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Link only - Budget experts: Move Tricare beneficiaries to Obamacare

The Defense Health Agency, relying on medical laboratory experts and existing authority to conduct medical “demonstrations,” will restore TRICARE coverage this month for up to 40 genetic tests used in patient care. Many of these laboratory-developed tests — also called molecular pathology tests — are viewed as medically necessary. But TRICARE had stopped reimbursing for more than 100 such tests in January 2013, believing it lacked authority to pay for them when such tests are ordered by civilian physicians delivering care through TRICARE provider networks Military treatment facilities have continued to order and pay for such tests routinely, which created...

White House To Request $2 Billion To Handle Border Influx of Children Nogales Border Influx of children illegally crossing U.S. border is called a humanitarian crisis Federal officials scramble to respond to unexpected surge of minors immigrating alone into U.S. A rush of young children crossing alone and illegally into the United States from Texas is so large and unexpected that senior officials with the Obama administration said Monday the White House is asking Congress for about $2 billion to grapple with what is being called a humanitarian crisis. Molly Hennessy-Fiske Immigration agents are so overwhelmed that some children are...

Tom Slear, who retired from the Army as a lieutenant colonel in 2001, is a freelance writer in Annapolis. A few weeks ago, I mentioned to a receptionist in a physical therapist’s office that I was covered by Tricare, the military’s health-care program for service members, retirees and their families. (It has nothing to do with the troubled Veterans Affairs hospital system.) “Good deal,” I said. “You deserve it,” she responded. Really? If she only knew. Though I spent more than five years on active duty during the 1970s as an Army infantry officer and an additional 23 years in...

PFC Matthew Michael Martinek, Staff Sgt. Kurt Robert Curtiss, SSG Clayton Bowen, PFC Morris Walker, SSG Michael Murphrey, 2LT Darryn Andrews, were all KIA from our unit who died looking for Bergdahl. Many others from various units were wounded or killed while actively looking for Bergdahl.

Trying to get details

I just received a letter from the Veterans Administration. Included is VA form 10-10EZ, "Application for Health Benefits". The form touts that once a veteran is signed up, the will have "met the new requirement to have health care coverage that meets the minimum standard". If I already have TRICARE for life, why would i need it? Looking at the date they want, I can only come to one conclusion: TRICARE WILL BE DISMANTLED. There is no other reason. If you look at the intake form, it also asks for intrusive data (real property, bank accounts, property, etc.) And the...

January 28, 2014 Five Ironic and Hypocritical Statements From Obama's SOTUKatie Pavlich After speaking for more than an hour, President Obama has finished his 2014 State of the Union Address. Not surprisingly, his words and statements didn't come without irony or hypocrisy. Here are the top five: 1. President Obama touted the pre-existing condition requirement in Obamacare saying, "Because of this law, no American can ever again be dropped or denied coverage for a preexisting condition." As a result of Obamacare and since the federal exchanges were launched on October 1, 2013, millions of people have been dropped from their...

The second alternative would make working-age military retirees and their families ineligible for TRICARE Prime, which is the most costly of the three programs for DoD. Those people could instead enroll in TRICARE Standard or Extra during the annual open-enrollment period or when a life event occurred (for example, a change in marital status). Enrollees in Standard or Extra would pay a monthly premium that would be set at 28 percent of the average cost of providing benefits for that group.

Twelve year old girl has brain tumor removed results in rare condition Tricare and Anthem, will not pay to treat.

The White House this week urged the Senate to support its effort to increase the amount military retirees pay for their health insurance. The current version of the fiscal 2014 Senate Defense authorization bill does not include President Obama’s proposals to impose higher fees and create new enrollment fees for some plans in TRICARE, the military’s massive health insurance program. The White House believes its initiatives would “control the growth of health care costs” at the Defense Department “while keeping retired beneficiaries’ share of these costs well below the levels experienced when the TRICARE program was implemented in the mid-1990s,”...

Military members, retirees and veterans have a few more reasons to be wary of politicians who say their top priority is to cut federal spending. The Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday released a report of more than 100 options for reducing budget deficits. It’s a timely product as House and Senate conferees strive to negotiate by mid-December a new debt-cutting deal to replace automatic budget cuts of sequestration. More than a few of the CBO options are fresh ideas to roll back compensation for categories of veterans or to raise TRICARE fees for military retirees, on suggestions that the government...

Gentlemen; It has now been ten days since typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan made landfall in the Philippines causing almost total destruction of Tacloban, Leyte, (and other towns in Leyte), Eastern Samar, (the towns of Guiuan and Basey were severely damaged), Baco City, Oriental Mindoro, towns in the north portion of Cebu, Capiz Province in Panay, and many other areas. On 10 November, 2013 I asked that Tricare provide administrative relief to Tricare beneficiaries residing in the path of typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan. Specifically I asked for a relaxation of rules for providers to be certified, (which is a unique Tricare policy that no other...

<p>One of the most touted benefits of President Obama’s health care overhaul law is the provision allows parents to keep their adult children on their health insurance until age 26.</p> <p>However, Trace Gallagher reported on “The Kelly File” Monday, this benefit is not being extended to a significant group of Americans: members of the U.S. military.</p>

One of the most touted benefits of President Obama’s health care overhaul law is the provision allows parents to keep their adult children on their health insurance until age 26. However, Trace Gallagher reported on “The Kelly File” Monday, this benefit is not being extended to a significant group of Americans: members of the U.S. military.

The firestorm over President Obama's blanket false assurances on Obamacare is only going to intensify, as more groups discover they have lost either their coverage or their doctor thanks to the health insurance changes imposed on the country without a single Republican vote. One of the biggest, yet so far almost completely ignored, changes is the looting of Medicare to pay for Obamacare. Now, it is starting to hit home. Evan Gahr of the New York Daily News recounts a story that will soon become very common among America's senior citizens: Obamacare has a new message to seniors: Take two...

Tricare leaves thousands of beneficiaries without medical providers No, that headline is not hyperbole. It is true. In Angeles City, Philippines the two hospitals that beneficiaries are required to use, and the affiliated specialist at these hospitals, have cancelled their participation in the Tricare Demonstration Project, yet the beneficiaries are still required to use only these same medical providers for their medical care or forfeit reimbursement for their out of pocket cost for that care. Here are the details. On 1 January, 2013 Tricare started a Demonstration Project for beneficiaries in the Philippines. Tricare’s contractor, International SOS, (ISOS), was tasked...

At almost 4 months of age, little Brooks Dillard has spent more than half his short life in the hospital. For the last 8 weeks (as of 8/16/13), he has been at Seattle Children's Hospital. He has been on a ventilator the entire time, has had two major surgeries with another one in his near future. Brooks was born with a very rare congenital heart defect called Double Aortic Arch. Normally, the aorta leaves the heart and branches off to supply the arteries going to the arms and head. One of these branches then turns down to supply the lower...

The Obama administration is threatening to veto the 2014 defense authorization bill unless health care insurance premiums and co-pays are increased, Investor's Business Daily said Wednesday. The administration also wants to reduce the proposed 1.8 percent pay increase for military personnel. According to the Army Times, the administration says the bill is "too generous with military pay" and not generous enough for civilian employees. The administration only wants to give service members a one percent raise. "A 1.8 percent increase would keep pace [with] the average increase last year in private sector salaries, while the 1 percent raise would create...

Politics: A veto of the defense authorization bill is threatened unless the president gets his way. He wants health care insurance premiums and co-pays increased for troops and scheduled military pay raises to be reduced. Being used as photo-ops for presidential speeches and willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for your country apparently does not exempt our troops from the rising health care premiums that President Obama said, along with sea levels, would not rise under his administration. The next time a soldier hears "give me 50," it might be dollars and not push-ups. The White House has threatened to...