognizing these benefits, the federal government has taken steps to make telehealth more available to Medicare recipients.

Telehealth programs have been available for years, but until this pandemic, utilization has remained fairly low even as other forms of technology have grown in popularity, and despite its levels of convenience, overall accessibility and affordability. The outbreak of COVID-19 is poised to change perceptions of telehealth and its benefits.

How can you obtain telehealth benefits?
Telehealth benefits may be offered through your employer’s health insurance coverage or as a standalone program. One standalone program offered through Ally Health and vetted by Fab 5 Benefits, provides access to medical professionals 24 hours/day, 7 days/week. The $19.95/month subscription (available through Fab 5 Benefits) covers all immediate family members and offers a $0 co-pay for unlimited visits.
Use telehealth to put social distancing into practice and manage your family’s healthcare needs during this time of global crisis.
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Learn more.

Experian, Equifax, TransUnion – your bank, your employer – all may offer free credit monitoring. With a major data breach hitting the news every week, that should be a comforting thought to all of us. But, the reality is monitoring is just a small step you can take to protect your identity.
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A monitoring service can tell you if your credit is being misused, but what about your medical or genetic data? What about your tax return and social security number? Today, hackers are invading in our lives as never before, using personal data to undermine our financial security.

Slowly, we are getting better at checking our bank and credit card accounts, but the statistics suggest that an identity is stolen every 2 seconds in the U.S. A credit monitoring service may be able to tell your accounts have been hacked, but what can they do about it? You may find yourself in a situation where you have to prove that you are who you say you are. It can be a frustrating and even scary period of time.That’s where identity theft restoration services begin – and provide priceless value.

There are a series of steps that need to happen when you think your identity is stolen:

1. You need to assess the source of the breach and the damage
2. You need to freeze your credit and notify appropriate agencies
3. You need to contact creditors and dispute fraudulent charges
4. You may need to prove you are who you say you are…easier said than done in some cases.

It is estimated that these tasks can take up to 200 hours over 6 months to complete. They may require countless inquiries and constant vigilance.

Identity theft restoration services do the work for you. Offering professional advice and services to reestablish your financial identity and provide compensation for damages. Some programs, like ID Theft Assist, provide up to $1,000,000 of cash and expense reimbursement for losses.

What is your financial identity worth to you and your family? A couple of lattes a month? Two Netflix rentals? When you consider the alternatives, can you afford not to have identity theft restoration services?
Tomorrow your wallet or phone could be stolen. Your online account could be hacked. Some nefarious person could buy your Social Security Number. Are you prepared?

Invest in identity theft assistance services before you are a victim. According to statistics, it’s only a matter of time.

Telehealth benefits are a growing trend that are projected to explode in the future. Think about all the applications and you'll start to see why this is becoming such a popular benefit:

• You live in a rural environment and don't have 24/7 access to a medical facility.
• You can't afford time off from work to see a doctor for a routine question.
• You're a mom with a sick child who really doesn't want to expose her child to all the germs in the pediatrician's office.
• You think you have the flu and you are too achy to drag yourself to the doctor's office.
• You're on vacation and you've developed a strange rash.

For all these reasons, and many more, consumers are realizing the advantages of using technology to manage their healthcare. A telehealth program today will offer you options for communicating with a physician this may include:

• A telephone consultation
• A video chat
• A mobile app
• Email or texts
• The ability to upload images of rashes or strange bumps

Studies are increasingly showing that using telehealth services saves consumers time and money. And, as our population grows more technologically savvy, utilization of telehealth is only projected to grow. Today, you can use your telehealth benefits for a wide variety of common or even chronic conditions including, but certainly not limited to:

• Allergies
• Gastrointestinal issues
• Sore throat
• Pink Eye
• Cold, flu & fever symptoms
• Urinary tract infections
• Behavioral health
• Prescription re-fills

Depending on the type of coverage you have, a telehealth program can still potentially save you money and probably time as well. Consider the costs associated with your deductible, co-pays, co-insurance, not to mention the time it takes to travel, wait and see a doctor. The telehealth program offered by Fab 5 Benefits, for example, charges a low monthly fee and unlimited free doctor consultations.  Oh, and that low fee covers your whole family. 

Still on the fence? Go back and look at how much you've spent out-of-pocket on your family's medical care over the past several years. Then, consider the reasons for the doctor visits and the time you spent traveling and waiting to see the doctor - not to mention the convenience of "seeing" a doctor within minutes. You may be surprised at how it adds up.