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December 2, 2016

Off Track: Vivino’s 2017 Wine Style Awards

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Vivino’s 2017 Wine Style Awards recognize the best wines on the planet in 147 categories, from Argentinian Malbec to Bordeaux Red to Californian Chardonnay and everything in between. This year’s winning wines were determined by Vivino’s community of 21 million users and the millions of wine ratings they’ve submitted over the past year.

For each wine style category, we selected the top ten best-rated wines with at least 50 ratings from the past year. Check out your favorite wine styles, and explore those you are curious about.

Each wine style description includes an introduction from acclaimed wine author Karen MacNeil.

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December 2, 2016

Tricare Changes Coming to Those Who Join After Next Year

TRICARE LogoTRICARE enrollment costs and use fees for currently serving troops and existing retirees escaped congressional reform efforts unchanged, according to the final draft of an annual defense bill unveiled Wednesday.

But future retirees who join the military in 2018 or thereafter will pay higher fees for all Tricare plans.

TRICARE reforms proposed over the last year had included a parade of fee increases, many of which put the greatest burden on military retirees. But after months of negotiations, lawmakers produced a toned-down set of reforms that focuses change on the incoming military force instead of those who entered service under current health care plans.

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December 2, 2016

Drug costs skyrocket for many older Americans, despite Medicare coverage

prescription-drugsTo avoid liver damage, Roberta Solar, a 71-year-old cancer patient, has to take a medicine called ursodiol, perhaps for the rest of her life.

Next year her annual out-of-pocket costs for the drug will jump from $93 to $1,878 – a rise of almost 2,000%, according to information that she and her husband recently received from the insurer that covers their medicines under Medicare.

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December 1, 2016

Defense Bill Includes Biggest Military Pay Raise in 5 Years

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Stars and Stripes | Nov 29, 2016 | by Travis J. Tritten

WASHINGTON — Troops would get their biggest pay raise in years under the final version of Congress’ annual defense policy bill unveiled Tuesday.

The 2.1 percent increase included in the National Defense Authorization Act would break a five-year trend of raises that have fallen below the private sector. The higher pay would go into effect Jan. 1 if the bill is passed by Congress, and it could receive an initial vote in the House on Friday.

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December 1, 2016

TRICARE pharmacy retail change starts TODAY

From the Military.com website

TRICARE shinyA change that goes into effect TODAY removes all CVS locations from the TRICARE retail pharmacy network and adds Walgreens to the system.

The swap, announced in late September, was the result of contract updates with Tricare’s pharmacy provider, Express Scripts. Through the change, the network will shrink to 58,000 retail pharmacies nationwide as about 9,600 CVS locations, including those in Target stores, are eliminated and about 8,000 Walgreens locations are added.

Tricare officials said the 1.3 million beneficiaries who have used CVS to fill prescriptions in the last six months were notified of the change through letters, phone calls or email. Users who had filled a prescription there since Oct. 1 also received additional notification, they said.

The change affects all TRICARE users, including those in the Tricare for Life program.

Beneficiaries still can fill prescriptions with CVS after the December 1 change, officials said, but will have to pay up front for their drugs since the retailer will no longer be in the TRICARE network. Fifty percent of that cost can then be refunded for TRICARE  Prime users through a reimbursement request made by the beneficiary to Express Scripts, per TRICARE policy, officials said.

Those who use CVS have a few options for moving their prescriptions to other pharmacy retailers, TRICARE officials said.

“If they decide to switch to another network pharmacy, they can take the prescription or prescription bottle for a refill to the new network pharmacy,” said Kevin Dwyer, a TRICARE spokesman. “The pharmacist there will contact the beneficiary’s old pharmacy and transfer the prescription.”

Users also can call their new pharmacy and ask it to transfer the prescription from CVS, request their doctor send a new prescription to their new pharmacy, or contact Express Scripts to see if their drugs are eligible for Tricare’s pharmacy home delivery, Dwyer said.

Minute Clinics, located inside CVS retail locations, still will be part of the TRICARE urgent care network, officials said.

— Amy Bushatz can be reached at amy.bushatz@military.com.

November 30, 2016

TSA Pre✓® Checkpoint Schedule (Beta)

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TSA PreCheck travelers can now view the TSA Pre-Check lane schedule at the nation’s busiest airports by going to

Webmaster Comments: Honolulu International Airport is not one of those featured airports – so far.

November 30, 2016

Army Guard Deployed Thousands While Restricting GI Bill Benefits

The Army National Guard has deployed thousands of soldiers on orders that restrict accrual of GI Bill benefits during the last two years, more than doubling a recent count across all of the military’s reserve components.

The Pentagon has used the authorization 4,705 times since 2014, according to data from each reserve component released to Stars and Stripes, including the new count of 2,925 from the Army Guard released Monday by the National Guard Bureau.

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November 30, 2016

Check Six: Old Department of Defense Headquarters

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click on photograph to enlarge

Steve Lum, a Hawaii Army National Guard retiree who works in the Public Affairs Office, found this photo in their historical files.  The photo is shows the old Department of Defense Building, probably taken in the 1960s.

The building was on Diamond Head Road, right across the street from current the Kapi‘olani Community College bus stop.  The Department occupied this facility until they moved to the current building around the bend around 1970.

Webmaster Comments: this photograph and text appeared in the newsletter version of Retiree News several years ago. Thanks again to Steve for finding these historical photographs

November 29, 2016

Aloha State Eats: Where to Eat on the Hawaiian Islands

melissa-changIn her Twitter account @Melissa808 bio, Melissa Chang describes herself as a “PR diva, blogger, writer, traveler, foodie, pushy Chinese broad.”  Besides her prolific Twitter account – 134,000 tweets and counting – she is a recurring contributing writer in Honolulu Magazine and on the FrolicHawaii.com website.

In her recent article on the Food Network website, she wrote an article about Hawaii’s 25 favorite local dishes and drinks.

When some people think of eating in Hawaii, they think of a luau, with hula girls and kalua pig with poi. But there’s so much more to the 50th state. Here are 25 favorite local dishes and drinks around Hawaii, and the best places to get them.

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November 29, 2016

DeCA: We’ll Add Private Labels But Sustain Brand Savings

DeCA CommissaryCommissary shoppers will see no drop in savings on brand name items even as the Defense Commissary Agency begins to offer better prices through its own private label products, said DeCA Director Joseph H. Jeu.

“We will be maintaining overall savings on branded products, so if patrons choose not to purchase a private label they will still be at least as well off as they were previously,” Jeu explained. “Patrons who do choose to purchase private label will see their cost for the basket of goods they purchase come down further.”

Jeu’s assurances appear timely as patrons and advocates grow concerned over the rapid changes planned to store operations. They see DeCA as unfamiliar with developing and marketing private label products. Meanwhile, some suppliers complain of their prices being challenged, their shelf space reduced or their products deleted from commissary shelves.

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November 29, 2016

Heartburn Drugs May Put Your Heart on the Line

heartburn-drugsWhen acid indigestion makes life miserable, you can pick from plenty of over-the-counter medications. But the one you reach for to treat heartburn might put your actual heart at risk — even if you don’t have a history of heart problems.

That’s what researchers found in a new study published June 10 in the journal PLOS ONE. People who took drugs called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for acid indigestion had about a 16 percent higher risk of a heart attack than those not taking them.

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November 28, 2016

Search called off for missing Hawaii Air National Guardsman

Ft. Ruger, Hawaii – A Hawaii Air National Guard (HIANG) Airman who went missing at Tarague Beach, Guam, last week, has been identified as Master Sgt. Greg Ramos from the 154th Logistics Readiness Squadron, 154th Wing.  Ramos was temporarily assigned to Andersen Air Force Base, supporting a HIANG KC-135 tanker rotation.  Ramos was swept out to sea and search and recovery efforts were called off after five days with no evidence of death or remains being found.

In a message to HIANG Airmen this morning, Brig. Gen. Gregory Woodrow, 154th Wing Commander asked “that you keep Greg, his family, and the LRS in your thoughts and prayers”.

Information regarding memorial services will be announced at a later date.

Related:
Star Advertiser article

November 28, 2016

Frequent Flier Miles Are Kaput—The Game’s About Credit Cards Now

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Oh Thanksgiving: a time for turkey, a time for uncomfortable political discussions, a time for the most nightmarish airplane trips imaginable. Nearly 30 million Americans will fly with US airlines this week, and a lot of them will be thinking: Hey, at least I’ll come out of this misery with some frequent flier miles for that solo kayaking trip to New Zealand.

Except, not so much. For the first time since frequent flier programs got their start in the 1980s, most American airline passengers are earning rewards in a new way. To put it bluntly, the frequent flier mile is dead.

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November 28, 2016

3 Ways to Boost Your Family’s Online Security This Holiday

Visiting relatives over the holidays? Along with strategically avoiding any remotely political conversations, now’s the perfect time to help your loved ones better understand their personal digital security. They need it now more than ever.

 

It’s a whole lots easier to walk someone through a security hygiene lesson when you’re both in the same room. The simpler the better, and there’s nothing quite as straightforward as an in-person lesson. “You don’t want to add things that might make it more complicated for people to use a technology, but some of it is pretty simple and really adds an extra layer of protection,” says Michael Kaiser, the executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance. Here are three quick and easy security upgrades you can do to help relatives stay safe in cyberspace. You’ll be done before it’s time to pass the yams.

 

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