The Long Blue Line (Winter 2021)

More documents

Recommendations

Info

TRICARE SELECT U.S. COAST GUARD RETIREE INFORMATION CG RETIREE SERVICES (CG-1335) Tricare Select Enrollment Fees In the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Congress approved a request from the DoD to implement enrollment fees for what was then known as Tricare Standard, now called Tricare Select. With the announcement of the new enrollment fees, all military retirees under age 65 will be paying a baseline for participating in Tricare. Military.Com published a related article on 20 June 2020, which is accessible at: www.military.com/daily-news/2020/06/24/pentagonretirees-plan-now-tricare-select-enrollment-fees-2021.html. The following information was included in this article: • Defense health officials said these retirees can expect to hear from their regional contractors -- either Health Net Federal Services for Tricare West or Humana Military for Tricare East -- in the coming months instructing them on how to set up payments, either by allotment from their retired pay, electronic funds transfer, debit or credit card. • Dr. Danita Hunter, director of Tricare at the Defense Health Agency, said the DHA decided to issue a news release now to give beneficiaries time to prepare and factor the fees into their decisions on health care. "We're communicating this well before the change is implemented so beneficiaries can be informed about the change, as well as their Tricare plan and cost options," Hunter said in the release. Unfortunately, all affected CG/PHS/NOAA retirees were not properly informed about the new Tricare Select enrollment fees AND the current available payment methods. CG GovDelivery newsfeeds were sent to all retiree e-mail addresses listed in DA to help ensure affected retirees were made aware of the enrollment fees and that, while Tricare could “initiate” retiree allotments, the Coast Guard Pay System, Direct Access, was not capable of processing retiree allotments for payment of enrollment fees that were due on 1 January 2021. Consequently, these fees required payment by EFT or credit card. We recommend that CG/PHS/NOAA retirees enrolled in Tricare Select contact their Tricare Provider to ensure January premiums have been correctly processed. According to the Tricare website, retirees who did not set up payment of enrollment fees by EFT or credit card by 31 Dec 2020 would have 180 days to pay their enrollment fee and their coverage would be reinstated with an effective date of 1 January 2021 – eliminating a risk of a lapse in coverage as long as the enrollment fee was paid within 180 days. www.tricare.mil/Plans/Enroll/Select 62 WINTER 2021 THE LONG BLUE LINE
CG PAY & PERSONNEL CENTER, RETIREE & ANNUITANT SERVICES (PPC-RAS) www.dcms.uscg.mil/ppc/ras Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) to Military Retired and Retainer Pay, Survivor Annuities and Premiums effective December 1, 2020 are accessible at: https://militarypay.defense.gov/ Portals/3/2021%20COLA%20Memo%20Retired%20and%20Survivor%20Pay.pdf PPC-RAS Audit Error Worksheet (AEW) Update Audit Error Worksheet (AEW) Update – PPC is pleased to report that the AEW backlog (cases older than 120 days) has been eliminated and the standard AEW processing time moving forward will be less than 120 days. Retiree Self-Service – Email Address Did you know that you can update your own direct deposit banking information in Direct Access? Make sure you don’t miss a payment when you need to change your bank account information. Here is one of our many retiree self-service guides that provides step-by-step instructions on how to update your direct deposit banking information in Direct Access. www.dcms.uscg.mil/Portals/10/ CG-1/PPC/ras/gp/ChangeDirectDeposit.pdf You may elect not to be mailed the newsletter by accessing your DA Self-Service account at • www.dcms.uscg.mil/ppc/ras/gp/ • Select “Change My Delivery Options” • Uncheck the block labeled “I elect to receive the Retiree Newsletter by mail.” You may also contact CG PPC Customer Care for assistance by calling 866-772-8724 or 785-339-2200, or by sending an e-mail to PPC-DG-CustomerCare@uscg.mil. U.S. COAST GUARD RETIREE INFORMATION THE LONG BLUE LINE WINTER 2021 63
Page 1 and 2:
WINTER 2021 YOUR RETIREE NEWSLETTER
Page 3 and 4:
THE LONG BLUE LINE WINTER 2021 3
Page 5 and 6:
NATIONAL RETIREE COUNCIL CO-CHAIRS
Page 7 and 8:
MEET DR. DONNA MISCHELL NAVARO DR.
Page 9 and 10:
TRANSITION ASSISITANCE PROGRAM OVER
Page 11 and 12: photo: U.S. Coast Guard THE LONG BL
Page 13 and 14: Regional Retiree Council (RRC) Chai
Page 15 and 16: COAST GUARD MERITORIOUS PUBLIC SERV
Page 17 and 18: THE LONG BLUE LINE WINTER 2021 17
Page 19 and 20: 2 4 women Academy 3 By Commander Ka
Page 21 and 22: press dogging our steps during Swab
Page 23 and 24: HAVE TO HAVE ICE IN YOUR VEINS Pett
Page 25 and 26: Bobby Wilks COAST GUARD AVIATOR AND
Page 27 and 28: At the same time he rose through th
Page 29 and 30: In 2009, Bobby Charles Wilks passed
Page 31 and 32: photo: U.S. Coast Guard Seaman Kate
Page 33 and 34: To Our Retiree Community: In the sp
Page 35 and 36: Ida Lewis Idawalley Zoradia Lewis,
Page 37 and 38: Photo provided by the Tantaquidgeon
Page 39 and 40: U.S. Coast Guard Photo LCDR La’Sh
Page 41 and 42: THE LONG BLUE LINE WINTER 2021 41
Page 43 and 44: IF I HAD A HAMMER Seaman Marc Diaz,
Page 45 and 46: CARMAN, GERALD CARR, BRONSON CARROL
Page 47 and 48: LUDVIGSON, BRIAN LYON, BARBARA MACD
Page 49 and 50: SANCHEZ, FEDERICO SANFORD, RYAN SAN
Page 51 and 52: CHAPLAIN'S CORNER erhaps you’ve h
Page 53 and 54: A MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH ARCTIC OCEAN -
Page 55 and 56: CHARLES, MERWIN BOWIE, MD COE, WILB
Page 57 and 58: ROCHUSSEN, ROBERT CENTER CONWAY, NH
Page 59 and 60: DEPENDENT TAPS TAPS PATRICIA TEATOM
Page 61: A KODIAK MOMENT A Coast Guard Air S
Page 65 and 66: CG PAY & PERSONNEL CENTER, RETIREE
Page 67: General Correspondence: Office of S
show all

The Long Blue Line (Winter 2021)

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?