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RAO Bulletin Update
1 May 2008
 
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THIS BULLETIN CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES

== Gasoline Savings [01] -------------------------------- (Slow Down)
== Americans at War ---------------------------------------- (Online)
== Dates to Remember ----------------------- (Mark Your Calendar)
== Tricare User Fee [26] ------------------- (Conditions for Support)
== VA Claim Delay [02] --------------------- (VDBCMA H.R.5892)
== DeCA Dietician Service ---------------------------------- (Online)
== VA Retro Pay Project [11] -------------------------- (End in Sight)
== Filipino Vet Inequities [09] -------------- (S.1315 Passes Senate)
== GI Bill [20] ------------- (Republicans Strike Back)
== Tricare/CHAMPUS Fraud [07] ------------ ($100+ million in PI)
== Tricare/CHAMPUS Fraud [08] ------- (HV to Pay $100 million)
== Tricare/CHAMPUS Fraud [09] ------ (PI Scamming Continues)
== Mobilized Reserve 23 APR 08 ------------------- (4257 Increase)
== VA Fraud [08] ----------------- (Edmond OK)
== VA Suicide Prevention [02] ---------------- (Cover Up Revealed)
== IRS Penalties & Interest -------------------------- (How Accessed)
== Rental Car Age Restrictions ------------ (Cutoff Age at 70 or 75)
== VA Lawsuit (Lack of Care) [05] ------------- (18 Suicides Daily)
== VA Lawsuit (Lack of Care) [06] -------------- (Maris Testimony)
== ACM/ICM [03] -------------------------- (Campaign Stars)
== VA Flu Shots [02] --------------------------- (Only 44% Effective)
== PTSD [19] ------------------------------------- (RAND Corp Study)
== VA Home Loan [10] ----------------- (2008 Legislative Package)
== Military Stolen Valor [04] ----------------------- (How to Report)
== SBP Paid Up Provision [05] ----------- (Account Review Begins)
== VA Homeless Vets [09] --------------------- (HUD-VASH Effort)
== TFL Hospital Coverage] --------------------- (New Patient Policy)
== Asthma [01] -------------------------- (Dust Mites)
== VET Hunting Permits ------------------------- (Special Provisions)
== VA Blue Water Claims [02] ----------- (Manual M21-1 Change)
== Windows Vista [04] ------------- (Save Windows XP Campaign)
== REAP [02] ---------------------- (S.2871 Improvements)
== Sole Survivor [02] ------------------------------ (The Hubbard Act)
== VA Regulations Change [01] --------- (Plain Language Attempt)
== VA Independent Living Program [01] ------- (Cap Removal Bill)
== Medicare Part D [21] --------------------- (Premium Increase Bill)
== VA Comp Payment Disparity [10] --------------------- (H.R.5709)
== VA Dental Treatment [02] ----------- (Eligibility Expansion Bill)
== IRS Collection Policy [01] -------------- (Collection Agency Use)
== Scholarship Application Deadline Season ---- (Online Resource)
== Tricare Autism Care ---------------------- (Demonstration Project)
== Tricare Selection Considerations ------------- (Employer Policies)
== Veteran Legislation Status 29 April 08 ------- (Where we stand)


GASOLINE SAVINGS UPDATE 01:   Scientists and fuel efficiency experts
 say that for most cars, driving slower pays.  Most cars get the best
 mileage between 45 and 55 mph. As speeds creep higher, fuel efficiency
 drops. For every mile per hour over 60 mph, fuel economy drops by an
 average of around 1%. How much you stand to save depends on a lot of factors.
 With gas at $4 a gallon, a driver with a long commute - 400 miles a
 week - and a gas-guzzling vehicle getting only 20 mpg would save $18.74 a
 week by slowing down dramatically from 75 to 55 mph, extrapolating
 from the government's most recent figures on the subject. Even a more
 moderate deceleration - from 70 to 60 mph - would save that driver $11.74 a
 week. In contrast, a commuter who started with a smaller carbon
 footprint - driving 100 miles a week in a car getting 30 mpg - would stand to
 save only a few dollars a week by slowing down. The estimates are
 rough at best. The U.S. Department of Transportation last studied the
 effect of speed on fuel efficiency in 1997, and its results were based on a
 fleet of nine vehicles manufactured between 1988 and 1997 - hardly
 what's on the road today. "Unfortunately this analysis has not been done
 over, to my knowledge, in the last 10 years," said the Union of Concerned
 Scientists, senior engineer Jim Kliesch. Still, the results are
 striking. Slowing from 70 to 60 mph improved average fuel efficiency by
 17.2%t.  A big slowdown - from 75 to 55 mph - improved fuel efficiency by a
 whopping 30.6%. The need to conserve gasoline is why, in 1974, in the
 wake of the Arab oil embargo and ensuing fuel shortage, President
 Richard Nixon ordered the speed limit nationally to be lowered to 55 mph. The
 limit was lifted to 65 mph in some areas in the late 1980s, and the 55
 mph national speed limit was entirely discarded in 1995.  Following is
 a collection of sites that offer tips for getting the best prices and
 for conserving gas:

• If you’re planning a trip, say to visit family for Easter, visit
 AAA’s Fuel Cost Calculator at http://www.fuelcostcalculator.com/.  It will
 help you figure the total cost of your trip. Just enter your car make,
 model and year. Then select your starting city and destination. It also
 features a map that shows the average fuel prices by region.
• A comprehensive site on gas prices is http://www.fueleconomy.gov. It
 will help you find the cheapest local gas prices and lists the stations
 to avoid - the ones with the highest rates. You can also read tips for
 getting more miles per gallon or link to the AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge
 Report which displays the average price by state and metro area.
• GasBuddy http://gasbuddy.com and GasPriceWatch www.gaspricewatch.com
 are two other sites that will help you locate good prices on gas. You
 can search by area, so you won’t waste gas hunting cheap gas.
• If gas prices are too high, you can always share a ride!
 AlterNetRides http://alternetrides.com   will hook you up with fellow commuters.
• Alternative fuel like propane or biodiesel locations can be found by
 entering your ZIP and the type of fuel you need at
 http://afdcmap2.nrel.gov/locator/FindPane.asp
 [Source: San Francisco Chronicle Michael Cabanatuan, article 28 Apr 08
 ++]


AMERICANS at WAR:   Now instant access to powerful videos and stories
 from the award-winning PBS series “Americans art War” can be accessed
 online at www.americans-at-war.com. The new website, launched by the U.S.
 Naval Institute (USNI) and sponsored by Lockheed Martin, features
 videos and stories which illuminate the actual combat experience from the
 perspective of the men and women who fought in America's wars from WWI
 to Iraq.  [Source: Military.com 28 Apr 08 ++]


DATES to REMEMBER:  Upcoming dates to remember.  Don’t forget to add
 your marriage anniversary and your spouse’s birthday:
•  May  11 Mothers Day
• May 17 Armed Forces Day
• May 24 – 1 Senate Memorial Day recess (District work period)
• May 26 - 30 House Memorial Day recess(District work period)
• May  26 Memorial Day
• June 14 Flag Day
• June 15 Fathers Day
• June 21 First Day of Summer
[Source: Various 28 Apr 08]
 

TRICARE USER FEE UPDATE 26:   At a 16 APR subcommittee hearing in which
 major military associations presented their annual wish lists of
 improvements in pay, allowances and other benefits, Sens. Ben Nelson (D-NE)
 and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said they might be willing to support modest
 Tricare fee increases, but will not back a Pentagon proposal seeking
 Tricare fee increases of as much as 400% for some retirees. Nelson and
 Graham are the chairman and ranking Republican, respectively, on the
 Senate Armed Services personnel subcommittee. Representatives testifying on
 behalf of the military associations expressed a willingness to accept
 fee increases that are no more than the size of the annual military pay
 raise or the annual cost-of-living adjustment in military retired pay,
 which gives Nelson and Graham some maneuvering room.  Both indicated
 they will work on providing better health coverage to service members
 who are discharged from active duty without medical retirement pay. Steve
 Strobridge of the Military Officers Association of America said capped
 fee increases were acceptable - as long as they are part of a broader
 policy that makes clear that co-payments, deductibles and enrollment
 fees for Tricare users should not be determined simply by health care
 budget shortfalls. "We realize it is unrealistic to have no increases,
 ever," said Strobridge, who co-chairs the Military Coalition, a group of
 more than 30 military-related associations.  The Pentagon estimates
 Tricare fee hikes would save about $1.9 billion in the  2009 defense
 budget. If the committee adopts lower fee increases or rejects any increases,
 it would have to make up the funding gap somehow. [Source: Air Force
 Times Rick Maze article posted 28 Apr 08 ++]


VA CLAIM DELAY UPDATE 02:   Due to an influx of new claims and the
 antiquated rules by which the Department of Veterans Affairs must process
 claims the average processing time has risen from 174 in 2006 to 188
 days in 2007.  As of APR 08 the number of claims outstanding was 650,000.
  The Department of Veterans Affairs projects that the number of claims
 will surpass one million by the end of fiscal year 2008. In an effort
 to reduce the backlog Congressman John Hall (D-NY-19) on 23 APR
 introduced HR 5892, the ‘‘Veterans Disability Benefits Claims Modernization
 Act of 2008’’.  This bill is to amend title 38, United States Code, to
 direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to modernize the disability
 benefits claims processing system of the VA to ensure the accurate and
 timely delivery of compensation to veterans and their families and
 survivors, and for other purposes. The legislation specifically focuses on:

•  Clarifying combat related disabilities;
• Readjusting the VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities;
• Changing the VBA’s work credit and management systems;
• Improving employee certification and training;
• Improving quality assurance measurements;
• Expediting fully-developed claims and improving VCAA notice
 requirements;
• Ensuring partial ratings for qualifying veterans
• Allowing substitution of qualifying survivors;
• Enhancing information technology; and
• Providing surer appellate justice adding matters related to the
 jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims to provide surer
 appellate justice
[Source: VDBCMA H.R.5892 23 Apr 08 ++]


DECA DIETICIAN SERVICE:   The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) has its
 own dietitian who is available to help the retiree community lose
 weight, get in shape and maintain good health.  Maj. Karen Fauber offers a
 weekly online column, “The Dietitian's Voice,” and a discussion forum,
 “Ask the DeCA Dietitian” on the agency’s Web site at
 www.commissaries.com.  To find the link to the DeCA Dietitian page. click on the “Healthy
 Living” tab in the top navigation bar  Visitors to the site will find
 suggestions for eating healthy, such as a variety of nutrition tips and
 meal choices.  People can also submit questions to Major Fauber, and
 participate in an online forum to discuss healthy eating and shopping
 ideas.  Major Fauber is a registered and licensed dietitian with more than
 16 years of military service, including experience as a certified
 diabetes educator in Army medical facilities and public health clinics.
  [Source: AFRS Release No. 04-09-08 dtd 25 Apr 08 ++]


VA RETRO PAY PROJECT UPDATE 11:   In OCT 06, the Defense Finance and
 Accounting Service (DFAS) and the Department of Veteran's Affairs (VA)
 initiated the process of providing retroactive compensation for more than
 133,000 disabled recipients of either Combat Related Special
 Compensation (CRSC) or Concurrent Retired Disability Payment (CRDP) and VA
 compensation.  Since then, more than 85,000 additional retirees have been
 identified by the VA as potentially eligible for retroactive payment. As
 of April 20, DFAS reported that nearly 179,000 accounts have been
 processed, with approximately 39,000 remaining. Of those, more than 16,000
 are new cases. But about 23,000 of the most complicated cases from the
 originally identified group are still being worked. The joint process
 gives priority to the original cases, but those remaining require
 multiple laborious computations. In many cases, these can only be done by
 hand, because the individuals have had several VA rating changes and have
 switched back and forth between CRDP and CRSC payments with annual
 changes in the relative value of the two programs - due to the rating
 changes or the ramp-up of CRDP payments, or both.

    DFAS has reported that by 31 MAY, it will complete its review of
 the initial 133,000 files of disabled retirees The number of contractors
 hired and trained to work the files has climbed to 233 from 51 since
 DEC 07. So far, DFAS and the Department of Veterans Affairs have paid a
 combined $308 million in back payments to disabled military retirees.
  Both continue to identify new retirees that may be eligible for
 retroactive compensation and are working to developing automated changes that
 will expedite that process. On a separate topic, medical retirees with
 less than 20 years of service will soon be able to have their CRSC
 applications adjudicated for disabilities incurred as a result of combat or
 combat related events. DoD expects to release guidance to the military
 services by the end of this month or in early May. MOAA will keep you
 informed as soon as the guidance is published.  [Source: NAUS Weekly
 Update & MOAA Leg Up 25 Apr 08 ++]


FILIPINO VET INEQUITIES UPDATE 09:  On 24 APR, the Senate passed S
 .1315 the Veterans Benefits Enhancement Act (companion bill of H.R.760),
 which would authorize additional wounded warrior benefits including a new
 term life insurance program for disabled veterans. contains various
 measures to help veterans.  One of the provisions would provide benefits
 to Filipino veterans who fought along side U.S. forces in World War II
 including non-citizens living outside the US in part by barring recent
 court-directed expansion of VA compensation to certain additional
 categories of disabled US veteran.  Ranking member of the Senate Veterans'
 Affairs Committee Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) offered an amendment, which
 was defeated, which would strip out benefits for those Filipino veterans
 that had not been injured in the line of duty. The House has not yet
 completed action on its bill, HR 760, which contains even more generous
 benefits for Filipino veterans of WWII.  The Senate bill which contains
 the below provisions now goes back to the House where further attempts
 to change or eliminate this part of the bill are expected.  For a
 complete listing of S. 1315 provisions, refer to the Thomas website at:
 http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:s.01315:

• Provide retroactive traumatic injury coverage under SGLI for
 qualifying injuries incurred between October 7, 2001 and December 1, 2005
•  Authorize SGLI coverage for members of the Individual Ready Reserve
 (IRR)
• Raise the VA home mortgage life insurance rates to $200,000 by 2012
• Accelerate award of special adaptive housing benefits to certain
 currently serving servicemembers (including burn victims) likely to be
 released from active duty due to the extent of their disabilities.
•  Increase supplemental burial benefits to $2100 in the case of a
 service-connected death and $900 for a non-service connected death.
• Allow troops called to active duty for not less than 90 days to
 cancel or suspend their cell phone contracts without incurring early
 termination or reactivation fees.
• Increase the maximum amount of supplemental Service-Disabled Veterans
 Insurance from $20,000 to $30,000.
• Expand eligibility for home improvement and structural alteration
 assistance to include permanently disabled servicemembers.
• Provide a specially-adapted housing grant to veterans and qualified
 servicemembers with severe burn injuries.
• Extend authority of the VA to assist individuals living temporarily
 in residences owned by family members.
• Provide automobile and adaptive equipment assistance to disabled
 veterans and servicemembers with severe burn injuries.
• Increase to $445 from the current $300 allowance for veteran burial
 plots.
• Provide a presumption of service-connection for osteoporosis for
 former POWs with post-traumatic stress disorder.
•  Increase cost-of-living for additional dependency and indemnity
 compensation paid to certain surviving spouses with minor dependent
 children.
• Expand retroactive traumatic injury protection under SGLI (TSGLI) to
 include all servicemembers, not just those injured in Operation
 Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom.
[Source: NAUS Weekly Update & MOAA Leg Up 25 Apr 08 ++]


GI BILL UPDATE 20:   A Republican GI Bill plan, the Enhancement of
 Recruitment, Retention and Readjustment through Education Act, with many
 features attractive to active-duty service members and their families was
 unveiled 22 APR.  No bill number has been assigned to date.  It is
 their effort to show that it’s not just Democrats who want to improve
 veterans’ education benefits through their Post-9/11 Veterans’ Educational
 Assistance Act S.22. The Republican plan includes increases in basic
 benefits, a new book allowance, broad rights to transfer unused benefits
 to family members, and the ability to use veterans’ benefits to pay off
 existing student loans. It also would extend GI Bill benefits to
 service academy and Reserve Officers’ Training Corps scholarship graduates,
 who are currently ineligible for payments, and would allow about 5,000
 people who entered active duty between 1977 and 1985 to sign up for the
 benefits plan from which they were excluded.  The package is intended
 as an alternative to a GI Bill plan introduced last year by Sen. Jim
 Webb (D-VA) that has the support of most House and Senate members. It
 also helps Sen. John McCain, (R-AZ) Republican presidential candidate and
 ranking minority party member of the Senate Armed Services Committee,
 who has faced increasing pressure from veterans’ groups for not
 supporting Webb’s bill, S.22 which now has 57 cosponsors.

     Under the Republican bill active-duty members, monthly GI Bill
 benefits would rise 1 OCT to $1,500, up from the current $1,101, enough to
 cover the average cost of a four-year public college including room,
 board, tuition and fees, said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), ranking
 Republican on the Senate Armed Services personnel subcommittee. Another $500
 annual payment would help cover the cost of books and supplies. Asked
 if he thought a living stipend was needed in addition to the basic
 benefit, Graham said room and board is factored into the cost. “We don’t
 have beer money included,” he said. That is less than what Webb proposes
 in his bill S.22, which would provide GI Bill benefits plus a living
 stipend in amounts varying by state. Webb proposed basic benefits that
 matched college tuition and fees, up to a maximum payment set by the most
 expensive four-year public college in a state. The monthly living
 expense proposed by Webb would match the military’s basic allowance for
 housing for an E-5 with dependents in the area of the school being
 attended, estimated to be $1,000 a month or more. Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC),
 ranking Republican on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee and another
 co-sponsors of the new bill, said Webb’s plan could take a year or more
 to implement because of the difficulty in setting a benefits cap for
 each state, and would create inequities between states. Burr said
 increases called for by the Republican bill would take effect this year, and
 veterans would get the same payment no matter where they went to school.
 
 
    Patrick Campbell of Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans said the
 provisions noted by Burr are not necessarily advantages. Basing payments on
 average tuitions, Campbell said, “means, by definition, that half of
 the people are not going to be paid enough to cover the cost of their
 college education. That is why I still prefer Webb’s bill.” The Pentagon
 has opposed Webb’s bill, arguing that it would encourage people to get
 out of the military to use the benefits. Defense officials do not want
 GI Bill benefits to be more than about $1,500 per month. In response to
 military concerns, the Republican bill promises to phase in additional
 increases for those who have served 12 or more years on active duty.
 Monthly benefits would increase by $150 in 2009, $150 in 2010 and $200
 in 2011, capping at $2,000. Benefits for reservists also would increase
 to $1,200 a month for people who have been mobilized since 11 SEP 01, a
 jump from the current $880. Benefits for other Guard and reserve
 members would increase to $634 a month, double the current rate. Recognizing
 that veterans’ benefits are insufficient to pay for every school, the
 bill includes a provision encouraging colleges and universities to
 forgive loans accumulated by veterans. Schools can receive $1,000 for
 forgiving 25% of a veterans’ debt, $2,000 for forgiving 50% of debt and
 $3,000 for forgiving 100% of debt, Graham said. The proposal allowing
 transfer of GI Bill benefits to family members would be a retention boost
 for active, Guard and reserve forces, Graham said. It would allow those
 who have served six years to transfer 18 months of GI Bill benefits to a
 spouse or child, and allow 36 months of GI Bill benefits to be shared
 after 12 years of service.

     While the Republican bill is more generous than the plan
 envisioned by the Pentagon earlier this year, when President Bush endorsed the
 idea of sharing veterans’ educational benefits with family members,
 Graham said he did not expect administration opposition. Asked about the
 Pentagon view, Graham said he had spoken with defense officials who
 “agreed” to the proposal but quickly amended that to say, “Well, I think
 they are going to agree.” The bill does meet the basic limitations on
 payments spelled out last week by defense officials in testimony before the
 House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. The Republican bill has three
 features not included in Webb’s proposal:

• Service academy graduates and Senior ROTC graduates who are excluded
 from the current GI Bill plan, unless they earned benefits through
 prior enlisted service, would get full benefits, including transfer rights,
 if they serve in uniform for five years beyond their initial
 obligation.
• About 5,000 active-duty members who entered service between 1977 and
 1985, when the only education benefits plan available was the
 low-paying Veterans Education Assistance Program, or VEAP, would be allowed to
 enroll in the GI Bill. They would have to pay a $2,700 contribution,
 more than the $1,200 payment for other service members. They would also be
 limited to using the benefits only to pay for a bachelor’s degree and
 would not have the option of transferring benefits to family members.
 The enrollment option would be available to anyone still on active duty
 or to those who were on active duty on 11 SEP 01, who have since
 retired.
• GI Bill benefits could be used by enrolled active-duty members to pay
 off federal student loans, which is not currently allowed. State or
 private loans would not be covered. Up to $6,000 per year could be
 repaid. The payments would reduce a member’s total GI bill benefits, under
 rules to be determined, to ensure no one is paid more than other GI Bill
 users. Republican aides said this feature would be another way to
 encourage people to remain on active duty.

Webb spokeswoman Kimberly Hunter said the Republican bill seems to
 focus “on educational benefits for career military officers while ignoring
 the 75% of service members that choose not to pursue a career in the
 military.” Hunter said. “S.22 is an affirmative readjustment benefit
 designed to transition post-9/11 veterans into civilian life, which is the
 same benefit given to the World War II vets. Sen. Webb has consistently
 said that the military does a fine job at managing its career force,
 but really fails to take care of their people once they leave the
 military. The Republican bill follows that same philosophy. As veterans’
 unemployment continues to rise and recruitment continues to fall, we need
 affirmative programs that reward active-duty service, transition
 veterans into civilian life and target new pools of potential recruits.”
 [Source:  NavyTimes Rick Maze article 23 Apr 08 ++]


TRICARE/CHAMPUS FRAUD UPDATE 07:   The U.S. military's health insurance
 program has been swindled out of more than $100 million over the past
 decade in the Philippines, where doctors, hospitals and clinics have
 conspired with American veterans to submit bogus claims, according to
 prosecutors and court records. Seventeen people have been convicted so far
 — including at least a dozen U.S. military retirees — in a
 little-noticed investigation that has been handled by federal prosecutors out of
 Wisconsin because Madison-based WPS Health Insurance holds the contract
 to process many of the claims. It has not been accused of any
 wrongdoing. At the center of the case is Tricare, a Pentagon-run program that
 insures 9.2 million current and former service members and dependents
 worldwide. The United States closed its military bases in the Philippines
 in 1992 and withdrew its active-duty forces, but thousands of retirees
 remained. Some saw an opportunity to pry easy cash from Tricare. Health
 care providers in the Philippines filed claims for medical services
 never delivered, inflated claims by as much as 2,000% and shared
 kickbacks with retirees who played along, court records reviewed by The
 Associated Press show. "There just seemed to be so many possibilities for
 abuse of the system, and there were so few controls in terms of
 monitoring," said former U.S. Attorney Peg Lautenschlager, who oversaw
 prosecutions in the late 1990s.
 
    Pentagon auditors say Tricare moved slowly to uncover and stop the
 fraud. And a FEB 08 audit warned that the program is still vulnerable
 to rip-offs because of lax controls and that similar fraud schemes are
 starting to emerge in Latin America. News of the scope of the fraud
 comes as the Pentagon seeks to raise fees for Tricare's beneficiaries —
 fourfold, in some cases. The proposed increases have outraged groups
 representing servicemen and have been blocked by Congress. Tricare paid
 $210.9 million in overseas claims in 2006, the latest year for which
 figures were available. At the height of the fraud in 2003, Pentagon
 officials say, two-thirds of the $61.8 million paid to Philippine providers —
 about $40 million — was fraudulent. The fraud in the Philippines was so
 extensive that the number of claims filed there skyrocketed nearly
 2,000% between 1998 and 2003 even as beneficiaries there — about 9,000
 mostly retired military members and dependents — remained constant. "I know
 this is illegal and wrong to submit fraudulent claims to get money,
 but I did it for fun," U.S. Navy retiree Romulo Estoesta told
 investigators. He died in 2002.

     Austin Camacho, a spokesman for the Pentagon's Tricare Management
 Activity, which runs the program, said the fraud has been hard to prove
 because of language barriers, a lack of cooperation from providers and
 limited law enforcement resources. But he said the agency added
 numerous controls and is making every effort to stop fraud. In one big case,
 prosecutors say Health Visions Corp. — which owns hospitals and clinics
 in the Philippines — bilked the program out of nearly $100 million
 from 1998 to 2004. Its former president, Thomas Lutz, has pleaded guilty
 to his role in a kickback scheme and could get five years in prison. He
 could be sentenced in Madison as early as 2 4APR. The company has also
 reached a plea agreement, but it is sealed. Prosecutors say Health
 Visions executives instructed billers to inflate every claim by at least
 233% and falsify diagnoses. Lutz refused to comment when reached by
 telephone in Columbia, Mo., where he is living with relatives. The company's
 lawyer had no comment. Pentagon officials received fraud allegations
 against the company in 2000 but waited until late 2005 to move to cut
 off payments, according to an internal audit report. The company reaped
 tens of millions of dollars in payments in the meantime. In a 2005 memo,
 William Winkenwerder, then assistant secretary of defense for health
 affairs, complained that his requests to send additional investigators
 to the Philippines were ignored.

     The fraud went well beyond Health Visions. A Pentagon official
 warned in 2004 that the Philippine schemes were costing U.S. taxpayers $40
 million a year. In all, those convicted have been ordered to pay back
 only about $1.8 million. Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Jarosz said of
 the 37 people indicted, about 20 remain free, in part because requests
 to extradite suspects from the Philippines have rarely succeeded. Claro
 de Castro, chief of the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation's
 Interpol division, insisted Philippine authorities have cooperated with
 the U.S. Nevertheless, federal agents have resorted to trying to
 capture defendants when they step on U.S. soil. Dr. Diogenes Dionisio, who
 ran a clinic near Manila, was arrested earlier this year after he arrived
 in Guam for a vacation. He has pleaded not guilty to submitting $2
 million in fraudulent claims. His lawyer, Charles Giesen, said his client
 was never notified he was facing indictment. "He was getting off the
 plane with his golf clubs and they put him in handcuffs," Giesen said.
 "It was a complete surprise and somewhat baffling."  [Source: Associated
 Press Ryan J. Foley article 23 Apr 08 +]


TRICARE/CHAMPUS FRAUD UPDATE 08:   A federal judge ordered a
 Philippines company to pay back $100 million (euro63 million) it swindled from
 the US military's health insurance program. Health Visions (HV) Corp.,
 which pleaded guilty to mail fraud, was ordered to liquidate all assets
 within 10 months and give the proceeds to the US government.  Federal
 prosecutors say the company bilked the military's Tricare program out of
 $99.9 million (euro63.35 million) between 1998 and 2004. The company
 routinely inflated claims by more than 230%, operated a phony insurance
 program and billed for medical services never delivered, court records
 showed, and the Pentagon moved slowly to uncover the scheme. Assistant
 US Attorney Peter Jarosz described Health Visions as the biggest
 violator yet in a long-running investigation into Tricare fraud in the
 Philippines. "This is basically a death sentence for the company. It will no
 longer exist and that will protect the Tricare program since it was the
 biggest violator," he said after the hearing. "We got what we needed
 out of this prosecution."

     The US closed its military bases in the Philippines in 1992 and
 withdrew its active-duty forces, but thousands of retirees remained.
  Formed in 1997, Health Visions owned and operated hospitals and clinics in
 the Philippines and billed Tricare on behalf of other health care
 providers. On top of the $99.9 million (euro63.35 million) in restitution,
 US District Judge Barbara Crabb ordered the company to forfeit an
 additional $910,000 (euro577,000) and pay a $500,000 (euro317,000) fine.
  Health Visions will be required to sell off land, office buildings and
 hospitals in the Philippines and an airplane and houses in the US under
 Crabb's order. The company has run into problems selling hospitals
 because of ownership disputes, and Jarosz said it was uncertain whether the
 U.S. government would ever recover the full amount.  The company's
 lawyer, Christopher Kelly, declined to comment. He told Crabb he had
 nothing to add beyond a plea agreement, which was unsealed on 24 APR. Health
 Visions and its former president, Thomas Lutz, were hit with a 75-count
 indictment in 2005.  Lutz, a US citizen who turned 41 on 24 APR, has
 pleaded guilty to his role in a kickback scheme and could face up to
 five years in prison when he is sentenced. A date for that hearing will be
 scheduled shortly now that the company has been sentenced, Jarosz
 said.  No word has been released yet on what action will be taken against
 the hundreds of military vets/dependents who knowingly aided and abetted
 this fraud.   All were required to sign Tricare claim forms verifying
 treatment and all received EOB’s identifying what had been billed to
 Tricare by HV.

     The case has been an embarrassment to the Pentagon, where
 different branches have blamed one another for allowing the company's fraud to
 slip through the cracks. The fraud was so extensive that claims from
 the Philippines increased by 2,000% between 1998 and 2003 even as the
 number of Tricare beneficiaries remained the same. Payments to the country
 went up from less than $3 million (euro1.9 million) to more than $60
 million (euro38.05 million) during that time. The Office of Inspector
 General has criticized Tricare's managers for waiting years to cut off
 payments to Health Visions after suspecting the company of fraud.
  William Winkenwerder, former assistant secretary of defense for health
 affairs, said that the inspector general's office was partly to blame because
 it refused his requests to send additional investigators to the
 country. He said he worked hard to stop the problems after they came to his
 attention in 2003.  Asked how the company was able to defraud the
 program of $100 million (euro63.42 million), Winkenwerder said: "There were
 some very deceptive practices that were occurring. The fact that this
 was a faraway location did add to the challenge of uncovering problems.
 And they didn't get away with it ultimately, which is the good news."
 The investigation has been handled by prosecutors in Wisconsin because
 WPS Health Insurance, a Madison company, is the subcontractor that
 handles most overseas claims. About three dozen others have been indicted to
 date, mostly US military veterans and Philippine doctors. [Source: AP
 Ryan J. Foley article 24 Apr 08 ++]


TRICARE/CHAMPUS FRAUD UPDATE 9:   The clinic where Dr. Alberto Marzan
 allegedly played his role in a $100 million swindle of the U.S.
 military's health insurance program sits abandoned, along with the adjacent
 family home. But a legacy remains, with a U.S. Navy retiree saying scams
 are still rife even after a federal judge ordered a Philippines company
 to pay back the money it skimmed.  Marzan, one of the longest-wanted
 fugitives in the probe, recruited dozens of military retirees to falsely
 claim they and their relatives were confined at his clinic and received
 expensive medical services, U.S. prosecutors say. He made fraudulent
 claims of $1.5 million to the program and was paid more than $1 million,
 prosecutors add. In return, he typically paid kickbacks to the
 retirees. A U.S. federal grand jury returned a 35-count indictment against
 Marzan in 1999, but he has apparently remained free in the Philippines
 after vanishing from Moncada RP. Neighbors, village leaders, police and
 former co-workers in the Moncada town hall, where he used to sit as
 councilor, say the doctor's family slipped out of town more than three years
 ago and remains underground.  Claro de Castro, head of the National
 Bureau of Investigation's Interpol division, said his office has arrest
 warrants for a doctor and a beneficiary. But he refused to identify them
 or say if the wanted doctor was Marzan because agents are still
 working on the case.

     Jerry Minor, a Navy retiree and administrator of Lifeline Medical
 Center - a Tricare-accredited clinic in western Olongapo city near the
 former U.S.-run Subic Naval Base - said many accredited doctors and
 clinics in the city continue to overprice their services. Retirees are
 usually lured into the scheme because the clinics do not charge them the
 required 25% share of the cost, instead sending the whole bill to
 Tricare, Minor said. One clinic blacklisted by Tricare for fraudulent claims
 simply changed its name and is back in business, he told The Associated
 Press in an interview 25 APR. Minor said a retiree's wife who was
 convinced by a clinic four years ago to sign a stack of blank claim forms -
 one is filled out every time a beneficiary goes to a clinic - was
 shocked to find out last December that several women were collecting on
 claims using her details. "It was like signing a blank check," he added.
  He said he tried to find out for himself about the overpricing by going
 to a doctor, who told him he would be charged 850 pesos ($20) for a
 15-minute consultation. The price was higher than the 500 peso ($12) fee
 per consultation under Tricare regulations.  Minor said when he brought
 up his share of the cost, the doctor told him, "Don't worry about it,
 you pay nothing. Tricare does." He said he has reported the anomalies
 to Tricare officials but the scams continue.

     Vicky Gross, a retiree's widow who used to work for Health
 Visions, said many doctors and clinics don't charge beneficiaries their share
 of costs but she did not know what they were charging to Tricare.
 Austin Camacho, a spokesman for the Pentagon's Tricare Management Activity,
 said the program has implemented new controls to combat fraud in the
 Philippines in recent years. Among other things, the program looks for
 patterns of aberrant practices and reviews claims that appear excessive.
 In 2001-07, the program refused to pay $288 million in fraudulent or
 excessive claims from the country, he said.  Still, he said it is hard to
 catch all fraud overseas and Tricare does not exclude providers
 "without sufficient evidence. This can be difficult in an environment where
 law enforcement resources are limited, providers are not always
 cooperative and are not subject to the U.S. government's subpoena power," he
 said.  Rufino Bayao Jr., a Navy retiree who served a 1.5-year U.S. prison
 term and three years of probation for taking part in the scam with
 Marzan, advises retirees not to fall for the bait. "If they are caught,
 they will also suffer," he told AP in his home in northern Tayug town.
 "It's not worth it." Aside from the prison term, Buyao is having more
 than a third of his $800 monthly pension deducted to pay for $132,390 in
 restitution that a U.S. court ordered him to pay. He says he got only
 200,000 pesos ($4,760) from Marzan for signing false claims, with much of
 the money going for drinking binges. [Source:  Military.com AP article
 28 apr 08 ++]


MOBILIZED RESERVE 23 APR 08:  The Army, Air Force and Marine Corps
 announced the current number of reservists on active duty as of 23APR 08 in
 support of the partial mobilization. The net collective result is
 4,257 more reservists mobilized than last reported in the Bulletin for 26
 MAR 08. At any given time, services may mobilize some units and
 individuals while demobilizing others, making it possible for these figures to
 either increase or decrease. The total number currently on active duty
 in support of the partial mobilization of the Army National Guard and
 Army Reserve is 79,049; Navy Reserve, 5,211; Air National Guard and Air
 Force Reserve, 9,554; Marine Corps Reserve, 8,496; and the Coast Guard
 Reserve, 347. This brings the total National Guard and Reserve
 personnel who have been mobilized to 102,657, including both units and
 individual augmentees. A cumulative roster of all National Guard and Reserve
 personnel, who are currently mobilized, can be found at
 http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2008/d20080423ngr.pdf . [Source: DoD
 News Release 196-08 12 Mar 08 ++]


VA FRAUD UPDATE 08:  A federal grand jury has indicted an Edmond OK man
 on making false claims about injuries and awards while serving in the
 Vietnam War. James Hull 66, faces three counts of using false documents
 and one count of falsely receiving a military medal. Charges arose
 from an investigation by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of
 Inspector General Division. Hull is accused of signing and submitting
 fraudulent forms in MAR 05 and MAR 06 to the Veterans Administration to
 support his claims for disabilities that happened as a result of
 combat in Vietnam.  According to court documents, Hull also submitted
 fraudulent citations for a Silver Star and Meritorious Service Medal he
 claimed he received as a result of his military service in Vietnam between
 1964 and 1965.  An investigation revealed that Hull was assigned to
 military units in the Republic of turkey, Fort Walters, Texas, and San
 Francisco during the times he claimed to be in Vietnam, according to court
 documents. [Source: NewsOK.com article 22 Apr 08 ++]


VA SUICIDE PREVENTION UPDATE 02:  On 22 APR Sens. Daniel Akaka,
 D-Hawaii and Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Dr. Ira Katz, the VA’s mental health
 director, withheld crucial information on the true suicide risk among
 veterans and called for his resignation saying he tried to cover up the
 rising number of veteran suicides. “Dr. Katz’s irresponsible actions
 have been a disservice to our veterans, and it is time for him to go,”
 said Murray, a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. “The No.
 1 priority of the VA should be caring for our veterans, not covering up
 the truth.” Akaka, the committee’s chairman, said in a letter to the
 VA that Katz’s “personal conduct and professional judgment” had been
 called into question by his response to veteran suicides. A number of
 Democratic senators said they were appalled at e-mails showing Katz and
 other VA officials apparently trying to conceal the number of suicides by
 veterans. An e-mail message from Katz disclosed this week as part of a
 lawsuit that went to trial in San Francisco starts with “Shh!” and
 claims 12,000 veterans a year attempt suicide while under department
 treatment. “Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some
 sort of release before someone stumbles on it?” the e-mail asks.
 Another e-mail said an average of 18 war veterans kill themselves each day —
 and five of them are under VA care when they commit suicide. A VA
 spokesman declined to comment.

     “It is completely outrageous that the federal agency charged with
 helping veterans would instead cover up the hard truth — that more and
 more Americans coming home after bravely fighting for their country are
 suffering from mental illnesses and, in the most tragic circumstances,
 committing suicide,” said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. “Anyone at the VA
 who is involved in this cover-up should be removed immediately.” Harkin,
 Murray and Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., introduced legislation 22 APR
 calling on VA to track how many veterans commit suicide each year.
 Currently, VA facilities record the number of suicides and attempted
 suicides in VA facilities but do not record how many veterans overall take
 their own lives. The agency, however, is reluctant to disclose specific
 numbers, veterans advocates complain. The new bill would require VA to
 report to Congress within 180 days the number of veterans who have died
 by suicide since 1 JAN 97, and continue reports annually. Harkin’s
 office said statistics provided earlier this year by VA showed that 790
 veterans under VA care attempted suicide in 2007. That figure is
 contradicted by the e-mail revealed this week. Two veterans groups last year
 filed the class-action lawsuit against a sprawling VA system that handled a
 record 838,000 claims last year. A government lawyer urged a judge
 Monday to dismiss the lawsuit, saying the agency runs a “world-class”
 medical care system.  [Source: Air Force Times AP Matthew Daly article
 posted 23 Apr 08 ++]


IRS PENALTIES & INTEREST:   For American expatriates used to the tax
 filing deadline in mid-June, the 15th of April tax paying deadline can
 easily be overlooked. So down the road when those 2007 taxes are finally
 paid with the tax return, Expats can be surprised to receive an IRS
 interest assessment for late payment. So if the 2007 tax return has not
 yet been prepared, the best strategy - after 15 April and before 15 June
 - is to estimate and pay any taxes owed.  When IRS receives your tax
 return, they first check the return for mathematical accuracy. If taxes
 are owed, they bill the taxpayer and charge interest from 15 April on
 the federal short-term rate plus three percent. Interest is compounded
 daily. A penalty for late payment of one-half of one percent of the tax
 owed for each month may also be assessed until the full 25% maximum
 penalty is applied for non-payment. For reasonable cause, penalties can be
 abated, but not interest. Assessed taxpayers can send an explanation
 together with the bill to the IRS service center in Austin for
 consideration. However IRS will not act to abate until the taxes owed are first
 paid. To assure payment is properly made, a check or money order should
 be payable to UNITED STATES TREASURY. Also on the check, remember to
 enter the tax year, form number and your telephone number. Form 1040-V
 should accompany payment. The expatriate mailing address is: Internal
 Revenue Service Centre, PO Box 660335, Dallas, TX 75266-0335.  [Source:
  The Tax Baron Report MAR/APR08 ++]


RENTAL CAR AGE RESTRICTIONS:   More seniors are traveling than ever
 before, and the travel industry has responded by offering a wide range of
 senior travel discounts and incentives
 (http://seniorliving.about.com/od/travelsmart/ss/traveldiscount.htm ),
 but there are still a few places in the travel world where age works
 against you.  One example is the car rental counter in some European,
 African and South Pacific countries, where a little known regulation has
 stranded more than one unsuspecting senior traveler, leaving them without
 transportation because they are “too old” to drive the rental car they
 have reserved. How can this happen? Easy. Insurance companies mandate
 the maximum age for car rental, and they usually set the cutoff age at
 70 or 75. If an older customer has an accident, the company's insurance
 carrier will increase rates across the board, unless the company
 agrees to refuse service to any customer above a certain age. Different
 rental car companies have different insurance carriers, however, so the
 only way to know whether you will be allowed to drive away in the car you
 have reserved before leaving on your trip is to ask specifically about
 age restrictions for rental cars, and how they apply in the area where
 you will be traveling.

     The rules about renting cars after a certain age haven’t become
 more rigid, but with more seniors traveling the frequency of problems has
 increased. Most people know there is a minimum age for rental cars,
 but few people realize that there is also an upper age limit. Dealing
 exclusively with major rental car companies like Hertz or Avis won’t
 necessarily help you avoid the problem. While some of the major companies
 don’t impose age maximums for rental cars at their corporate sites, many
 have franchise operations in various locations that restrict rental
 cars by age to meet insurance requirements. Despite the age limits some
 insurance companies impose on rental car companies and their customers,
 however, there are steps you can take to improve your chances of finding
 a rental car regardless of your age.
•  Shop Around. If one company where you’re traveling has an upper age
 limit for rental cars, another company in the same city may not.
• Get Insurance. In some areas, older drivers are allowed to rent cars
 if they can provide their own insurance policy that will cover them and
 the rental car while they are traveling in that location.
• Drive Farther. Sometimes, it pays to get a rental car near your
 destination, because the regulations are more flexible, and drive it into
 the area where you really want to go.
• Don’t Count on the Web. Companies don’t always post rental car age
 restrictions on their Web sites in a place that is easy to find. If
 you’re 70 or older, call the rental car company directly and ask about their
 policy in the area where you want to travel. If you get a clerk who
 doesn’t know or seems uncertain about the policy, ask to speak to a
 supervisor and keep going up the ladder until you find someone who can
 verify that you can rent a car at your destination

Some related driving issues seniors should be aware of are their
 state’s DMV regulations regarding driver license revocation. In California:
• DMV cannot take your driving license away because of age.  However,
 once you turn 70 you must renew your license in person rather than by
 mail.
• Medical doctors (for example, physicians, surgeons and psychiatrists)
 are required by law to report to a local health office patients who
 have been diagnosed with certain conditions which (in their opinion) will
 impact on your ability to drive. Doctors are protected against civil
 and criminal liability for these confidential reports.
• A spouse or family member (blood relatives within three degrees) can
 report you  to the local DMV Driver Safety Office. If the reporting
 family member reasonably and in good faith believes that you  cannot
 safely operate a motor vehicle, the reporter is protected from civil and
 criminal liability.
[Source: About.com: Senior Living & www.help4srs.org Apr 08 ++]


VA LAWSUIT (LACK OF CARE) UPDATE 05:  THE lawsuit, filed in JUL 07 by
 two nonprofit groups representing military veterans, accuses the agency
 of inadequately addressing a “rising tide” of mental health problems,
 especially post-traumatic stress disorder. It contends the Department of
 Veterans Affairs isn’t doing enough to prevent suicide and provide
 adequate medical care for Americans who have served in the armed forces, a
 class-action lawsuit that goes to trial this week charges. But
 government lawyers say the VA has been devoting more resources to mental
 health and making suicide prevention a top priority. They also argue that
 the courts don’t have the authority to tell the department how it should
 operate. The trial began 21 APR in a San Francisco federal court. An
 average of 18 military veterans kill themselves each day, and five of
 them are under VA care when they commit suicide, according to a December
 e-mail between top VA officials that was filed as part of the federal
 lawsuit. The veterans groups wrote in court papers filed 17 APR that
 failure to provide care is manifesting itself in an epidemic of suicides.
 The "trial...does not seek monetary damages but asks the court to
 appoint a special master or otherwise intervene to make" the VA run more
 efficiently.

     After government lawyers and attorneys representing the veterans
 made opening statements the executive director of the National Veterans
 Legal Services Program, testified that U.S. veterans returning from
 Iraq and Afghanistan don't have sufficient access to lawyers to help them
 process health and medical claims when they encounter treatment delays
 or mistakes a witness for the veterans testified.  "Even if we get
 1,000 cases placed, there are hundreds of thousands of claims," Abrams
 said. Veterans suffering disorders cannot get enough legal aid even though
 hundreds of lawyers from dozens of law firms have volunteered to help
 them free of charge, Abrams said. Staff shortages, inadequate care, long
 waits for therapy, and an adversarial appeals process when care is
 denied have led to an "epidemic of suicides," lawyers for Veterans for
 Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth Inc. have argued. Coincidently
 the next day U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the
 Veterans' Affairs Committee, called for the resignation of Dr. Ira Katz,
 Mental Health Officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs, following
 reports that Dr. Katz was involved in efforts to cover up the number of
 veterans attempting suicide.

     A study released this week by the RAND Corp. estimates that
 300,000 U.S. troops (about 20% of those deployed ) are suffering from
 depression or post-traumatic stress from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. “We
 find that the VA has simply not devoted enough resources,” said Gordon
 Erspamer, the lawyer representing the veterans groups. “They don’t have
 enough psychiatrists.” The lawsuit also alleges that the VA takes too
 long to pay disability claims and that its internal appellate process
 unconstitutionally denies veterans their right to take their complaints
 to court.  According to Erspamer the VA can take up to 12 to 15 years
 before it recognizes and compensates a veteran for stress disorder and
 that when veterans appeal their claims, the courts reverse or send the
 cases back to VA offices for correction 91% of the time.The department
 acknowledges in court papers that it takes on average about 180 days to
 decide whether to approve a disability claim. The groups are asking
 U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Conti, a World War II Army veteran, to
 order the VA to drastically overhaul its system. Conti is hearing the
 trial without a jury. But government lawyers have filed court papers
 arguing that the courts have no authority to tell the VA how to operate and
 no business wading into the everyday management of a sprawling medical
 network that includes 153 medical centers nationwide. The veterans are
 asking the judge “to administer the programs of the second largest
 Cabinet-level agency, a task for which Congress and the executive branch
 are better suited,” government lawyers wrote in court papers.

     If  the judge ordered an overhaul, he would be responsible for
 such things as employees workloads, hours of operations, facility
 locations, the number of medical professionals employed, and “even the decision
 whether to offer individual or group therapy to patients with PTSD.
 The VA also said it is besieged with an unprecedented number of claims,
 which have grown from 675,000 in 2001 to 838,000 in 2007. The rise is
 prompted not from the current war, but from veterans growing older.
 Government lawyers in their filings defended VA’s average claims processing
 time as reasonable, given that it has to prove the veterans disability
 was incurred during service time. They also noted the VA will spend
 $3.8 billion for fiscal year 2008 on mental health and announced a policy
 in June that requires all medical centers to have mental health staff
 available all the time to provide urgent care. They said that “suicide
 prevention is a singular priority for the VA. They have hired over 3,700
 new mental health professionals in the last two and a half years,
 bringing the total number of mental health professionals within VA to just
 under 17,000. This hiring effort continues.  [Source:  Air Force Times
 AP Paul Elias article posted : 21 Apr 08 ++]


VA LAWSUIT (LACK OF CARE) UPDATE 06:   Department personnel aren't
 asking enough questions to determine whether veterans are suicidal, aren't
 sharing information about suicide risks with the VA's network of
 hospitals and clinics and aren't implementing their own plans to improve the
 system, Ronald Maris, a University of South Carolina sociology
 professor, told U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti in San Francisco on the second
 day of the trial. A majority of the VA's counselors, doctors, social
 workers and psychologists "don't have the tools and the information that
 they need to intervene effectively with suicidal vets," said Maris, a
 former president of the American Association of Suicidology who has
 been a consultant to the Army on suicide prevention.  He was particularly
 critical of the VA's top health care administrator, William Feeley, who
 said in a pretrial deposition 9 APR that the agency has no systematic
 national plan for suicide prevention. Feeley also said he was unaware
 of any methods of tracking veterans at risk of suicide and that suicide
 rates "are not a metric we are measuring." "I would say he was
 singularly uninformed about suicide," Maris said. During cross-examination of
 Maris, Justice Department lawyer James Schwartz suggested that Feeley's
 comment about suicide rates referred to factors he considered in
 evaluating VA division chiefs, not his own ignorance about the subject. But
 Maris said the statement contained no such indication.

     The emotional nature of the case was underscored when an
 unidentified woman rose during Maris' testimony and denounced "warmongers ...
 eating our children for profit." The woman spoke for several minutes
 before being led off by a federal marshal. She was not arrested, the
 marshal's office said.
During opening statements 21 APR, a lawyer for the veterans' groups
 displayed an e-mail that a top VA mental health official, Ira Katz, sent
 in December in which he said veterans were committing suicide at the
 rate of 18 a day.  In an interview Maris said Tuesday the suicide rate
 among veterans has been increasing since 2001, according to government
 reports he has studied. In court, Maris said a more recent study by top VA
 mental health official, Ira Katz showed a suicide rate among veterans
 that was 3.2 times as high as the rate among the general population. A
 May 2007 report by the VA's inspector general found a suicide rate 7.5
 times as high as the public rate for veterans who were in the
 department's health care system, Maris said.

     Among the reasons for the disparity, Maris said, is that veterans
 are mostly men, who generally have higher suicide rates than women;
 they suffer from depression more often, have higher rates of alcohol and
 drug abuse than the general population, are separated from their
 families for long periods and often have access to guns. Maris also faulted
 the VA's standard procedure for screening returning soldiers for suicidal
 tendencies. He said they are asked whether they thought of harming
 themselves during the previous two weeks or decided life was not worth
 living. If they deny having any such thoughts, he said, they are
 classified as nonsuicidal and the questioning ends. That's far short of the
 generally accepted standard of care, Maris testified. He said soldiers are
 often reluctant to admit psychiatric problems and should be asked
 numerous follow-up questions about such topics as alcohol use, medications,
 gun ownership, any past suicide attempts and any history of suicide in
 their family.  [Source: San Francisco Chronicle BoB Egelko article 22
 Apr 08 ++]


ACM/ICM UPDATE 03:   The Department of Defense announced 21 APR that
 campaign stars are authorized for wear on the Afghanistan Campaign Medal
 (ACM) and Iraq Campaign Medal (ICM). The campaign stars recognize a
 service member’s participation in DoD designated campaigns in Afghanistan
 and Iraq. Service members, who have qualified for the ACM or ICM, may
 display a bronze campaign star on their medal for each designated
 campaign phase in which they participated.  The stars will be worn on the
 suspension and campaign ribbon of the campaign medal.  Those eligible
 should contact their respective Military Departments for specific
 implementation guidance. The three campaign phases and associated dates
 established for the ACM are:
(1)    Liberation of Afghanistan – Sep. 11, 2001 to Nov. 30, 2001.
(2)    Consolidation I – Dec. 1, 2001 to Sep. 30, 2006.
(3)    Consolidation II – Oct. 1, 2006 to a date to be determined.

The four campaign phases and associated dates established for the ICM
 are:
(1)    Liberation of Iraq – March 19, 2003 to May 1, 2003.
(2)    Transition of Iraq – May 2, 2003 to June 28, 2004.
(3)    Iraqi Governance – June 29, 2004 to Dec. 15, 2005.
(4)    National Resolution – Dec. 16, 2005 to a date to be determined.
[Source:  DoD Press Release No. 321-08 dtd 21 Apr 08 ++]


VA FLU SHOTS UPDATE 02:  The current flu season has shaped up to be the
 worst in four years, partly because the vaccine didn't work well
 against the viruses that made most people sick, health officials said 18
 APR. This season's vaccine was the worst match since 1997-1998, when the
 vaccine didn't work at all against the circulating virus, according to
 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The 2007-2008
 season started slowly, peaked in mid-February and seems to be declining,
 although cases are still being reported, CDC officials said. Based on
 adult deaths from flu and pneumonia, this season is the worst since
 2003-2004 - another time when the vaccine did not include the exact flu
 strain responsible for most illnesses. Each year, health officials - making
 essentially an educated guess - formulate a vaccine against three
 viruses they think will be circulating. They guess well most of the time,
 and the vaccine is often between 70 and 90% effective. But this year, two
 of the three strains were not good matches and the vaccine was only
 44% effective, according to a study done in Marshfield WI which seemed to
 match the experience in other parts of the country.
 
    The CDC compares flu season by looking at adult deaths from the flu
 or pneumonia in 122 cities. This year, those deaths peaked at 9%  of
 all reported deaths in early March, and remained above an epidemic
 threshold for 13 consecutive weeks. In 2003-2004, they peaked at more than
 10% of all deaths, and surpassed the epidemic threshold for nine weeks.
 Pediatric deaths are another way flu seasons are compared. So far this
 season, 66 children died, including 46 who were not vaccinated. In
 2003-2004, 153 children died. Each year, the flu results in 200,000
 hospitalizations and 36,000 deaths, according to official estimates. The
 elderly, young children and people with chronic illnesses are considered at
 greatest risk.
Type B Florida strain, also absent from this year's vaccine, has also
 been causing illness. Marshfield data showed that the vaccine was
 completely ineffective against the Type B virus, and was 58% effective
 against the Brisbane virus.
     The deputy director of the CDC's influenza division acknowledged
 that some people may lose faith in the flu vaccine and skip it next
 year. But he noted even this year's mismatched vaccine still offered 44%
 protection overall and likely reduced the severity of illness in those
 who got the flu. The Marshfield study and a flu season update are
 published in a CDC publication, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The CDC
 started working with the Marshfield Clinic in central Wisconsin to get
 a better gauge of vaccine effectiveness while a flu season was in
 progress. Almost the entire population in the Marshfield area - about
 50,000 people - gets health care at clinic offices, which has complete
 vaccination and electronic medical records. This year, most of the illness
 has been due to Type A H3N2 Brisbane strain, which was not in the
 vaccine. That strain tends to cause more hospitalizations and deaths,
 contributing to this season's severity, CDC officials said. [Source: ABC News
 AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe article 17 Apr 08 ++]


PTSD UPDATE 19:   A new study released 17 APR by the RAND Corp.
 estimates 300,000 U.S. troops are suffering from major depression or
 post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of serving in the wars in Iraq and
 Afghanistan, and 320,000 received brain injuries. Of these only about
 half have sought treatment.  The 500-page study is the first large-scale,
 private assessment of its kind — including a survey of 1,965 service
 members across the country, from all branches of the armed forces and
 including those still in the military as well as veterans who have left
 the services. Its results appear consistent with a number of mental
 health reports from within the government, though the Defense Department has
 not released the number of people it has diagnosed or who are being
 treated for mental problems.

     The Department of Veterans Affairs said in APR that its records
 show about 120,000 who served in the two wars and are no longer in the
 military have been diagnosed with mental health problems. Of the 120,000,
 about 60,000 are receiving PTSD treatment. VA is responsible for care
 of service members after they have left the service, while the Defense
 Department covers active-duty and reservist needs. Terri Tanielian, the
 project’s co-leader and a researcher at the nonprofit RAND said in an
 interview with The Associated Press, “The lack of information from the
 Pentagon was one motivation for the RAND study. There is a major health
 crisis facing those men and women who have served our nation in Iraq
 and Afghanistan.  Unless they receive appropriate and effective care for
 these mental health conditions, there will be long-term consequences
 for them and for the nation.” 
 
    The most prominent and detailed military study on mental health
 that is released is the Army’s survey of soldiers at the warfront.
 Officials said last month that its most recent one, done last fall, found
 18.2% of soldiers suffered a mental health problem such as depression,
 anxiety or acute stress in 2007 compared with 20.5% the previous year. The
 Rand study, completed in January, put the percentage of PTSD and
 depression at 18.5%, calculating that about 300,000 current and former
 service members were suffering from those problems at the time of its survey.
 The figure is based on Pentagon data that show more than 1.6 million
 military personnel have deployed to the conflicts since the war in
 Afghanistan began in late 2001. RAND researchers also found:
• About 19%, or 320,000 service members, reported that they experienced
 a possible traumatic brain injury while deployed. In wars where blasts
 from roadside bombs are prevalent, the injuries can range from mild
 concussions to severe head wounds.
• About 7% reported a probable brain injury and current PTSD or major
 depression.
• Only 43% reported ever having been evaluated by a physician for their
 head injuries.
• Only 53% of service members with PTSD or depression sought help
 during the past year.
• Various reasons were given for not getting help, including that they
 worried about the side effects of medication; believe family and
 friends could help them with the problem; or that they feared seeking care
 might damage their careers.
• Rates of PTSD and major depression were highest among women and
 reservists.

The report is titled “Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and
 Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery.” It
 was sponsored by a grant from the California Community Foundation and
 done by 25 researchers from RAND Health and the RAND National Security
 Research Division, which also has done work under contracts with the
 Pentagon and other defense agencies as well as allied foreign governments
 and foundations. [Source: ArmyTimes AP article by Pauline Jelinek
 posted 18 Apr 08 ++]


VA HOME LOAN UPDATE 10:   The Senate passed a large housing package
 aimed at increasing housing opportunities for veterans and offering
 mortgage relief for returning servicemembers. It also increased VA Home Loan
 limits to the levels offered in the Economic Stimulus package for other
 federal home loans. The bill now moves to the House for action. The
 Dodd-Shelby Housing bill includes:
• An increase in the length of time a lender must wait before starting
 foreclosure involving a returning servicemember, from three to nine
 months.
•  One year of relief from increases in mortgage interest rates for
 returning servicemembers.
• The establishment of a counseling program carried out by DOD to
 assist servicemembers and veterans with financial issues.
• Eligibility for VA-provided home improvement and structural
 alteration payments to totally disabled members of the Armed Forces before their
 discharge or release from the Armed Forces.
• Extension of specially adapted housing benefits to certain veterans
 and servicemembers with severe burns
 [Source: VFW Washington weekly 18 Apr 08 ++]


MILITARY STOLEN VALOR UPDATE 04:  To report suspected fraud involving
 veterans benefits, other crimes such as Stolen Valor, fraud, waste or
 mismanagement in the VA, contact the Office of Inspector General Hotline
 at 1(800) 488-8244 or email at vaoig.hotline@forum.va.gov or write to
 VA OIG HOTLINE, PO Box 50410, Washington, DC 20091-0410.  [Source:
  www.va.gov 15 Apr 08]


SBP PAID UP PROVISION UPDATE 05:   The Defense Finance and Accounting
 Service (DFAS) is reviewing all military retiree accounts affected by
 Section 1452(j) of Title 10 U.S. Code, commonly referred to as “Paid-up
 SBP.” Under the law, reductions in retired pay for the Survivor Benefit
 Plan will be terminated effective 1 OCT 08 for eligible retirees.  The
 law applies to retired members who are 70 years old and have paid SBP
 or Retired Serviceman’s Family Protection Plan premiums for at least 360
 months, or 30 years. Retirees who are at least 70 years old and have
 paid at least 360 months of premiums on 1 OCT will have their monthly
 premiums terminated.  The change will be reflected in the NOV 08 pay
 statement.  If a retiree does not meet the eligibility criteria on 1 OCT,
 the premiums will stop when the retiree has met both criteria:  reached
 age 70 and paid SBP premiums for 360 months. Eligible retirees will be
 notified by the DFAS via mail regarding the status of their account and
 premium payment count.  [Source: DFAS Release No. 04-07-08 dtd 18 Apr
 08 ++]


VA HOMELESS VETS UPDATE 09:    U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
 Secretary James B. Peake and U.S. Housing and Urban Development Deputy
 Secretary Roy A. Bernardi have announced $75 million to provide permanent
 supportive housing for an estimated 10,000 homeless veterans nationwide.
 Bernardi and Peake made the announcement with Mayor Michael R.
 Bloomberg at a newly renovated housing program for homeless veterans in Queens
 NY, and emphasized the Federal and local government’s partnership to
 house and support America’s homeless veteran population.  HUD’s Veterans
 Affairs Supportive Housing Program (HUD-VASH) will provide local
 public housing agencies with rental assistance vouchers specifically
 targeted to assist homeless veterans in their area. In addition, the VA and
 HUD will link local public housing agencies with VA Medical Centers to
 provide supportive services and case management to eligible homeless
 veterans.  HUD will allocate the housing vouchers to local public housing
 agencies (PHAs) across the country that are specifically targeted to
 homeless veterans based on a variety of factors, including the number of
 reported homeless veterans and the proximity of a local VA Medical
 Center with the capacity to provide case management. New York City and the
 greater Los Angeles area received the greatest number of vouchers using
 this criterion.

     HUD will provide housing assistance through its Section 8 Housing
 Choice Voucher (HCV) program which allows participants to rent
 privately owned housing. The VA will offer eligible homeless veterans clinical
 and supportive services through its medical centers across the U.S and
 Puerto Rico. Last year, the VA provided health care to more than
 100,000 homeless veterans and other services to over 60,000 veterans in its
 specialized homeless programs. The Bush Administration’s proposed FY
 2009 Budget seeks to double the amount of funding announced to provide an
 additional $75 million to support the housing and service needs of an
 additional 10,000 homeless veterans across America. Local communities or
 “Continuums of Care” that receive HUD homeless assistance will work
 with local VA Medical Centers to identify eligible participants. The VA
 will then screen homeless veterans to determine their eligibility. Those
 eligible vets will receive treatment and regular case management to
 retain the voucher. VA Medical Center case managers will also work
 closely with local housing agencies to help participants find suitable
 housing. Participating PHAs will also determine income eligibility in
 accordance to HUD regulations for the HCV program. [Source: TREA Washington
 Update 18 Apr 08 ++]


TFL HOSPITAL COVERAGE:   The retired enlisted Association (TREA) has
 learned that some hospitals are playing games with Medicare and as a
 result, some Tricare users are ending up owing hospitals large amounts of
 money.  The rule that if medical care providers accept Medicare they
 must accept Tricare apparently is not always applicable.  It turns out
 that the hospitals still accept Tricare, and they still accept Medicare
 payments if the patient has previously been treated in that hospital.
 However, they are not accepting any new Medicare patients. Thus, if the
 Tricare insured has not previously been a patient at that hospital, the
 patient ends up having to pay the Medicare portion of the bill out of
 pocket. The Medicare portion for TFL beneficiaries is normally 80% but
 under these conditions payment under Tricare Standard should apply the
 same as it does for overseas users.  They pay 25 % of the bill in
 addition to the $150 deductible since Medicare provides no coverage outside
 the USA.  Although this seems very unfair and is really “playing games”
 with Medicare and with patients, it is legal. Accordingly, Medicare
 eligibles need to make sure anytime they are having scheduled
 hospitalization that the hospital will take both Tricare and Medicare if they are a
 new patient in that hospital.  If not, verify with your Tricare
 regional office if Tricare Standard rules will apply. Also, it might be
 prudent to check with your local hospital what their policy is in the event
 you will have to use them for emergency treatment in the future.
  [Source: TREA Washington Update 18 Apr 08 ++]


ASTHMA UPDATE 01:   A comprehensive review of 54 dust-control strategy
 studies found that none was effective enough in reducing exposure to
 dust mites that it would improve one's asthma. The methods looked at
 included using chemicals to kill the little buggers, encasing mattresses
 and pillows in mite-proof covers, frequently washing linens in hot water
 or bleach, and even tossing toys, plants and furniture out of a home.
 Peter Gotzsche, director of The Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen,
 Denmark, said in a prepared statement, "We can conclude with confidence
 that there is no need to buy expensive vacuum cleaners or mattress
 covers or to use chemical methods against house dust mites, because these
 treatments do not work. If you are wondering why it is that mattress
 covers and the other strategies are not effective, the likely answer is
 that all these treatments do not have a large enough effect on the
 occurrence of allergens from house dust mites. The level of allergens is so
 high in most homes that what remains after the treatment is still high
 enough to cause asthma attacks." The review was just published in The
 Cochrane Library.

     Dust mites are microscopic arthropods that carry allergens that
 irritate bronchial passages and trigger asthma attacks. For years, people
 have tried to defeat dust mites, but they apparently outnumber and
 outmaneuver human ingenuity. Asthma attacks can be brought on in
 mite-sensitive people even when allergen levels are very low. For example, while
 some of the anti-dust methods reviewed cut allergen levels in half,
 even 90%  elimination proved inadequate to help many asthma sufferers,.
 Gotzsche said the review, shows people are being mislead by the 2007
 U.S. guidelines from the National Asthma Education and Prevention program.
 The program recommends actions such as putting mattresses and pillows
 in dust-proof encasings, and weekly hot water washings of sheets,
 blankets and stuffed toys. "Reviews and guidelines should reflect the
 facts," he said. "It is difficult, perhaps, to realize that we cannot really
 do anything, but there is no evidence to support these guidelines, and
 they are misleading. It is about time specialists start becoming honest
 with patients."  [Source:  Health Behavior News Service news release
 15 Apr 08 ++]


VET HUNTING PERMITS: 
• Vermont Gov. James Douglas signed into law a special moose permit
 lottery for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  This year, five
 of Vermont's 1,260 moose-hunting permits will be set aside for
 returning veterans and they will be allowed to apply for the regular,
 statewide lottery, as well as the special one for them.  If you're a Veteran
 and possess, or are eligible to receive, a campaign ribbon for Operation
 Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom, and a Vermont resident,
 check box 4 on the 2008 Vermont Moose Permit Application to be included
 in a special priority drawing.  For more information refer to
 www.vtfishandwildlife.com/hunttrap_lottery.cfm.
• A recent decision by the Missouri Conservation Commission extended
 small-game hunting and fishing permit exemptions to all nonresident
 military veterans who have service-related disabilities of 60%  or more or
 who were prisoners of war during military service the same hunting and
 fishing permit exemptions as resident disabled veterans and allowing
 such nonresident veterans to purchase resident permits.  The change is not
 an exemption from all permit requirements. They still must purchase
 Missouri deer and turkey hunting, migratory bird hunting and trapping
 permits if they want to engage in those activities.  Exempt veterans must
 carry a certified statement of eligibility from the U.S. Department of
 Veterans Affairs (VA) when purchasing permits or exercising permit
 privileges.  For more information, contact the Missouri Department of
 Conservation, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180 or refer to
  http://mdc.mo.gov.
[Source: NAUS Weekly Update 18 Apr 08 ++]


VA BLUE WATER CLAIMS UPDATE 02:   The Department of Veterans Affairs
 (VA) has rescinded provisions of its Adjudication Procedures Manual
 M21-1. 72 FR 66218 (i.e. Manual M21-1) that were found by the U.S. Court of
 Appeals for Veterans Claims (Veterans Court) not to have been properly
 rescinded.  This rescission was effective April 15, 2008. Steps leading
 to this change started on 27 NOV 07 when VA proposed to rescind
 certain provisions of its Manual M21-1. The notice was necessitated by the
 opinion rendered by the Veterans Court in Haas v. Nicholson, 20 Vet. App.
 257 (2006). Although VA's appeal of that decision has been submitted
 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, that court has not
 yet issued a decision in the case. In the interim the comment period
 has ended which allowed VA to proceed with the proposed changes. VA
 received more than 75 comments, most of which were very similar and can be
 addressed in three categories:
(1) Citation to scientific evidence, in particular a 2002 study
 performed for Australia's Queensland Health Scientific Services by their
 National Research Center for Environmental Toxicology, titled, Examination
 of the Potential Exposure of Royal Australian Navy Personnel to
 Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins and Polychlorinated Dibenzofurans Via Drinking
 Water (the Australian study);
(2) Personal stories about the commenter’s experiences during service
 and/or their current illnesses;
(3) Arguments presented in connection with the Haas litigation.

In VA’s view the comments were not substantial enough to halt changes
 to M21-1 because:
•  The cited scientific studies were of minimal relevance due to the
 manner in which they were conducted
•  VA cannot presume exposure to herbicides simply because a veteran
 has a disease linked to exposure to herbicides.
• VA does not agree with statutory-interpretation arguments that have
 been presented
to the Federal Circuit in the Haas litigation. Specifically, that the
 language of 38 U.S.C. 1116 plainly requires that offshore service be
 considered service ``in the Republic of Vietnam'' for purposes of that
 statute. In VA’s opinion, the Veterans Court held that neither the
 language nor the legislative history of Sec. 1116 reflects a clear intent to
 treat offshore service as service in the Republic of Vietnam (Haas, 20
 Vet. App. at 264- 68). However, they did note that this issue remains
 pending before the Federal Circuit.

The result of the changes is that you will no longer be able to argue
 that the receipt of the Vietnam Service medal has any bearing on your
 veterans claim to exposure to agent orange. (NOTE: if you have a pending
 claim in effect before or after the original Haas decision, but before
 the 15 APR08 VA change, whatever the Federal Appeals court decides will
 govern your entitlement). Bottom line Blue Water Navy can still
 attempt to show exposure to Agent Orange, but not based on receipt of the
 Vietnam Service medal (if a claim is filed after April 15, 2008).  For
 additional info refer to http://bluewaternavy.org  [Source:  VALAW.org Ray
 B. Davis msg. 17 Apr 08 ++]


WINDOWS VISTA UPDATE 04:   Following Microsoft’s announcement that it
 will stop selling and supporting most versions of Windows XP from 30 JUN
 08, online forums and blogs have attracted impassioned consumer
 comments opposed to the decision by the software giant. On the IT website
 InfoWorld, Galen Gruman launched the ‘Save Windows XP’ online campaign
 that has received 111,543 responses to date.  The petition states,
 “Millions of us have grown comfortable with XP and don’t see a need to change
 to Vista. It’s like having a comfortable apartment that you've enjoyed
 coming home to for years, only to get an eviction notice”. As the
 disappearance of Windows XP computers from retailers and the phasing out of
 technical support looms, an increasing number of blog posts on the
 website are adopting a panicked tone. In an apparent attempt to placate
 fans of XP, Microsoft recently extended the availability of Windows XP
 Home for ultra-low-cost PCs until 2010, and system builders will be able
 to sell Windows XP until JAN 09. Ullrich Loeffler, program manager A/NZ
 for analyst firm IDC said Microsoft has made the right move by weaning
 users off the popular operating system gradually. “It makes sense for
 Microsoft to keep customers happy in the meantime, while working on a
 successor version of Windows.” In a recent article he noted that  Bill
 Gates reportedly said the new version of Windows would include features
 related to mobility and touch screen technology. Loeffler predicted the
 new Windows 7 operating system to be released in a few years will most
 likely be based on the Vista code. Consequently, Microsoft is faced
 with the challenge of elevating consumer opinion of Vista, he stated. “A
 lot of companies that I’ve dealt with are of the opinion ‘if it aint
 broke don’t fix it’. XP is a stable environment and has a huge footprint
 in the market so for a lot of companies to move away from this stable
 system there has to be major benefits,” he explained. “From what I can
 see a lot of companies don’t see that in Vista, they don’t see an
 incentive in moving across.”  [Source: IT News Leanne Mezrani article 16 Apr
 08 ++]  


REAP UPDATE 02:   A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators—including Blanche
 Lincoln (D-AR) Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bob Casey (D-PA), Amy Klobuchar
 (D-MN), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Gordon Smith (R-OR), John Kerry (D-MA),
 Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Ken Salazar (D-CO), and Evan Bayh (D-IN.)— unveiled
 their plan 16 APR to provide the men and women of our National Guard
 and Reserves with benefits that better reflect their increased service
 to our country. The Reserve Educational Assistance Program (REAP)
 Enhancement Act of 2008 (S.2871) would make three much-needed improvements to
 the structure and value of the Montgomery G.I. Bill education benefits
 for our citizen soldiers by:
• Providing accruable benefits for those who have served multiple
 deployments;
• Replacing the current three-tiered formula for REAP benefits with one
 that more accurately reflects service rendered; and
• Shifting jurisdiction of REAP benefits from the Department of Defense
 to the Veterans Administration (i.e. from Title 10 to Title 38).

The REAP Enhancement Act builds on the progress of Sen. Lincoln’s Total
 Force Educational Assistance Enhancement and Integration Act of 2007
 (S.644). A significant provision of that bill—allowing citizen soldiers
 who have served combat tours to access their educational benefits for
 up to ten years following their service, just as active duty soldiers
 have been able to do—was signed into law as part of the 2008 National
 Defense Authorization Act. The REAP Enhancement Act is endorsed by the
 Military Officers Association of America and the Enlisted Association of
 the National Guard of the United States.  [Source: Sen. Sherrod Brown
 Press Release 16 Apr 08 ++]


SOLE SURVIVOR UPDATE 02:   Congressman, Rep. Devin Nunes, is leading an
 effort to pass a bill that would ensure basic benefits to all soldiers
 who are discharged under an Army policy governing sole surviving
 siblings and children of soldiers killed in combat. The rule is a holdover
 from World War II meant to protect the rights of service people who have
 lost a family member to war. The Hubbard Act (H.R.5825), introduced 16
 APR, would for the first time detail the rights of sole survivors, and
 extend to them a number of benefits already offered to other soldiers
 honorably discharged from military service. The bill, co-sponsored by
 Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA), would waive payback of their enlistment bonuses,
 allow them to participate in G.I. educational programs, give them
 separation pay and access to transitional health care. H.R.5825 has strong
 bi-partisan support with 248 co-sponsors. Additionally, Sen. Diane
 Feinstein (D-CA) has introduced a Senate companion bill, S.2874. cosponsored
 by Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga. The Department of Defense has
 identified 52 sole survivors since the Sept. 11 attacks. According to Army
 spokesman Maj. Nathan Banks the Army will adopt to any changes in policy
 springing from the legislation. [Source:  ArmyTimes AP Garance Burke
 article 17 Apr 08 ++]


VA REGULATIONS CHANGE UPDATE 01:    The Veterans Affairs Department is
 engaged in a massive project to rewrite benefit claims regulations
 using plain language with the goal to make them clearer and more
 consistent. For example, VA used its plain language policy on 12 APR, when it
 issued a proposed rule for claims dealing with disability and death
 benefits. The new rule also covers claims based on new and material evidence,
 claims based on hospitalization, and requests to increase benefits. In
 the introduction to the new rule, VA officials said the purpose of the
 plain language project was to reorganize "compensation and pension
 rules in a logical, claimant-focused and user-friendly format." Steve
 Smithson, deputy director for the Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation
 Commission at the American Legion, said the term plain language will be
 interpreted by what he called "the VA mind-set. . . . It's as plain as they
 are going to get." The department started the Regulation Rewrite
 Project in 2002 in response to recommendations made in the VA Claims
 Processing Task Force Report, which was released in OCT 01. The project is a
 "huge, complex task dealing with thousands of regulations" in Part 38 of
 the Code of Federal Regulations, Smithson said. VA is attempting to
 make this mass of regulations more understandable by putting them in one
 coherent area rather than spreading them all over the place.

     Gerald Manar, deputy director of the Veteran of Foreign Wars'
 national veterans service, said, as he understands the rewrite process, the
 new plain language code eventually will contain electronic hooks,
 which will make it easier to search regulations and link from one to
 another. Manar said he considered the term plain language to be somewhat
 misleading, because VA regulations are complex and quite hard to
 understand, although the new regulations may have less legalese. VA could end up
 with wordier regulations, he said, because it could take longer
 explanation to make benefits requirements clearer. He drew an analogy between
 the old and new way of writing regulations, saying trying to understand
 the rewritten regulations could create a headache treatable with only
 two aspirin, while trying to comprehend the old regulations may have
 resulted in a headache that would have required an entire bottle to
 treat.
Manar predicted that the new regulations would be a boon to lawyers
 representing veterans who have disputed compensation claims because the
 lawyers will view new language and definitions as a basis for litigation.
 The House on 14 APR passed a bill requiring federal agencies to use
 plain language in commonly-used forms. The legislation covers tax,
 benefit and Social Security forms, grant applications and other public
 documents, but not federal regulations. [Source: GOVExec.com Bob Brewin
 article 15 Apr 08 ++]


VA INDEPENDENT LIVING PROGRAM UPDATE 01:   On 15 APR Senator Daniel K.
 Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, introduced
 the proposed Training and Rehabilitation for Disabled Veterans
 Enhancement Act of 2008 (S.2864). The bill stems in part from a 5 FEB 08
 congressional hearing on vocational rehabilitation, as well as Committee
 oversight.  In addition, it responds to a DEC 07 VA Inspector General
 report. If enacted, this bill will improve the Department of Veterans
 Affairs' Independent Living (IL) program conducted under the authority of
 chapter 31 of title 38, United States Code, which serves veterans whose
 disabilities render them unable to work.  VA's IL Program was first
 established in 1980 by Public Law 96-466, the Veterans Rehabilitation and
 Education Amendments of 1980.  Initially, that law provided for the
 establishment of a four-year pilot program designed to provide independent
 living services for severely disabled veterans for whom the achievement
 of a vocational goal was not reasonably feasible.  The number of
 veterans who could be accepted annually into the pilot program was capped at
 500.  In 1986, the program was extended through 1989 and then, in 1989,
 it was made in Public Law 101-237, the Veterans' Benefits Amendments of
 1989.  In 2001, the 500 annual cap on enrollees was increased to
 2,500.  The VA's Inspector General found, in a report issued in DEC 07, that
 the effect of the statutory cap has been to delay IL services to
 severely disabled veterans.  This delay happens because VA has developed a
 procedure that holds veterans in a planning and evaluation stage when
 the statutory cap may be in danger of being exceeded.  By removing the
 cap on the number of enrollees in the program and making it an official
 objective of the program to improve veterans' quality of life Akaka
 believes it will lead to bettering program participant’s chances of
 rehabilitation and future employment.  [Source:  SCVA Press Release 15 Apr 08
 ++]


MEDICARE PART D UPDATE 21:   President Bush recently submitted a bill
 to Congress that would raise Medicare Part D premiums for seniors.  The
 proposal would increase prescription drug premiums for individuals with
 incomes exceeding $82,000 and for couples with incomes greater than
 $164,000.  Premiums would more than triple for individuals with incomes
 over $205,000 and couples with incomes over $410,000.  Although fewer
 than 5% of people with Medicare drug coverage would be affected at first,
 increasing numbers of middle-income seniors and the disabled would pay
 higher premiums in the future.  The President’s proposal also would
 freeze the income thresholds, with no annual adjustment.   This would
 cause a problem similar to one currently affecting the taxation of Social
 Security benefits.  When the tax was first enacted in 1983, the public
 was told that only higher income seniors would be affected.  But
 because the income thresholds are not adjusted, and have remained at $25,000
 for individuals and $32,000 for couples, middle-income seniors pay
 taxes on their benefits today.
 
    The proposal comes in response to a forecast by Medicare Trustees
 that by 2013 more than 45% of Medicare’s spending will come from general
 tax revenue, as opposed to dedicated payroll taxes and premiums paid
 by beneficiaries.  Under the 2003 Medicare drug law, the President must
 propose legislation to limit the government portion of Medicare
 spending and Congress is required to give the proposals expedited
 consideration.  The law, however, does not force Congress to vote.  The President’s
 Medicare bill does not include proposals to cut payments to hospitals
 or other health care providers.  He did, however, submit an annual
 budget that would cut an estimated $481 billion from Medicare over the next
 ten years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.  Despite the
 deep and widespread cuts, President Bush did not cut subsidies for
 private Medicare Advantage plans.  The plans cost the government about 12%
 more than it pays for seniors enrolled in traditional Medicare.  Since
 2000, Social Security benefits have increased 22%, but Part B premiums
 have increased 111%.”  [Source: New York Times article 16 Feb & CBO
 report 3 Mar 08 ++]


VA COMP PAYMENT DISPARITY UPDATE 10:  Ohio ranked second-to-last in
 compensation for disabled veterans, and federal lawmakers are looking at
 why cases in other states collect thousands of dollars more. More than
 85,000 veterans in Ohio receive disability payments, and they routinely
 trail their peers from other states, according to the U.S. Department
 of Veterans Affairs survey from 2006. Only Indiana’s disabled veterans
 earned less.  Rep. Zack Space (D-OH-18) is pushing for the VA to have a
 national standard for payments.  Veterans in Ohio receive as much as
 $4,800 less than those in New Mexico. Veterans in Oklahoma receive $4,185
 more than their Ohio peers, and those in West Virginia earn $3,857
 more. Space and his colleagues on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
 are looking into the disparity. Part of the reason for the gap is that
 each state’s veterans’ system sets its own standards for disability.
 For instance, a soldier in one state might be classified as only
 partially disabled and thus eligible for small payments. The same veteran
 could be seen as a more serious case in another state and eligible for
 greater payment.   Towards this Rep. Space introduced H.R.5709 on 3 APR
 which would instruct the VA to watch over the system and evaluate how
 states rate disabilities. The bill has been referred to the House Committee
 on Veterans' Affairs and presently has no cosponsors. VA spokesman
 Steven Westerfeld said the department has started training workers who
 decide each veteran’s level of disability. He also said the VA is
 considering consolidating the grading system.  [Source: ArmyTimes AP article 14
 Apr 08 ++]


VA DENTAL TREATMENT UPDATE 02:  U.S. Representative Mark Kirk (R-IL)
 joined with local veterans 15 APR to introduce bipartisan legislation
 that would significantly boost dental care for service-connected disabled
 veterans.  The "Make Our Veterans Smile Act" (H.R.5595) was
 co-introduced on 12 MAR by Congressman Kirk and Congressman Chris Carney (D-PA),
 the U.S. House's only actively serving U.S. Navy Reserve intelligence
 officers.  Currently, only 100% disabled, homeless or prisoner-of-war
 veterans are eligible for dental benefits.  The bill expands dental
 coverage to any service-connected disabled veteran, regardless of disability
 rating starting 1 JAN 09. This legislation also allows the VA to use
 contractor facilities if they find it necessary to meet the demands for
 dental care. The bill was referred to the House committee on Veteran
 Affairs and has already gained 44 cosponsors. According to the U.S.
 Veterans Administration, 258,000 veterans currently are eligible for dental
 benefits.  More than 2.5 million additional disabled veterans would
 receive coverage under the Kirk-Carney bill.  In Illinois, coverage would
 expand from nearly 5,000 veterans to more than 60,000 veterans,
 according to the Congressional Research Service. [Source: Rep. Christopher P.
 Carney Press release 13 Mar 08 ++]


IRS COLLECTION POLICY UPDATE 01:  On 15 APR the House of
 Representatives today approved the Taxpayer Assistance and Simplification Act of 2008
 (H.R.5719) by a vote of 238 to 179. The legislation, introduced by
 Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman John
 Lewis (D-GA) of House Ways and Means , would modernize Internal Revenue
 Service functions to provide protections to taxpayers and improve
 outreach. Additionally, the bill repeals the IRS Private Debt Collector
 program, an imprudent outsourcing of an inherent government function that to
 date has spent $75 million to collect just $35 million. The bill is the
 result of hearings conducted by the Oversight Subcommittee. The
 provisions included in H.R. 5719 as agreed to by the Committee would:

• Repeal the IRS’s authority to use private debt collection companies
 to collect Federal taxes. 
• Eliminate the special requirements for individuals to keep detailed
 records of calls made on employer-provided cell phones.
• Delay for one year the imposition of a three-percent withholding
 requirement on government payments for goods and services made after 31 DEC
 10.
• Stop federal contractors from using foreign subsidiaries to evade
 Social Security and other employment taxes.
• Make the administrators of state and local government programs liable
 for paying the employment taxes on amounts paid by government programs
 to in-home care workers provided to elderly and disabled persons.
• Prohibit the misuse of Department of the Treasury names and symbols
 in misleading websites and phishing schemes.
• Protect low-income taxpayers by prohibiting IRS debt indicators for
 predatory refund anticipation loans, allowing IRS employees to refer
 taxpayers to qualified low-income taxpayer clinics, and authorizing
 funding for Volunteer Income Tax Assistance ("VITA") programs.
• Require the IRS to notify taxpayers if it suspects theft of a
 taxpayer's identity.

The bill will now go to the Senate for approval and if ultimately
 signed into law by the President its provisions will be added to the federal
 tax code.  At present the federal income tax code is nearly 1.3
 million words long, 282 times as many words as the Constitution. In 2006, the
 IRS estimated individuals and businesses spent 6.65 billion hours
 complying with the tax laws.  The 1040EZ form, which is supposed to be the
 simplest form in IRS inventory, on average required 3 hours and 46
 minutes to complete.  In the interim, the current Senate Budget Resolution
 includes plans for a tax increase of $1.2 trillion. If the budget is
 enacted, 116 million taxpayers will see a tax increase and the national
 debt will increase to $2 trillion by 2013. Under the Senate-passed
 proposal, 43 million families will see their taxes increase by an average of
 $2,300, 18 million seniors will pay $2,200 more in taxes, and 27
 million small business owners will face a tax increase of $4,100. The
 resolution passed the Senate by a vote of 51 to 44. [Source:  House Ways &
 Means Committee Press Release 15 Apr 08 ++]


SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION DEADLINE SEASON:  The approach of spring marks
 many events, but one event that seldom comes to mind is Scholarship
 Application Deadline Season (SADS). There  is no such date on the
 calendar, but the truth is most scholarship application deadlines occur between
 March and June. This means that if you or a loved one are considering
 going to school in September, you should start applying for some of the
 available military and veteran related scholarships.  Of the more than
 $300 million being offered many go unclaimed because students don't
 know where to look or find them too late to apply.  A useful online
 resource to help the military community find scholarships and learn how,
 where, and most importantly, when to apply is the Military.com’s
 Scholarship Finder. At
 http://aid.military.com/scholarship/search-for-scholarships.do you can
 complete an interactive form to Learn about schools and programs that
 can help reach the educational goals of you and your dependents.   Some
 quick tips to help your search are:

•  Do your homework. Take advantage of the free online scholarship
 search at Military.com's Scholarship Finder. The Scholarship Finder lists
 over 1,000 scholarships from a variety of sources.
•  Don't limit yourself. You qualify for non-military related
 scholarships too. Visit your local library to find scholarship directories that
 list awards based on age, state of residence, cultural background, and
 field of study.
• Search in your military community. Many service aid organizations and
 associations, like the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society, offer
 scholarships, grants, and low interest loans to help cover education expenses.
 Click here to find out more about your Service Aid Organization's
 education assistance programs.
• It's never too soon to start your scholarship search. Many
 scholarship application deadlines are as early as a year in advance.
[Source:  Military.com 14 Apr 08 ++] 


TRICARE AUTISM CARE:   The Department of Defense (DoD) and Tricare
 announced 15 MAR a demonstration project to care for active duty military
 dependents diagnosed with Autism. This program allows reimbursement for
 educational intervention services, such as Applied Behavior Analysis
 (ABA), delivered by paraprofessional providers.  ABA is a systematized
 process of collecting data on a child's behaviors and using a variety of
 behavioral conditioning techniques to teach and reinforce desired
 behaviors while extinguishing harmful or undesired behaviors.  Time-limited,
 focused ABA methods have been shown to improve communication
 abilities, reduce or eliminate specific problem behaviors and teach new skills
 to some individuals with autism.  Tricare is in need of ABA
 professionals, or supervisors, and paraprofessionals, or tutors, to provide
 services that will enhance the effectiveness of academic instruction and
 provide training in life skills (language, communication, self help,
 activities of daily living, etc.). DoD has been a leader in providing coverage
 for health and special education services for children with autism.
 Tricare is one of the very few health plans providing coverage for
 special education services.  In recent years, the per month special needs
 benefit for qualifying active duty family members under Tricare's Extended
 Care Health Option (ECHO) was increased from $1,000 to $2,500;
 however, Tricare beneficiaries still find it difficult to obtain services from
 authorized ABA providers. 

            Tricare authorized providers are currently limited to those
 recognized by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB).
  However, the professionalization of the field remains in its infancy and the
 number of BACB-certified behavior analysts is limited.  These certified
 professionals are for the most part providing behavior analysis
 evaluation and intervention planning services rather than the one-on-one
 technical intervention that is the actual tool effecting behavior change in
 autistic children.  This new field has yet to define the provider
 class that delivers the one-on-one technical services to children.  ABA
 tutors will increasingly be asked to provide services to the many children
 being diagnosed with ASD. Tricare's three Managed Care Support
 Contractors are building a referral network of ABA providers who will agree to
 be reimbursed for Tricare-eligible beneficiaries referred for care.
 Providers and beneficiaries wanting more information should contact: 
• TRICARE North Region - Health Net Federal Services (877) 874-2273.
 This region provides health care services and support in Connecticut,
 Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, the Rock Island
 Arsenal area of Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan,
 the St. Louis area of Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York,
 North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, the Fort Campbell area
 of Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
• TRICARE South Region - Humana Military Healthcare Services (800)
 444-5445. This region provides health care services and support in Alabama,
 Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South
 Carolina, most of Tennessee and the eastern portion of Texas.
• TRICARE West Region - TriWest Healthcare Alliance (888) 874-9378.
 This region provides health care services and support in Alaska, Arizona,
 California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa (except for the Rock Island
 Arsenal area), Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri (except for the St. Louis
 area), Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South
 Dakota, the extreme western portion of Texas, Utah, Washington and
 Wyoming.

TRICARE Management Activity, the Defense Department activity that
 administers the health care plan for the Uniformed Services, retirees and
 their families, serves more than 9.2 million eligible beneficiaries
 worldwide in the Military Health System (MHS).  The mission of the MHS is to
 enhance the Department of Defense and national security by providing
 health support for the full range of military operations.  The MHS
 provides quality medical care through a network of providers, military
 treatment facilities, medical clinics, and dental clinics worldwide. For
 more info on what coverage is provided by Tricare for autistic children of
 active duty and retirees refer to one of the three Managed Care
 Support Contractors  above. For more about the MHS refer to www.health.mil.
 For more information on neurological disorders such as autism or
 research programs funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders
 and Stroke refer to www.ninds.nih.gov. [Source:  MHS News Release 15 Apr
 08 ++]



TRICARE SELECTION CONSIDERATIONS:   One of the first things on a new
 retiree’s checklist after leaving active duty is health care. With the
 Tricare fee increase proposals the decision on where it will be obtained
 from is even more critical.  Factors that must be considered are extent
 of family protection, cost, and whether or not supplemental insurance
 will be required.  Many retirees start a second career and enroll in
 their new employer’s health care plan. Others stay with Tricare and are
 comfortable with the process. A prime consideration whether you are a
 new military retiree or a seasoned one is does your current or potential
 health care program cover all costs?  For a number of years now DoD has
 drafted plans that will drastically increase Tricare enrollment fees
 and deductibles for 3 million retirees under age 65 and their families
 to help slow the government’s increasing cost of health care. One aim of
 these proposals is to encourage working-age retirees to enroll in an
 employer’s program or switch to other available plans.

If the proposals are approved some retirees will have no choice except
 to use the Tricare program. Others have options. As with any new
 program, the key is to get all the facts. Depending on your options Tricare
 may no longer be the best deal for you.  It is recommended you get all
 the information you can on your own and compare prices. Some employer
 health care programs provide the employee with limited options. The
 following questions will guide you toward the best purchase:
• Must I meet a deductible before the plan begins to pay?
• Is there a maximum limit on benefits?
• Is there a pre-existing condition clause?
• Is there a waiting period before the policy becomes effective?
• Will the plan cover amounts beyond what Tricare allows?
• Does the plan pay for services that aren’t covered by the policy?
• Does the plan specifically not cover certain conditions?
• Must certain kinds of care be approved before treatment?
• Is inpatient care covered?
• Is there outpatient or long-term care coverage?
• Will the plan pay the outpatient deductible?
• Will a new plan pay the same as my cost-share under the Tricare
 diagnosis-related group payment system?
• Will the plan cover enrollment fees or co-payment?
• Does the plan offer reduced premiums or premium adjustments if I
 participate in managed health care plans?
• Does the plan convert to a Medicare supplement? If so, must it be in
 force for any specified length of time before conversion?
• Will the plan cover me overseas?
• How will the plan require premium payments? Monthly? Quarterly?
• Can premium payments be increased?
• Does the plan offer rates based on military retired status or based
 on an age scale?
• Does coverage continue for surviving spouses at no charge?
• What’s the time limitation, if any, for filing a claim?
• If I am a smoker, does the plan have higher rates?

The Defense Department has expressed concern over the recent influx of
 military retirees into the Tricare program and away from
 employer-provided health care. Certainly, this concern shouldn’t override the promise
 Congress made to its sons and daughters who wore the military uniform,
 protected our country, and gave their all when unique demands were
 placed upon them and their families. Unfortunately, our military retirees
 will have to dig deeper into their pockets.  [Source: Air Force Times
 article by Alex Keenan MCPO USCG (Ret) 9 JAN 05 ++]


VETERAN LEGISLATION STATUS 29 APRIL 08:   For a listing of
 Congressional bills of interest to the veteran community that have been introduced
 in the 110th Congress refer to the Bulletin’s House & Senate
 attachments.  By clicking on the bill number indicated you can access the actual
 legislative language of the bill and see if your representative has
 signed on as a cosponsor. Support of these bills through cosponsorship by
 other legislators is critical if they are ever going to move through
 the legislative process for a floor vote to become law.  A good
 indication on that likelihood is the number of cosponsors who have signed onto
 the bill. A cosponsor is a member of Congress who has joined one or more
 other members in his/her chamber (i.e. House or Senate) to sponsor a
 bill or amendment. The member who introduces the bill is considered the
 sponsor.  Members subsequently signing on are called cosponsors. Any
 number of members may cosponsor a bill in the House or Senate. At
 http://thomas.loc.gov you can also review a copy of each bill’s
 content, determine its current status, the committee it has been assigned to,
 and if your legislator is a sponsor or cosponsor of it.  To determine
 what bills, amendments your representative has sponsored, cosponsored,
 or dropped sponsorship on refer to
 http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/d110/sponlst.html.  The key to increasing
 cosponsorship on veteran related bills and subsequent passage into law is
 letting our representatives know of veteran’s feelings on issues.  At
 the end of some listed bills is a web link that can be used to do that.
 Otherwise, you can locate on http://thomas.loc.gov who your
 representative is and his/her phone number, mailing address, or email/website to
 communicate with a message or letter of your own making.  Refer to
 http://www.thecapitol.net/FAQ/cong_schedule.html for future times that
 you can access your representatives on their home turf.  [Source: RAO
 Bulletin Attachment 29 Apr 08 ++] 


HAVE YOU HEARD:  How to know when you are in the presence of a ‘Real
 Chief Petty Officer’:
• The CHIEF doesn't sleep with a night light. The CHIEF isn't afraid of
 the dark. The dark is afraid of the CHIEF.
• The CHIEF’s tears can cure cancer.
• The CHIEF once visited The Virgin Islands. They are now simply