Long-term care is the kind of care that you would need to help you perform daily activities if you had a chronic illness or disability. It also includes the kind of care you would need if you had a severe cognitive problem like Alzheimer’s disease. It is help with eating, bathing and dressing, transferring from a bed to a chair, toileting, continence, and so forth. Long-term care can also include assistance with such tasks as shopping, transportation, housecleaning, or preparing meals. This type of care isn’t received in a hospital...

TRICARE beneficiaries may have noticed new kinds of “Emergency Centers” popping up in their area. It may seem like a tempting health care option but, free-standing emergency rooms (ER) that are not affiliated with a hospital may not be TRICARE-authorized. If a provider, such as a free-standing ER, is not authorized then TRICARE is prohibited from paying it “facility fees.” That can leave a beneficiary stuck with a big bill. Beneficiaries need to “know before you go.”  Check a free-standing ER’s TRICARE status...

When you retire, you are eligible to continue health benefits coverage if you meet all of the following requirements: •  you are entitled to retire on an immediate annuity under a retirement system for civilian employees (including FERS MRA + 10 retirements); and •  you have been continuously enrolled (or covered as a family member) in any FEHB plan(s) for the 5 years of service immediately before the date your annuity starts, or for the full period(s) of service since your first opportunity to enroll (if less...

The $500 million-plus software program that was supposed to eliminate the stubborn VA benefits backlog, the Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS), has been taken offline for “troubleshooting,” according to internal VA documents. VBMS is supposed to transform the VA benefits administration process by converting to a paperless system. It is the lynchpin of the VA’s efforts to meet Secretary Erik Shinseki’s goal of eliminating the backlog by 2015 and bringing the average waiting time for veterans to receive benefits...

On July 26h, 2012, a United States Federal Judge ordered TRICARE to begin paying for Applied Behavior Therapy (ABA) for dependents with autism. Active duty service members are able to receive services through TRICARE’s Extended Health Care Option (ECHO) program, which defined ABA therapy as a medical intervention. Retirees are unable to receive ECHO benefits. Under TRICARE Basic, ABA therapy was defined as an educational intervention, not a medical intervention, making it ineligible for TRICARE coverage. ABA therapy, developed...

In Mid-March, Republican lawmakers introduced legislation to replace Medicare with the health care plan currently offered to federal and congressional employees. The Congressional Health Care for Seniors Act would allow seniors to select any of the plans currently offered under the Federal Employee Health Benefit program, starting in 2014. Co-sponsors of the legislation include Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY), Jim DeMint (R-SC), and Mike Lee (R-Utah). Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said "Medicare as we know it is a false promise....

Federal negotiators stuck a deal in mid-February to significantly increase future federal employees' retirement contributions which will help pay for an extension is unemployment benefits. According to the American Federation of Government Employees, newly hired and rehired federal employees would have 3.1% of each paycheck put toward their Federal Employees Retirement System pensions. The current contribution rate is only 0.8%, so that amounts to a 2.3% increase. The increase will affect new hires and rehires beginning...