New in 2021: Are you a retiree who will lose Tricare Select coverage Jan. 1? Here’s what to do. December 29, 2020 More than 850,000 retirees and their family members who were enrolled in Tricare Select must now pay enrollment fees. (Image by Stock) Are you a military retiree who will lose Tricare Select coverage? You may not realize it yet and you should take action to reinstate your coverage. In 2021, for the first time, more than 850,000 retirees and family members enrolled in Tricare Select, must pay enrollment fees in order to continue their coverage. If you haven’t responded to the Defense Department’s clarion call to contact your Tricare regional contractor to set up a payment process, you lost coverage as of Jan. 1, and you’ll soon find your health care claims are denied.
Feds get extended payroll tax timeline, likely pay increase in 2021 December 21, 2020 Federal employees and service members will be able to extend payments back to Social Security over 12 months, rather than the initial four-month timetable. (BrianAJackson/Getty Images) The 2021 omnibus spending package, which Congress unveiled Monday and plans to vote on the same day, would give federal employees and members of the military a longer timetable for paying back the payroll taxes that were deferred for the last few months of 2020. Federal employees saw slightly larger paychecks during the final pay periods of the year as part of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in early August. Those extra funds came from deferring but not cancelling normal Social Security deductions taken out of each paycheck.
VA unveils first coronavirus vaccine sites as case numbers continue to climb December 11, 2020 A pharmacist labels syringes in a room where doses of COVID-19 vaccines will be handled on Dec. 9, 2020, at Mount Sinai Queens hospital in New York. (Mark Lennihan/AP) Veterans Affairs leaders publicly unveiled their initial plans for coronavirus vaccine distribution this week as active cases and deaths related to the illness reached record highs among the department’s patients. According to data publicly released by the department, officials at 140 medical sites across the country were tracking at least 17,629 patients with active cases as of Friday morning. That’s the highest daily figure reported by VA since the start of the pandemic, an increase of 188 percent from Nov. 1 and up 429 percent from Oct. 1.
The authors of this commentary urge organizations and communities to be proactive with providing veterans mental health resources and connection opportunities during the pandemic.
Trouble’s brewing for the post-pandemic VA health care system, top doc says December 10, 2020 Dr. Richard Stone, executive in charge of the Veterans Health Administration, is concerned about problems facing veterans and the VA medical facilities, post-pandemic. Here, he meets with physicians at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System on Sept. 28, 2018. (Courtesy of VA) The continuing stress on health care workers, a possible employee mass exodus at the end of the pandemic, and veterans delaying needed health care could combine to create even more of a strain on the Veterans Administration health care system after the pandemic ends, said the official in charge of that system.