January 2019

Volume 22, Issue 1

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. I hope the coming year turns out to be productive and healthy for all. Since we did not have a December meeting, I have a few notes on the United Veterans Committee of Colorado meeting I attended on December 11th.

Starting in January the UVC meetings will be streamed live. More info to follow.

UVC voted to modify their bylaws. Unanimous yes vote. Two major changes:

Changed their name to United Veterans Coalition of Colorado

Approval of legislation goals now requires only a majority vote.

Honor Flights are closing down due to too few WWII vets still alive, except the Northern Colorado Honor flight. It is reorganizing and will be called High Plains Honor Flight. They will be mainly for Vietnam veterans but will also honor WWII and Korean vets. Will start next year.

The 15 acres north of the Fitzsimons Veterans home will be used for a complex for homeless vets and some families. Construction will start in the 3rd quarter of 2019 and will be completed in the 3rd quarter of 2020.

Major legislation goal is to get a Green Alert bill proposed and passed. Wisconsin is the only state that has one. It is similar to Amber Alert but for missing vets who are a risk for suicide. Suicide and drug use are on the rise (Veterans Crisis Line – 800-273-8255 press 1). The major problem is how to implement it. We need to be talking to veterans of all ages. Younger vets are not joining established Veteran Service Organizations. Dick Young of UVC is point of contact if you have any input. You can contact him through the UVC website.

Hope to see everyone at the January meeting on the 23rd.

THE E-9ERS ASSOCIATION

NEXT MONTHLY MEETING

January 23, 2019

11:00 AM

Mr. Panda Restaurant 2852 S Havana St

Aurora CO

The E-9ers of Colorado

www.e9ers.org

www.e9ers.com

The E-9ers Officers

The following officers of the E-9ers Association are interested in hearing from you and what suggestions that you may have to improve our group. If you have any thoughts that you would like to share, please give one or more of them a call. They would love to hear from you. President: Paul Lietz 303-456-9588 pjlietz@earthlink.net Vice President: Dick Stephenson 303-669-5727 stephensrj@aol.com Secretary: Shirley Patenaude 720-851-9541 shirl@patenaude.org Treasurer: Ann Kelm 303-955-2514 kelmwoods@comcast.net Membership Director: Jack Hunter 303-797-3136 jackhunter@e9ers.org Program Director: Bob Olsen 303-503-4884 olsenb475@earthlink.net Social Director: Ann Kelm 303-955-2514 kelmwoods@comcast.net Sergeant-at-Arms: Mike Phelps 720-284-4865 masser86@comcast.net Newsletter Editor: Andrew Grieb 303-204-3203 andrewgrieb@comcast.net

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN BY PAUL LIETZ

E-9

CALENDAR

January 2019 New Year’s Day ................... 1/1 Kwanzaa Ends ..................... 1/1 Martin Luther King Jr. Day.. 1/21 January Meeting .............. 1/23 National Spouse Day ......... 1/26 February 2019 National Freedom Day ......... 2/1 Groundhog Day ................... 2/2 Super Bowl .......................... 2/3 Lincoln’s Birthday ............... 2/12 Valentine’s Day .................. 2/14 Presidents Day .................. 2/18 Washington’s Birthday ....... 2/22 February Meeting ............. 2/27

January - Happy Anniversary

Roy & Ruby Duran ............................... (30)

Andrew & Cheryl Grenci ................ 1/1 (18)

Jake & Susan Gallik .................... 1/22 (63)

Jim & Annette Stewart ................. 1/29 (26)

January - Happy Birthday

Diann Oden ...........................................1/2

Larry Cruz ..............................................1/4

Bob Flor ...............................................1/10

Chuck Hoffman ....................................1/11

Frank Forsyth ......................................1/11

Elleen Levy ..........................................1/12

Thomas Rochford ................................1/13

Reed Lutz, Jr .......................................1/14

Billy Peeples ........................................1/15

Lou Peeples .........................................1/16

NEWSLETTER SUBMISSIONS

Articles and photographs are due to the Newsletter Editor by the 15th of each month for publication in the next month’s newsletter.

Articles will be reviewed and edited for content, grammar and spelling.

Photographs should be submitted in JPEG format. Please submit names of people in pictures from left to right, front to back.

Submission of articles and photographs does not guarantee publication.

Thank you,

Andy Grieb

Whew! The holidays are over! Or are they? Remember the 12 Days of

Christmas? That means the Christmas season doesn’t really end until

January 5th! (Talk about gifting pressure! I wonder where I’m going to

get 12 drummers drumming?)

With so much information to share this month, I began to run out of

room, so I want to remind everyone of the upcoming speakers for the

following meetings;

This month, January, has Ken William, Provider Relations

Representative from Healthnet Federal Services, TRICARE West

Region Contractor, talking to us about what they do.

February has the last visit from Barbara Martin-Worley of the

Consumer Fraud Protection office of the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s

Office. She has presented a wonderful four-part presentation on

various elder fraud topics.

March has Rear Admiral Thomas H. “Hank” Bond, Jr., US Navy

(Retired) talking to us about his assignment as director of Cyberspace

Operations at NORAD/USNORTHCOM.

With 2018 behind us and 2019, fresh and new, in

front of us, I want to wish all of you a Happy and

Prosperous New Year!

Andy

EDITOR’S NOTES BY ANDREW GRIEB

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Joel Brown .......................................... 1/19

Betty Poliskey ...................................... 1/20

Steve Cantrell ...................................... 1/22

Bijen Pettit ........................................... 1/22

Ruth Spaar .......................................... 1/24

Joe Ashby ........................................... 1/26

Michael Osborn ................................... 1/26

George Sykora .................................... 1/28

Ron Haigh ........................................... 1/29

Kenneth Christiansen .......................... 1/29

30 Nov 2018 | Military.com | By Jim Absher The VA is looking for feedback on how to better its caregiver assistance program, including comment on who should qualify and the best way to define "necessary care" for veterans, after a law passed early this year ordered the program expanded to more users.

The Caregiver Support Program The Department of Veterans Affairs caregiver support program currently offers family caregivers of certain disabled veterans assistance in the form of training on how to provide care, respite care, counseling, travel to attend caregiver training, a monthly cash stipend and more. Right now the program is only open to family members caring for post-9/11 veterans who have a serious injury like traumatic brain injury (TBI), psychological trauma, or other mental disorder which was the result of military service.

Expansion of Caregiver Program The caregiver program was ordered expanded by the VA Mission Act, which became law this year, and is set to occur in two phases. First, the program will expand family caregiver benefits to those caring for veterans with a serious injury like TBI, psychological trauma, or other mental disorder which was the result of military service and happened before May 7, 1975. That phase will kick-in after the VA certifies to Congress that it has updated its computer systems to be able to handle the processing of new caregiver benefits. The second expansion phase, set to start two years after phase one, will add to the program eligibility the family of veterans of any era.

Definition of Caregiver Expanded But the Mission Act did not just expand which veterans qualify for the benefit -- it also expanded the types of injuries that must exist for the caregiver program to be used. Under the old rules for a family member to be eligible as a caregiver, the veteran had to be:

• Unable to perform one or more of the activities of daily living.

• In need of supervision or protection due to their neurological or other impairment or injury.

• In need of care due to other serious injury. The new law added to the list of qualifying veteran conditions residual injuries as well as the need for "extensive instruction or supervision" for a veteran to complete their daily activities For example, a veteran who suffered a TBI but also suffered an eye injury that makes it impossible for him to drive would now qualify as in need of a family caregiver. Or if a veteran has a cognitive impairment and can't be trusted around a stove, he or she would qualify for caregiver services under the new rules. The Mission Act also adds financial and legal services as qualifying caregiver services. For example, if an injured veteran is unable to manage their money and a family member has to pay the bills, sign paperwork or do other similar tasks, that person could possibly qualify as a family caregiver.

VA Wants Help Determining New Rules But to develop how those expansions should be applied, the VA must create new policies. And they are looking to the public, including current caregivers, to weigh-in. The posting in the Federal Register contains an extensive list of questions the VA wants help answering as they develop those new rules. Commenting is open through Dec. 12. How to Submit Your Comments Written comments may be submitted through Regulations.gov; by mail or hand delivery to the Director, Office of Regulation Policy and Management (00REG), Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue NW, Room 1063B, Washington, DC 20420; or by fax to (202) 273-9026. Comments should indicate that they are submitted in response to "Notice of Request for Information on the Department of Veterans Affairs Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC)." Remember, you only have until December 12 to submit your comments. More information about the VA Caregiver Support Program and a link to submit comments is available at www.caregiver.va.gov.

VA SEEKS INPUT ON CAREGIVER BENEFITS

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Military.com | By Amy Bushatz A new Apple discount announced this week gives veterans, military members and their immediate families 10 percent off iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches and accessories through a recently released online portal. In the past, military members could receive up to a 6 percent discount on products through the company's federal government purchase program. And some Apple products are sold through the base exchange system, where shoppers don't have to pay sales tax. But the new discount program, which started Dec. 3, kicks it up a notch, extending a blanket 10 percent discount on items bought directly through the company's online military and veteran store homepage. For example, the iPhone Xs is available starting at $979 through the federal program, but is priced starting at $899 on the military site. And AirPod headphones, which go for $159 in the company's stores or at other retail locations, are $143 on the military site. To use the discount, military members and veterans simply need to shop through the online portal. The company does not require any proof of eligibility. It does, however, require shoppers to agree to a series of terms and conditions before entering the site. Those include agreeing that "by submitting your order, you ... confirm that you are an eligible person, of at least 18 years of age, to participate in this program." Shoppers using the program are given strict purchase limits for all categories each year, including a limit of three computer systems, iPads, unlocked iPhones, Apple Watches, Homepods, Apple TV and AirPods. Users can see all the restrictions on Apple's site. The discount can be used online through the Apple military page or in stores via an online purchase kiosk.

TAX FREE ONLINE SHOPPING

Week of November 26,

2018 | Military.com

In addition to no sales

tax, shopping online with

military exchanges

includes the benefits of

military exclusive pricing,

members only credit

options, and free shipping

on some orders. The

verification process is

simple and can be

completed online. Profits

go to military quality of life

programs. For more

information and to check

your eligibility, visit

the Army and Air Force

Exchange Service

website.

NEW APPLE DISCOUNT GIVES MILITARY, VETERANS 10 PERCENT OFF

THE BUSH FAMILY'S NOTABLE HISTORY OF SERVICE

Week of December 10, 2018 | Military.com Former President George H.W. Bush's ties to World War I were strong. President Bush's father, Prescott Bush, served as a U.S. Army field artillery officer during the war. President Bush's grandfather, Samuel Bush, also contributed to the war effort as a senior government official working with wartime weapons contracts. Read about the Bush Family's WWI service to our nation on the WWI Centennial Commission website. https://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/5711-our-memories-of-the-late-president-george-h-w-bush.html

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13 Nov 2018 | Military.com | By Jim Absher If you've visited va.gov in the last few days, you may have noticed some changes. The website, along with the pages for all the business lines, have been redesigned to make them more user friendly, according to a press release from the VA. You may have trouble finding the information you need, since everything has been redesigned. Luckily, there are still some old pages floating around, though the old stuff will probably be redesigned soon. For example, the GI Bill page has been moved from https://benefits.va.gov/gibill/ to https://www.va.gov/education/, the compensation page has moved from https://www.benefits.va.gov/compensation/ to https://www.va.gov/disability/, and the healthcare page has moved from https://www.va.gov/health/ to https://www.va.gov/health-care/. According to the press release, VA used feedback from more than 5,000 veterans, servicemembers, their families, caregivers and survivors to come up with a design that is more user-friendly.

The Good Apparently, the VA actually listened to the users this time. The redesign actually makes it easy to do most things you go to the VA website to do. The new design is big on personalization, the main page has links like: refill and track your prescriptions apply for a home loan Certificate of Eligibility apply for education benefits file for a VA disability increase The VA finally got rid of vets.gov, visiting that website now takes you directly to the va.gov page. This is good, it was pretty confusing before.

The Bad The whole redesign is supposed to be personalized, however when I signed in to the main VA page and then attempted to view my benefits I had to sign in to eBenefits again. Hopefully this will be fixed in the future but having first-hand knowledge on how VA security and IT systems work I wouldn't hold my breath. If you are looking for things like the compensation rates, they are pretty hard to find, but of course Military.com has them for you in an easy-to-understand format.

The Ugly Really not a lot of ugly on the new website, it displays pretty good on mobile devices, and cuts out a lot of the right hand and left hand menus that drive me crazy when I'm trying to find information. At first glance, the new design may appear familiar, it looks fairly similar to the eBenefits website. The redesign has also added some neat stuff. For example, when I try to find the nearest facility while using the website on my phone it uses my location and will even load google maps with driving directions or let me call the local clinic by just tapping my screen. Welcome to modern times!

The Conclusion While the redesign of VA's website will be confusing at the start, it will be better than the old one, they got it right this time.

Apparently, the VA actually listened to the users this time. The redesign actually makes it easy to do most things you go to the VA website to do.

VA WEBSITES GET MAJOR REDESIGN

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7 Dec 2018 | Military.com | By Jim Absher The VA loan limits will be increasing for 2019, letting veterans who plan to use the benefit keep pace with the cost of housing. If you are familiar with the VA Loan Guaranty Program, you know that the Department of Veterans Affairs doesn't loan you money when you buy a home. Rather, they guarantee to the lender that you are good for the money. That allows you to get a loan without a down payment, and does away with many of the credit requirements that lenders look for before they loan people money for a home. As a veteran you have access to this benefit, something civilians don't have -- and wish they did. VA Limits For Conventional Loans Increased The VA doesn't set a limit on how much you can borrow, but they are limited by law on the amount of liability they can assume, which, in turn, usually affects the amount of money an institution will lend you. Those loan limits vary by county, since the value of a house depends in part on its location. Each year the VA changes the amount of money it will guarantee, a shift designed to keep up with housing costs. For 2019, the maximum amount the VA will guarantee, or "underwrite," to a lender will be $484,350, an increase from $453,100 in 2018. Any loan above that amount is known as a "jumbo loan" instead of a "conventional loan," and usually requires a down payment, or comes with a different interest rate. Of course, as much money as that is, in many parts of the U.S. it won't buy you much of a house. These high-cost areas have special, higher loan limits that are set by law. If you are in one of those areas, your limits for a conventional loan are higher than the national rate. High-Cost Ceiling Increased To $726,650 By definition, a high-cost area is one where the median home value is 115 percent over the conventional loan limit. Limits in these areas are set at the median home value up to a maximum amount of $726,650, although many are less than that. These areas are broken down by county, so all home loans underwritten by the VA in those counties have the same limit. All home loans that are within the county maximums in high-cost counties will be considered conventional rather than jumbo loans. That means you can still buy a home with no down payment, possibly pay a lower interest rate and may be able to find financing more easily. Remember, the lender still has to verify your credit and ability to repay a loan before they will lend you any money.

EXCHANGE HIRING

VETERANS, SPOUSES

Week of November 26, 2018 | Military.com

The Army and Air Force Exchange Service remains committed to hiring 50,000 veterans and military spouses by 2020. Veterans and military spouses can find job opportunities worldwide at ApplyMyExchange.com. In 2018, the Exchange has hired more than 5,000 veterans and military spouses. Veterans make up nearly 12 percent of the Exchange worldwide workforce, and the Exchange employs more than 6,300 military spouses. Since 2010, the retailer has also hired more than 1,200 Wounded Warriors. The Exchange was recently named a Top 10 Military Friendly Employer and top Military Spouse Friendly Employer by Victory Media, publisher of G.I. Jobs and Military Spouse magazine.

YOU'LL BE ABLE TO GET A BIGGER VA LOAN IN 2019

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7 Dec 2018 | Military.com | By Jim Absher An update to the computer program behind the VA's "Blue Button" health record sharing system will make it more accessible to physicians outside the VA, according to a new announcement. What Is 'Blue Button?' The Department of Veteran Affairs Blue Button program began in 2010, and is designed to let veterans download their health data or share it with non-VA providers. The Blue Button is part of a veteran's MyHealtheVet account. Some of the information available to download via Blue Button includes:

• Allergies

• Medications

• Immunizations

• Vital Signs

• Lab Tests

• EKG Results

• Radiology Reports

• Pathology Reports

• Results of medical appointments (Outpatient Encounters and Associated Progress Notes, Consult Notes, History & Physical Notes, Discharge Summaries)

• Procedures (Surgical Procedures and Associated Procedure Notes, Clinical Procedure Notes)

Blue Button has two reports available -- one for the veteran, and one for physicians. While the data is the same in each report, the formatting is different. Open Software Standards Thanks to the new upgrade, the physician version of a veteran's health information now complies with the healthcare industry's standard open source software format. Going forward, your non-VA doctor should be able to click one button and have all your health data download automatically into his or her computer system. That change should speed up record sharing and lowering the likelihood of duplicative or conflicting treatments. What You Need to Do Record sharing isn't automatic. To share your data with your non-VA provider, you must first sign a release of data authorization form to let the VA share your personal data. Thankfully, you don't need to sign this form for every doctor, just one form authorizes VA to share your data with all authorized medical providers. You can complete this form on eBenefits, in person, or via the mail. For details about the release of data, see VA's instructions. https://www.va.gov/VLER/vler-health-exchange-registration-guide.asp

Blue Button has two reports available -- one for the veteran, and one for physicians. While the data is the same in each report, the formatting is different.

VA MAKES IT EASIER TO SHARE YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION WITH PRIVATE DOCTORS

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The E-9ers Association

Andrew Grieb, Editor

PO Box 31261

Aurora CO 80041-1261

Phone: 303-204-3203

E-mail: andrewgrieb@comcast.net

Return Service Requested

NEW PLAN TO REPLACE TRICARE RETIREE DENTAL PROGRAM

Week of November 19, 2018 | Military.com

The TRICARE Retiree Dental Program (TRDP) ends on Dec. 31, 2018. Beginning in 2019, new retiree dental coverage will be available through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP). If you're eligible to enroll in a FEDVIP dental plan, you must enroll in FEDVIP during the Federal Benefits Open Season, which runs from Nov. 12 to Dec. 10, 2018. Your dental coverage will begin on Jan. 1, 2019. When you enroll, you'll make a choice among 15 plans from 10 different dental carriers. You will get to choose among three types of networks. For more information on retiree dental coverage, visit the FEDVIP website.

https://www.tricare.benefeds.com/InfoPortal/indexAction

(Editor’s Note: My apologies for not getting this reported last month. I didn’t receive this until after the December issue was locked for publication. I know the information is tardy, but I felt that everyone should have this for future reference.)