Say goodbye to receiving your Social Security statements in your mailbox — yet again.
The Social Security Administration announced in a blog post that it would send fewer statements in the mail in an attempt to cut down costs.
Only individuals who are 60 and over, who aren’t receiving benefits and who don’t have a My Social Security account online will get paper statements. These statements detail information on your earnings, your estimated benefits, and the contributions you’ve paid via payroll taxes.
From the Defense One website
The Commander in Chief Donald Trump era is about to begin. It’s hard to find anyone in Washington who can remember an incoming president with so few foreign policy positions clearly articulated. Or, in Trump’s case, so many possibilities based on the presidential candidate’s often contradictory policy statements.
Much of what happens will depend on him. But there’s a good chance, knowing how hard it is to change anything in the Defense Department, that 2017 will be year of big changes or more of the same — which, with this much uncertainty in the air, might not be such a bad thing.
Here is Defense One‘s annual report on what’s to come. This is the State of Defense.
State of the Army by Ben Watson »
State of the Navy by Bradley Peniston »
From the Military.com website
The National Defense Authorization Act (S 2943) signed into law Dec. 23 orders an avalanche of changes to the TRICARE healthcare benefit used by service members, retirees and their families. It also makes sweeping reforms to how the military direct-care system is organized and operates. The sheer number of changes and additional studies being mandated, filling 40 sections and 150 pages of the Defense Act, is impressive.
We have attempted to highlight a few on Military Advantage blog.
The caffeine in your morning cup of joe may do more than jolt you awake — it may also help dampen the type of inflammation that’s linked to heart disease risk factors, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that an inflammatory mechanism was dialed up in certain older adults, but not others. When it was highly activated, people often had high blood pressure and stiff arteries.
But in lab experiments, there was evidence that caffeine blocked this inflammatory process.
Darlyn McFatridge, Joshua Phillip and Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Kurt Mueller
KAPOLEI, Hawaii – Joshua Phillip, Department of Health, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division supervisor, was presented with a Patriot Award December 15, by Bob McKaig, volunteer for the Hawai‘i Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Committee, in recognition of awesome support provided to an Army National Guard soldier.
Phillip was nominated for being highly supportive of the National Guard by his employee Sgt. Darlyn J. B. McFatridge, Hawai‘i Army National Guard.
Owen Akito Morishige, 81, of Honolulu passed away on January 2, 2017. He was born in Kalihi.
He was the owner of AKYTH Catering, a retired Hawaii Air National Guard radar technician and an Air Force veteran.
He is survived by son Jon (Judy), daughter Ann (Ian) Ishibashi, brother Milton (Annette), grandchildren Chris Ishibashi, Kimberly and Grayson.
Visitation 5 pm on Wednesday (January 25) at Hosoi Garden Mortuary. Services will be held at 6 pm. Casual Attire. No flowers.
Tax season is here, and people are wondering how to report TRICARE health coverage on a federal income tax return. The Affordable Care Act (ACA), sometimes called Obamacare, requires that all Americans have qualifying health care coverage, called minimum essential coverage (MEC).
If you do not have MEC for the entire year, you may have to pay a penalty for not having the required health care coverage. Most Tricare health coverage meets the requirements for MEC.
From the Samantha Brown website
Airports are raising their game when it comes to dining.
In fact, it’s never been more enticing to get to the airport early. No reason to rush and stress when there’s an airport bar serving decent grub.
Confession: I am 100-percent guilty of eating not-so-good for me food when traveling. From coffee drinks to cookies, soda and french fries, if you eat it when traveling the calories don’t count, right?
However, we all know that not all airport food is created equal.
From the Military.com website
President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday announced he will nominate Dr. David Shulkin, the undersecretary for health at the Veterans Affairs Department, to take over the top job at the agency.
Trump made the surprise announcement during a press conference in New York. “He’s fantastic,” the president-elect said. “He will do a truly great job.”
If Shulkin is confirmed, he would be the first VA secretary without prior military service and Trump’s first cabinet member who served in the Obama administration. With its roughly $180 billion budget, the VA is the second-largest federal agency behind the Defense Department.
This is when your doctor finds out what’s going with you — she talks with you about preventing diseases and any new things you’re feeling, and helps you manage health issues you know you have. She taps, rubs, pokes, and prods you. She comes at you with strange-looking instruments. What’s your doctor trying to learn when she does some of those things?
Delicious portion of fresh salmon fillet with aromatic herbs, spices and vegetables – healthy food, diet or cooking concept
The study looked at a group of 562 Scots in their 70s over a three-year period. Those whose eating habits resembled the diet experienced, on average, half the brain shrinkage that was normal for the group. (Jan. 5, 2017)
The aging brain is a shrinking brain, and a shrinking brain is, generally speaking, a brain whose performance and reaction time are declining: That is a harsh reality of growing older.
But new research shows that brain shrinkage is less pronounced in older folks whose diets hew closely to the traditional diet of Mediterranean peoples — including lots of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and olive oil, little red meat and poultry, and regular, moderate consumption of fish and red wine.
The Air Force’s effort to root out redundant or pointless duties and training requirements — commonly known among airmen as queep — will gain momentum in 2017.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James made eliminating unnecessary additional duties a priority in 2016 as part of an effort to relieve the pressure on overworked airmen and make it easier for them to concentrate on their real jobs.
Maj. Gen. Rick Richardson, Sherry Menor-McNamara, Dane Wicker, and Maj. Gen. Darryll Wong
Last month, Military Affairs Council hosted its annual holiday reception at the Bank of Hawaii Surf Rider Room.
Both former Adjutants General Edward Richardson and Darryll Wong serve on the Military Affairs Council.
Taps Revisit There were a lot of you who visited the 2016 Taps Recall post – http://wp.me/p3639O-4Vv. We worked with these Guard members and there is a memory or two for the members you knew.
You can revisit the 2015 Taps Recall post at http://wp.me/p3639O-3Y9
Benjamin Parker High School How many of the Castle High School graduates out there knew your high school’s origin? If you didn’t get to read the post, go to http://wp.me/p3639O-5IO
TRICARE Reorganization Throughout 2017, you will read a lot about the upcoming national reorganization of TRICARE. It has no impact of Hawaii. Basically, there three current TRICARE Regions will become two, with the North and South Regions merging to become the East Region.
However, beginning January 1, 2018, Health Net Federal Services, LLC will administer the West Region contract replacing UnitedHealthcare Military & Veterans. Definitely more information to come during 2017 in preparation of this transistion.
Wisconsin Physicians Service (WPS) will continue to administer the TRICARE for Life program.
