Benefits
VA mail-order pharmacy gets top score for satisfaction
The Department of Veterans Affairs may have to work to improve some of its services, but its mail-order pharmacy is not one of them.
Benefits
OPEN SEASON: Premium cost should not be a primary consideration when choosing an FEHB Plan for 2015: Part I
In the first of two columns explaining medical, dental and vision insurance choices for employees, Edward A. Zurndorfer discusses fee-for-service (FFS) plans (including FFS plans with preferred providers) and health maintenance organizations (HMOs).
Benefits
VA home loans reach 21 million
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced that its Home Loan Program has reached a new milestone—with 21 million home loans guaranteed since the Home Loan Guaranty program was established in 1944 under the GI Bill.
Benefits
Five plans to drop out of FEHB
The Office of Personnel Management said that five health insurance plans are dropping out of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program for the 2015 plan year.
Benefits
Open Season: It's that time again
Don't look now, but federal benefits open season is here again. That's why from now through early December, Federal Soup will present a series of weekly, information-packed columns to help you sort through this year's health care and health savings options.
Benefits
Lawmakers want answers on paid administrative leave
Findings in a new Government Accountability Office report that examined agencies' use of paid administrative leave have induced two lawmakers to find out more about how agencies use it, and why some employees who have received it were paid for so long to do nothing.
Benefits
How about a four-day weekend?
A few feds are at it again, launching a petition on the White House's "We the People" website to try to convince President Obama to issue an executive order giving federal employees the day after Christmas off.
Benefits
Former BOP employee sentenced in OWCP fraud case
A former Bureau of Prisons employee was recently sentenced to more than a year in prison after being found guilty of fraudulently obtaining workers' compensation benefits by submitting more than 1,300 fraudulent reimbursement claims to the Department of Labor’s Office of Workers' Compensation Program, the Justice Department said.
Benefits
Several hundred feds got a year or more of paid administrative leave
The federal government paid an estimated $31 million over a three-year period to 263 employees who charged between one and three years of paid administrative leave, according a new Government Accountability Office report.
Benefits
Phone scam targets older Tricare beneficiaries
Tricare warned beneficiaries to be on alert for a nationwide telephone scam in which fraudsters target those on Medicare.
Benefits
VA touts growth of telehealth program
Department of Veterans Affairs said that its national telehealth programs served more than 690,000 vets during fiscal 2014 via more than 2 million online visits.
Benefits
VA processed record number of claims in fiscal 2014
The Department of Veterans Affairs said it processed more than 1.3 million disability compensation and pension claims in fiscal 2014—the highest number in the department's history.
Benefits
Average FEHB premium to rise 3.2 percent in 2015
The Office of Personnel Management announced that the overall average premium increase for health insurance benefits provided through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program in 2015 will be 3.2 percent.
Benefits
Tricare stops mailing paper notices of benefits changes
Tricare is warning beneficiaries to make sure they have an online milConnect account to receive information about changes to their coverage now that the Defense Department has stopped mailing paper letters on changes to coverage and eligibility status.
Benefits
VA announces more grants to help homeless vets
The Department of veterans Affairs announced it would award $207 million in Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program grant awards to aid about 70,000 homeless and at-risk veterans and their families.
Benefits
Some in Tricare Prime exempted from annual enrollment fee hikes
The Defense Department announced it will exempt two classes of beneficiaries enrolled in Tricare Prime from paying future increases to annual enrollment fees.
Benefits
Research group to coordinate VA health care assessment
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it has awarded the Mitre Corp. the contract to serve as program integrator for an independent assessment of VA health care processes. The nonprofit organization operates a range of federally funded research and development centers.
Benefits
VA says standard disability claim forms will speed up process
The Department of Veterans Affairs said it will introduce new uniform disability claim forms that will standardize the process for veterans to file claims and initiate appeals.
Benefits
Bill would align Tricare contraceptive benefits with ACA
House lawmakers last week introduced legislation that would align Tricare health coverage with the Affordable Care Act to allow women who receive health care through the armed services have access to contraception and counseling services with no health insurance co-pay.
Benefits