Even if you’re not among the millions who recently joined the ranks of the insured, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, chances are you may have put off one or more preventive health measures or just let way too much time go by between doctor visits. Here’s what you can do now to overcome these barriers to preventive care:
The end-of-the-year holidays allow us all to take a festive break and reflect on the past year. But cybercriminals…? They never take a break. To them, the annual increase in online shopping is their prime hunting season—with your bank account and private information as their target.
Don’t fall victim to thieves this season. Help keep the festivities going all year-long by following these online security tips:
Senator John McCain, R-Arizona, is a stalwart critic of recent Air Force decisions and is likely to continue his opposition to the service’s planned force structure changes into next year as he takes over the Senate Armed Services Committee.
McCain’s fiery questioning of Air Force leadership and continued opposition to key service plans, such as the retiring of the A-10 and limiting competition for space launches, have been constant in the service’s force structure hearings on the Hill.
The defense policy bill passed by the House last week and now pending in the Senate will change how often troops get mental health exams, where they fill some prescriptions and how long they stay in a hospital for mental health treatment.
The bill, which authorizes $30.7 billion for the defense health program, rejected Pentagon proposals to consolidate TRICARE into a single plan — an idea that would have altered the medical program for nearly all TRICARE beneficiaries except active-duty troops — but still makes significant changes.
Among the largest is a requirement that all active-duty and Selected Reserve troops receive one-on-one mental health screenings once a year.
As Congress finalizes the first cut to the military’s tax-free housing allowance in a generation, defense officials will have to hammer out the details of precisely how much cash will come out of individual service members’ pockets.
This year’s defense final bill calls for scaling back the Basic Allowance for Housing by 1 percent, meaning that the monthly BAH checks for 2015 will be calculated to cover 99 percent of the estimated cost of local housing. That’s a notch below the current policy that requires BAH to cover 100 percent of the estimated cost of local housing.
Training film shows how to remove a pilot from a F-102 Delta Dagger interceptor in case of an emergency.
Pilot Rescue Sequence:
1. Gain Entry (a sledge hammer is used to break open the canopy if necessary)
2. Disarm Ejection Seat
3. Remove Oxygen Leads
4. Remove Pilot
Air Force training film circa 1956.
Ten years ago, thousands of Blockbuster Video stores occupied buildings like this all over the country, renting DVDs and selling popcorn. Today, they’re virtually all gone; only a streaming video service remains. The company’s shares once traded for nearly $30. Now Blockbuster (BLIAQ) is a penny stock.
Obsolescence isn’t always so quick or so complete, but emerging technologies and changing practices are sounding the death knell for other familiar items.
Lawmakers have rejected a White House request to start reducing funding for commissaries, and instead have restored $190 million.
In the budget resolution compromise announced Tuesday, the House and Senate Appropriations committees agreed to that decision, pending the report due to Congress February 1 from the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission.
The bill must be voted on by the full House and Senate.
There are hints in a new study that eating the much-lauded Mediterranean diet may help boost longevity.
Researchers found that the regimen — rich in whole grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, fish and olive oil — appears to be associated with longer telomere length, which are indicators of slower aging.
Retirees, if you haven’t already heard the good news, you’ll be getting more from Social Security next year. Beneficiaries will receive a 1.7% cost-of-living adjustment in 2015, boosting the average monthly benefit for a retired worker from $1,306 to $1,328.
That $22 extra each month will add up to $264 over a year. It’s not a windfall, but the extra cash certainly will come in handy. In addition to covering everyday expenses, here are 12 ways retirees can best use their Social Security COLA increase.
TRICARE patients who take brand-name drugs for chronic conditions may be required to fill their prescriptions at a military pharmacy or by mail starting next October.
Under the compromise 2015 defense authorization bill rolled out Tuesday by Congress and likely to be signed into law in the coming weeks, the Defense Department will require any TRICARE beneficiary who uses nongeneric prescriptions for long-term conditions to get them at a military treatment facility or through TRICARE’s home delivery program.
The camouflage pattern will not stand alone among coming changes to the Army Combat Uniform. Joining the camo: a new belt, undershirt and boots.
The new personal gear, expected to roll out this summer, is darker to better match the new Operational Camouflage Pattern. Current lighter colors of the maligned gray Universal Camouflage Pattern would provide stark contrast to the new pattern.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced the appointment of five new members to the Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans. The committee was chartered on November 2, 1994, and advises the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on the needs of the nation’s 4.7 million minority Veterans with respect to compensation, health care, rehabilitation, outreach and other benefits and programs administered by the VA. The Committee assesses the needs of Veterans who are minority group members and recommends program improvements designed to meet their needs. The committee members are appointed to two or three-year terms. Minority Veterans comprise nearly 21 percent of the total Veteran population in the United States and its territories.
The new committee members are: Continue reading
The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl) will host Wreaths Across America, a holiday wreath-laying ceremony to honor and remember our nation’s veterans. The Hawaii Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, veterans service organizations, volunteers and citizens are coordinating the event to honor veterans of each branch of the military, the Merchant Marine as well as Prisoners of War and those still Missing in Action (POW/MIA).
When: Saturday, December 13, 2014 Time: Ceremony begins at 0900 Where: The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific2177 Puowaina Drive, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
Background: The Worcester Wreath Company, through a campaign called Wreaths Across America, began donating holiday wreaths in tribute to Veterans laid to rest at VA’s 131 national cemeteries and state Veterans cemeteries in 2006. Since 1992, they have donated wreaths for grave sites at Arlington National Cemetery. The Civil Air Patrol is once again coordinating wreath ceremonies around the country as a part of Wreaths Across America.
For more information on this event, visit the Wreaths Across America website at www.wreathsacrossamerica.org.
For information about other national cemeteries’ participation, visit www.cem.va.gov/cem/features.asp and click on the Wreaths Across America photo.
For more information about this event, contact:
James Horton, Director, The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, 808.532.3720 Carswell Ross, Wreaths Across America Coordinator, 808.497.1146
