The Department of Veterans Affairs is seeking former prisoners of war
(POWs) or their family members who are not currently receiving VA benefits and services. Officials are urging them to contact VA to find out if they are eligible for health care, disability compensation or other services. The majority of an estimated 25,000 living former POWs are veterans of World War II who served before the use of Social Security numbers. This has made it difficult for VA officials to track down former military POWs who have not been in contact with the department in recent years. People who know a former POW can ask him or her to contact VA at (800) 827-1000. Details about benefits and services available to former POWs and family members are available at www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/Benefits/POW/index.htm.

Postal Service Announces Holiday Deadlines
In order to get holiday gifts to deployed service members by Dec.
25, mailers should heed the U.S. Postal Service’s suggested deadlines. Parcel post packages to deployed troops and those living on overseas installations should be sent by Nov. 13. Customers missing the parcel post deadline have the following
options: Space-Available Mail (SAM) -- Nov. 27; Parcel Airlift Mail (PAL) -- Dec. 4 (except for ZIP codes starting with 093, which is Dec. 1); Priority Mail and first-class letters and cards -- Dec. 11 (093 ZIP codes: Dec. 4); Express Mail Military Services -- Dec. 18 (not available to 093 ZIP codes). Parcel post packages sent to arrive by the start of Hanukkah at sundown Dec. 4 should be mailed by Oct. 23. For other Hanukkah mailings, subtract 21 days from the deadlines listed above. To check mailing costs, visit http://www.usps.com, click on "calculate postage," then "calculate domestic postage."

VA announces Increases In Doctors In Training

The VA announced that they will be adding 2,000 advanced residency positions for Doctors in the next 5 years. The VA already helps to train nearly half of all physicians in the United States. Presently every year 31,000 medical residents and 16,000 medical students receive some of their training at a VA facility. In July the VA added 341 new positions.

Through its affiliations with medical schools and universities, the VA is the largest provider of health care training in the United States. Currently, 130 VA medical facilities are affiliated with 107 of the nation's 126 medical schools. These training positions address VA’s critical needs and provide skilled health care professionals for the entire nation. The additional resident positions will also encourage innovation in education that will improve patient care, enable physicians in different disciplines to work together and will incorporate state-of-the-art models of clinical care, including VA’s renowned quality and patient safety programs and electronic medical record system.

ConocoPhillips Awards $2 Million To Help Build The Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall

The oil company ConnacoPhillips has pledged $2 million to build the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Center under the National Mall. The planned Center will be an educational facility near the Wall. It is estimated that the Center will cost between $75 and $100 million. The Fund presently has $14 million including a $10 million gift from Time Warner. Jim Mulva, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ConocoPhillips said: “ConocoPhillips is proud to help in the funding of this Memorial Center to honor Vietnam veterans, their families and all those who have served in America’s armed forces.” For more information please go to www.vvmf.org.

DoD Awards TRICARE Retiree Dental Contract

The Department of Defense (DoD) awarded the TRICARE Retiree Dental Program (TRDP) contract to Delta Dental of California, of Rancho Cordova, Calif. Delta Dental of California has the current contract for TRDP, and the new contract became effective Sept. 21, 2007. TRDP is available to eligible personnel retired from the uniformed services, to unremarried surviving spouses, eligible dependents, former members of the Armed Forces who are Medal of Honor recipients and their immediate dependents. For more information on the TRICARE Retiree Dental Program,

Retiree Costs to Rise as Employer-Paid TRICARE Plans End

Employers who offer a TRICARE supplement have saved themselves a lot of money, says the Congressional Budget Office. Wrap-around insurance to TRICARE Standard might cost a company just over $1200 a year. But if a military retiree on the payroll can be enticed to use TRICARE instead of the company’s group health plan, the company avoids a cost of up $5500 a year.

CBO, citing DoD survey results, estimated that 50,000 people a year were “being diverted from employer-sponsored plan to TRICARE.” Outlawing employer-paid supplements, CBO predicted, will save $119 million in 2008 and $700 million through 2011.

Congress last year rejected the Bush administration’s call to raise TRICARE fees and co-payments for retirees under age 65 and their families. But then Defense officials lobbied hard for a fiscal consolation prize: an end to employer-paid TRICARE supplements. Donald Rumsfeld, who was still defense secretary, called Senate and House leaders, including Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), then chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, to urge adoption of the provision, a committee source recalled. Rumsfeld showed lawmakers a health plan menu from a major defense contractor that included an offer of a few thousand dollars in cash to any retiree who would rely on TRICARE rather than the corporate health plan.

Language was added to the fiscal 2007 defense authorization act to extend to TRICARE a rule adopted years ago to dampen Medicare costs. It prohibits employers from offering a financial or other incentive to encourage retiree beneficiaries to decline employer health insurance and use TRICARE instead. Employers who violate the ban face a $5000 fine per employee starting Jan. 1. Companies with fewer than 20 employees are exempt.

A dozen states also have been offering TRICARE supplements to military retirees on their payrolls. Those incentives too must end.