January 01, 2010

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Health News (Military and Otherwise)

The U.S. Department of Defense’s TRICARE Management Activity (TMA) will extend a contract with Humana Military Healthcare Services Inc. through March 31, 2011, according to a filing on Dec. 18, 2009, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.  The contract was set to expire at the end of March 2010.  Humana Military provides managed-care services for 3 million active-duty soldiers and their dependents, along with retired service members and their families, in 10 states in TRICARE’s South region.  Earlier this year, the company lost a bid to continue providing services through the program to UnitedHealth Military & Veterans Services.  Humana filed a protest of the contract award with the U.S. Government Accountability Office. That protest was upheld by the GAO, citing savings Humana likely could provide that were not fully considered when the contract was awarded.  The GAO issued a recommendation on Oct. 28 that the proposals for the South region contract be re-evaluated.

TRICARE Management Activity announced that its beneficiaries can now receive select vaccines with no out-of-pocket expense at retail pharmacies.  For the first time, beneficiaries can visit TRICARE retail network pharmacies to receive seasonal flu, H1N1 flu and pneumonia vaccines at no cost. This expanded coverage is available to all TRICARE beneficiaries eligible to use the TRICARE retail pharmacy benefit.  Other vaccines must still be administered in a doctor’s office or authorized convenience clinic to be fully covered by TRICARE’s preventive health services cost-share waiver.  To receive the vaccines, beneficiaries can call their local TRICARE retail network pharmacy to make sure it participates in the vaccine program and has the vaccine in stock. To locate a participating retail network pharmacy, go to http://www.express-scripts.com/TRICARE or call Express Scripts at 877-363-1303.  (Note:  If you have Medicare then presumably Medicare is the primary payer with TRICARE the secondary payer.)

Politics as Unusual?

Pelosi says rallying votes for troop surge in Afghanistan will be Obama’s job.  President Obama will have to argue his own case to House Democrats as he seeks support for a planned surge of 30,000 troops into Afghanistan, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday, adding that she is finished asking her colleagues to back wars that they do not support. (Washington Post)  Politics are getting stranger and stranger when the Democratic Speaker of the House disses the Democratic President on such an important issue.

Guaranteed 3% COLA for Seniors?  On December 3rd, Rep Eliot Engel (D-NY) introduced H.R. 4193, the “Guaranteed 3% COLA for Seniors Act of 2009 in the House of Representatives.  The introduction to the bill reads: “To require the establishment of a Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers to compute cost-of-living increases for Social Security benefits under title II of the Social Security Act and to provide, in the case of elderly beneficiaries under such title, for an annual cost-of-living increase which is not less than 3 percent.”  As of December 18th it has no cosponsors (surprise, surprise).  It, like any bill, has been assigned to a committee for review and further action.  My take on this is that this bill has a snowballs chance of even getting to the floor for a vote.  While it is well intended and a reaction to the ‘no COLA’ situation that seniors find themselves in this year, a guaranteed 3% increase would be yet another budget buster and would only benefit seniors.  Can you imagine the outrage if Federal Employees said they should have the same minimum increase?  On the other hand, this bill proposes “…the establishment of a Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers to compute cost-of-living increases for Social Security benefits under title II of the Social Security Act…”  Now I believe this to be something that needs to be done; the current method of calculating Social Security benefits COLA is based on the index used for working people, not retirees.  So, write your congressperson and put in your two cents on this bill, particularly the part about a CPI for Elderly Consumers.  You can see the status of the bill and read the entire text here.

Earmarks as Usual  From the Washington Post, December 29th:  “…consider that there are 97 pages listing nearly 1,000 congressional earmarks in the 543-page report by the House-Senate conferees on the $626 billion defense appropriations bill signed by President Obama this month.”  Wasn’t there some sort of campaign promise about this sort of activity?

The Senate Healthcare (?) Bill (continued).  “Blanche Lincoln and Evan Bayh must feel like saps. The Arkansas and Indiana Democrats spent months caterwauling about this or that provision in the Senate health-care bill, then at 1 a.m. Monday they voted to speed its passage without getting so much as a lousy T-shirt.

In Harry Reid’s Senate, this qualifies as dereliction of duty, as the Majority Leader said himself on Monday in defense of his frantic deal-making to get 60 votes. "I don’t know if there is a Senator that doesn’t have something in this bill that was important to them," Mr. Reid said at a press conference that offered an unintentional commentary on modern democracy. "And if they don’t have something in it important to them, then it doesn’t speak well of them."”  For more see: “The Price of ‘History’’’ in the Wall Street Journal

Financial Update

Are you paying high income premiums for Medicare Part B?  Has your income gone down in the past year?  If so, you may be able to reduce your premium based on a “life changing experience.”  For more information see “Pay Less for Medicare Part B.”

Tech Stuff

Do you want Free Wi-Fi with (or without) that?  Beginning in mid-January, McDonald’s restaurants nationwide will remove the fee for Wi-Fi Internet access, instantly becoming one of the largest providers of free access in the country.  (See:  McDonald’s Wi-Fi)  Instead of buying that unlimited cup of coffee at the local coffee shop you can now quaff unlimited soda and surf in the comfort(?) of the local McDonald’s.  You can find several tools to use to find free (and paid) Wi-Fi locations here.

Microsoft Office 2010!  Most of you are probably still using MS Office 2003, if not XP – Hey! Why Not?  It works.  Well, MS Office 2007 has been out for a couple of years now (available in the PX for a significant discount).  But, technology and software does not stay stagnant so Microsoft is coming out with a “new” version of MS Office about June of 2010.  It is named, amazingly, MS Office 2010.  Presumably, as part of their marketing campaign, MS Press has released a book, available for free as an electronic book (e-book).  This is to get you all excited about what’s coming down the pike next summer.  You can find this 10.5 MB pdf file at First Look MS Office 2010.  You don’t need to sign in or anything, just click on the icon that looks like a page for your download.

Windows XP Support from Microsoft.  This coming July Microsoft will end support for Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2).  Windows XP SP2, was released in August, 2004.  The most important part of the end of support is that there will no longer be security fixes issued for it.  From that point, if you’re running Windows XP, in order to apply updates you’ll have to be running Service Pack 3, which has been available since April, 2008.  For Windows XP users, the easiest thing to do is to install XP SP3.  If you are not sure which version you are running, find the ‘My Computer’ icon on your desktop and right-click on it.  Select ‘Properties’ and you’ll see the version of Windows XP you are currently running.

Recycling Electronics.  As a person who uses and updates lots of electronics over time I’m always on the lookout for ways to dispose of them other than into the landfill.  Useful computers and computer components I often donate to my church (along with the appropriate software).  Items which are no longer serviceable go to a recycling center in town that specializes in electronics.  If you don’t have such a center you may be able to drop off your unserviceable electronics at a local Goodwill Store.  For more information on the Dell Computer / Goodwill partnership and to find a center near you check out:  Reconnect for more information including a list of items that are accepted for recycling and to find out if there is a drop-off point near you.

Terrorism and Security?

I enjoyed this bit of satire from Rasmussen Reports “Liberal Take on Terror.”  Here’s an excerpt:  “Gosh darn, I feel great to live in a country that gives full constitutional rights to a foreign national who, on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, was tackled by passengers and crew as he reportedly was trying to blow up the plane.”

The Last Word

I still have not installed Windows 7 on any of my computers yet – I’ve not been willing to set aside the couple of days I’m anticipating the first one taking.  But, I did get a Windows Home Server the other day and am trying to figure that out right now.  My wife gave me a Kindle e-book reader for Christmas and I’ve got that pretty much down.  It’s cool stuff and I’ve got about 85 books downloaded – only paid for 2 though!  The rest are available through other websites or are out of copyright books on the Amazon website. 

Finally, this new year darned well be better than the last but I’m not holding out much hope.  I predict a bit more ‘terrorism’ (a no-no word) from those of the Islamic persuasion (it is a religious war, after all – sorry if I’m not PC); more financial problems of various sorts; Congress trying to save the people of the U.S., particularly those who cannot or will not try to care for themselves; a stock market that maybe goes up a bit (it’s supposedly up 58% since the beginning of 2009 – maybe that’s nothing to sneeze at) but it still vacillates a lot; an interesting mid-term election that is really down and dirty by both parties; Sarah Palin continuing to be unfathomably popular, at least until there’s some strong Republican who steps up to the plate (McCain was a sacrifice play of the Republican Party); and maybe not enough inflation to kick Social Security up in 2011.

Y’all have a great New Year, regardless, and make the most of it as best you can.

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This newsletter and blog is solely for the enjoyment of its readers.  There is no warranty or guarantee stated or implied in the content by the author.  None of the information contained in this newsletter or on the blog is to be considered as legal or financial advice as the author is neither a lawyer or financial advisor.  It is incumbent on the reader to see competent advice if they see an item that is of interest.  In so far as it is possible to determine the material presented is correct but has not necessarily been fully researched or verified; here’s the bottom line – you use it at your own risk.  The author is not liable for any consequences that results from actions taken by the reader relative to the contents of this newsletter or blog.  Products mentioned in this newsletter and associated blog  have NOT been provided by a manufacturer or reseller and anything remotely resembling a review is actually just a description of personal experience or a reference to comments made by others, with citations as available.  In other words, no compensation has been provided for product comments. Wherever possible the source of the information for a particular article is indicated as a point of reference.

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