Congress Approves Supplemental Appropriations: The Senate and House each approved the final version of the FY2002 Supplemental Appropriations Act (H.R. 4775), which provides additional funding to promote recovery from the terrorist acts of September 11.

     The Senate approved the measure by a 92-to-7 vote, while the House margin was 397 to 32. The Act provides a total of $28.9 billion in supplemental funding for the current

 

year. It includes $142 million for the Department of Veterans Affairs to continue treating the expanded number of veterans who enrolled to receive VA health care.

     The Senate-passed version of the same bill (S. 2514) would authorize full and immediate elimination of the retired pay offset for all disabled retirees with at least 20 years of service, regardless of disability rating. However, the government Office of Management and Budget has written Congress indicating that the President's advisors would recommend he veto the Defense Bill if it contains either concurrent receipt provision.

TROA Benefits Info Update Department

This is TROA's BENEFITS INFORMATION UPDATE for August 2002.

DOD Announces Extension of TFL Eligibility Deadline:

     The Department of Defense announced that the deadline for beneficiaries to update their eligibility in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS)and remain eligible for TRICARE For Life is extended one additional month until Sept. 1, 2002. After Sept. 1, 2002, claims for beneficiaries who are not shown as eligible in DEERS will be denied and will no longer be sent electronically from Medicare to TRICARE for payment. These beneficiaries will be responsible for paying for services that Medicare does not cover. Claims received for beneficiaries with expired eligibility will continue to be denied until their eligibility information is updated. By law, DoD must recoup (take back) payments made for ineligible persons.

     The Web site developed to help beneficiaries locate the three nearest ID card facilities is www.dmdc.osd.mil/rsl/. Beneficiaries also may call the DoD Benefits Reverification Telephone Center at 1-800-361-2620.

     For more information about TRICARE For Life, interested persons may visit the TRICARE Web site at www.tricare.osd.mil/tfl, or call the Worldwide TRICARE Information Center toll-free at 1-888-DOD-LIFE (1-888-363-5433).

TRICARE Call Centers Have New Hours: The TRICARE call centers that answers calls about the TRICARE For Life Program, Pharmacy Program, etc., have new hours of operations. The hours of operation are now:

     Mon - Fri      9 a.m. - 7 p.m.
     Saturday      11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
     Sunday         closed

For a list of those numbers see http://www.tricare.osd.mil/main/tollfree.htm

Merck-Medco Is Now Medco Health: The National Mail-Order Pharmacy (NMOP) contractor, formerly known as Merck-Medco, has changed its name to Medco Health. You can still visit their web site at http://www.merck-medco.com/. You may see both names used for the next several months.

New Changes for Retired and Annuity Pay: The following update was received from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service and impacts all retirees and annuitants. DFAS announced that they have just completed two migration projects to better serve their customers.

     One migration project consolidated Retired and Annuity Pay in Cleveland, OH. The consolidation provides more efficient processing of Retired Pay casualty notifications and Annuity Pay establishments. The consolidation expands customer service hours for Annuitants. Annuitants can now speak to Customer Service Representatives between the hours of 7:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday.

     You can contact DFAS Cleveland by phone at 1-800-321-1080. Retirees can fax their requests to 1-800-469-6559. Annuitants can fax their requests to 1-800-982-8459. If you mail documents to DFAS, DO NOT mail originals as they log them on micro-management and destroy.

     The second migration project involved relocating the current DFAS mail handling operations to London, Kentucky. The Kentucky facility has state-of-the-art equipment that enhances the processing of your correspondence. The change ensures rapid handling of all incoming mail, which ultimately results in faster responses to you.

     Retirees and Annuitants should use the following addresses when attempting to contact DFAS:

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