The Altus Times (Altus, Okla.), Vol. 113, No. 61, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 24, 2019 Page: 3 of 10
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THE ALTUS TIMES • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24,2019
NEWS/WEATHER * 3
VETERANS AND ACTIVE MILITARY NEWSLETTER
The volunteer registry includes civilian’s cost shares and in
RONALD
case: • Veteran was eligible un- provider.
Jackson County Teacher Appreciation Day scheduled
Through his infor-
year.
SUNDAY
MONDAY
NIGHT
THURSDAY
89° 62°
87° 59°
56°
60°
66°
51°
Mostly sunny and very warm Mostly sunny and very warm
CITIES WEDNESDAY
SUN AND MOON
1.55 in 1952
5.86
Keep
JOUR
on
Call today for an appointment!
id
EXTENDED FIVE-DAY FORECAST
© AccuWeather DOWNLOAD THE FREE APP
[WEDNESDAY’S FORECAST
TEMPERATURE
| MANGUM
MOON PHASES
(in Inches)
| HOLLIS
that military retirees - by vir-
tue of their service - should be
recognized with some level of
health care premium support.
However, that level of support
proportion to civilian employ
ers’ cost of coverage. We must
resist the urge to compare mil-
itary retiree health care cost
partment has
entered crunch
time as it
Record for 4/21
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Normal year to date
service members who worked
or lived near burn pits or other
pollution sources while de-
Sunrise
Sunset
Moonrise
Moonset
to easily and securely shop
from any device including
desktop, smartphone or tablet.
ShopVCS.com features prod-
ucts ranging from sportswear,
jewelry, home decor, applianc-
es, electronics, military items,
health and beauty, Made-in-
USA brands, Veteran-Owned
brands, and much more.
-0.05
■0 05
-004
-0.15
-0.21
none
Winds: S 10-20 mph
POP 25%
specific access standards are
described below. (Important:
Access standards are proposed
and not yet final). • Average
drive time to a specific VA
medical facility. - 30-minute
average drive time for prima-
ry care, mental health, and
day health care). - 60-minute
average drive time for special
ty care • Appointment wait
time at a specific VA medical
facility - 20 days for primary
care, mental health care, and
non-institutional extended
care services, unless the
Veteran agrees to a later date
in consultation with their VA
health care provider. -28 days
for specialty care from the
date of request, unless the
Veteran agrees to a later date
in consultation with their VA
health care provider
5. It is in the Veteran’s Best
Medical Interest — In this
situation, a Veteran may be
referred to a community pro-
vider when the Veteran and
the referring clinician agree
that it is in their best medical
interest to see a community
it ripe for erosion. Further,
as a result of several years
today’s working-age TRICARE
retiree cost shares are close-
ly aligned with the average
which was signed into law by
President Trump in June 2018:
Eligibility criteria:
1. Veteran Needs a Service
Not Available at a VA Medical
Veteran needs a specific type
of care or service that VA does
2. Veteran Lives in a U.S.
State or Territory Without
a Full-Service VA Medical
Facility — In this scenario, a
Veteran lives in a U.S. State or
territory that does not have
a full-service VA medical fa-
cility. Specifically, this would
apply to Veterans living in
Alaska, Hawaii, New Hamp
shire, and the U.S. territories
of Guam, American Samoa,
the Northern Mariana Islands,
and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
3. Veteran Qualifies under
the “Grandfather” Provision
Related to Distance Eligibil-
ity for the Veterans Choice
Program — For this element,
there are a few different ways
that a Veteran could be eligible
for community care. Initially,
the following two require-
ments must be met in every
The Jackson County
Ministerial Alliance and
the Nehemiah Initiative
are sponsoring a teach-
er appreciation rally on
Wednesday, May 1st to
celebrate Teacher Ap-
preciation Month. The
rally will be held in the
Winds: S 10-20 mph
POP: 25%
FRIDAY
04
84° 56°
Times of clouds and sun
and scientists, under what was
known then as the Institute
of Medicine, concluded there
was insufficient evidence to
link troops' illnesses to expo-
sure to burn pit smoke at Joint
Base Balad in Iraq. More than
173,000 U.S. troops and veterans
borne Hazards and Open Burn
Pit Registry since 2014, when
the database was established.
Monday Thursday
8:30 am 5 pm
Friday 8:30 am 1 pm
80° 56°
Plenty of sunshine
SATURDAY
04
its rollout of a
and expand ac-
cess to private
sector health-
care will be a
bumpy ride.
6. A VA Medical Service
Line Does Not Meet Certain
Quality Standards - In this
scenario, if VA has identi-
fied a medical service line is
not meeting VA’s standards
for quality based on specific
conditions, Veterans can elect
to receive care from a com-
munity provider with certain
limitations.
Online shopping site for VA
eligible vets and their fami-
lies launched:
VA’s Veterans Canteen
Service (VCS) is excited to
announce a new benefit for
Veterans and VA employees.
Last November, VCS launched
www.ShopVCS.com, an online
shopping site exclusively
available to Veterans enrolled
in VA, their families, and VA
employees. This shopping
experience offers thousands
, 64°/50°
- Mostly cloudy with a
thunderstorm
Contributing
Columnist
a Veteran at a facility within
a specific average drive time
to a VA medical facility and
within a certain number of
days (wait-time). If VA could
not schedule an appointment
that is within both the average
driving time standards and
the wait-time standard, then
the Veteran would be eligi-
ble for community care. The
and veterans cannot truly be
compared; those who served
have already paid their share
of their health care premiums
through decades of service
and sacrifice - the true costs of
which are significant.
“While I realize I don’t have
much to complain about - $30
here and $30 there - [when
it’s] combined with increased
prescription costs and the an-
nual fee, [it] eventually [adds]
up to real money,” says Capt.
Craig Herrick, USN (Ret), of
Mechanicsburg, Pa. "I appre-
ciate the value of this earned
benefit, and I’m concerned
by the slow erosion.” In the
civilian economy, approxi-
mately three of four full-time
employees participate in em-
ployer-sponsored group health
plans. According to the Kaiser
Family Foundation Employer
survey, the typical employee
paid about 29 percent of the
company’s total premium cost
for family coverage in 2018;
the employer paid the remain-
ing 71 percent. Premiums for
employer-sponsored health
plans vary mostly by the type
of coverage, individual or
family. Other health insurance
premiums and out-of-pock-
et expenses for the average
civilian family and the amount
of cost shares (including
pharmacy costs) for military
retirees under age 65 are
becoming much more closely
aligned. It also is important to
note retirees age 65 and over
continue paying some of the
highest costs of all.
Niweligibility criteria
under Mission Act:
VA recently proposed new
rules for Veteran communi-
ty care that include six new
eligibility criteria for Veterans
under the VA MISSION Act,
Mostly cloudy. Winds northeast at 6-12 mph. POP 25% Patchy clouds Wednesday night. Winds
southwest at 3-6 mph POP' 25%
HIGH: 66’ LOW: 51’ „ muqina
High
Low
Normal high
Normal low
Record high
Record low
asnaitani
Winds: WSW 10-20 mph
POP: 5%
LAKE LEVELS
Michael W. Geiger, 00
Bryce J. Geiger, OD
Seth H. Geiger, OD
EIGEALTUS CARE
76° 50°
Pleasant and warmer with
some sun
Winds: NNE 7-14 mph
POP: 20%
60°
77°
49°
98° in 1955
34° in 1959
65°/52°
Y Partly sunny
VA predicts bumpy rollout
of Mission Act:
As reported April 10 by Eric
‘ Katz for Government Execu-
tive, the Trump administration
is issuing late warnings that
prepares to implement the VA
i Mission Act, which President
Trump signed into law in 2017
to consolidate existing private
care programs and make it
easier for more veterans to
access those providers. The
measure was easily approved
in Congress along bipartisan
Lines, but has since faced parti
san pushback from detractors
who claim the administration
is attempting to privatize VA
health care. The new standards
are expected to go into effect in
June. Democratic Rep. Mark
Takano, Calif., and Sen. Jon
i Tester, Mont., the respective
chairman and ranking mem-
ber of their chambers’ VA
committees, led a group of 55
Democrats in voicing their con-
cerns with the proposal. They
predicted the standards would
shift an outsized portion of
VA’s resources away from the
department’s own facilities and
toward private care that would
lead to a “hollowing out of
VA facilities." The lawmakers
also accused VA of failing to
consult stakeholders during its
deliberations and leaving open
the possibility that a veteran
receives VA-funded care with-
out ever seeing a VA doctor.
Committee will study
respiratory diseases related
to military burn pits, dust:
In an April 12 story for
Military.com, Patricia Kime
reports a National Academies
of Sciences, Engineering, and
Medicine panel has launched a
study on the respiratory effects
€ of burn pits and other pollution
encountered by U.S troops in
the Middle East and Afghan-
istan. The planned 21-month
review marks the second time
a National Academies commit-
tee has explored the subject:
in 2011, a group of physicians
64’/530
Partly sunny
ployed in the Middle East since
August 1990 and in Afghanistan shares with civilians. The cost
disparities between civilians
The Veterans
PANDOS Affairs De-
24-hr.FREDERICK
Elevation Ching.
schedule a VA appointment for of products from hundreds of
name brands with the ability
809 East Tamarack Rd. Altus, OK 7 3 521
580.482.1756
THe
weaTHeR
Winds: SSE 6-12 mph
POP: 0%
RIVER STAGES
or Djibouti since Sept. 11,2001.
Higher rate of minor birth
defects in children of
women Gulf War veterans:
Women who served in the
1990-91 Gulf War have had an
increased risk of bearing chil-
dren with minor birth defects,
reports a study in the April
issue of the Journal of Occu-
pational and Environmental
Medicine.
The study by Melvin
Blanchard, MD, of Washington
University School of Medi-
cine, St. Louis, and colleagues,
included 788 children born
to 522 Gulf War-era veterans.
Major and minor birth defects,
diagnosed by direct physical
examination, were compared
for offspring of veterans who
were and were not deployed
during the Gulf War. Women
accounted for 28.5 percent of
veterans in the study.
Rates of major birth defects
were similar for children of
deployed versus non-deployed
veterans, overall and on
analysis of first-born children.
There was also no difference
in major birth defects among
children whose mothers were
deployed.
However, minor birth defects
were more frequent among
children of deployed women:
22 percent, compared to about
five percent of children born
to non-deployed women. The
odds of having a child with a
minor birth defect were about
five times higher for deployed
women. The difference was
mainly related to an increased
incidence of minor eye and
musculoskeletal abnormalities.
TRICARE benefit erosion
- concern about the slow
cost/fee increases:
Congress has fairly consis-
tently supported the principle
der the 40-mile criterion under
the Veterans Choice Program
on the day before the VA MIS-
SION Act was enacted into law
(June 6,2018), and • Veteran
continues to reside in a loca-
tion that would qualify them
under that criterion. If both of
these requirements have been
met, a Veteran may be eligible
if one of the following is also
true: o Veteran lives in one of
the five States with the lowest
population density from the
2010 Census: North Dakota,
South Dakota, Montana, Alas-
ka, and Wyoming, or o Veteran
lives in another State, received
care between June 6,2017, and
June 6,2018, and requires care
before June 6,2020.
4. VA Cannot Furnish Care
within Certain Designated
Access Standards Tobe
eligible under this criterion,
VA would have to be unable to
In ~ 4s ” Flood 24-hr. In teet as of
Tam Sum Stage Stage Chng.B 7 am Sun
has always been vague, leaving Facility — In this situation, a
Altus High School Audi- of education in America,
torium at 6:30. This will Rick is one of the most
beahigh energy event to dynamic and inspira-
encourage the teachers tional speakers in Amer-
to finish well this school ica today.
Last New First Full
• ••
Apr 26 May 4 May 11 May 18
Forecasts and graphics provided by
AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON
3 9 10 10 10 8
24 hours ending 12 p.m. Mon 0.00
Nehemiah Initiative
have formed a commu-
nity service partnership
with the Altus schools
supporting the teachers
with classroom materi
als. For more informa-
tion please call 580-482-
3377.
Rick Green from Wall mative and moving pre-
Builders will do a pre- sentations. that often
sentation on the history include his children,
MORNING AFTERNOON EVENING
North Fork of the Red River Alius Lake 1553 52
near Headrick 14.00 6.68 -0.02 Lake Frederick 1199.94
near Carter 11.00 6.76 -0.19 Tom Steed Lake 1411.24
Salt Fork of the Red River Lake Lawtonka 1343.37
at Mangum 9.00 2.96 +0.13 Lake Ellsworth 1232 50
Washita River Fort Cobb Lake 1342 42
Washita river Foss Reservoir 1642.00
near Cheyenne 13.50 7.68 -0.13
near Clinton 18.00 6.96 -0 06 WEATHER HISTORY
near Carnegie 25.00 5.09 -0.18 On April 24, 1908, a series of tornadoes
Deep Red Creek moving from Louisiana to Alabama tool
near Randlett 20 00 3 89 0 22 more than 300 lives and leveled many
East Cache Creek communities
near Walters 21.00 13.43 +0.26
WED THU
6:55 a.m 6 54 am
8:16p.m. 8:17 p.m.
12:51 a.m 143a.m.
11:01 a.m. 11:53 a.m.
he equips, empowers, https://rickgreen.com/
and challenges people about/
to live out their free- All teachers from
dom by teaching the around the county are
bedrock principles that invited to attend. A gift
led to America’s place will be given to each
as the most successful teacher attending. The
nation in the history of Jackson County Minis-
the world. Read more at terial Alliance and the
DAILY CONDITIONS ALMANAC
00070 Statistics through 12 p.m Monday
7a 83 86 88 82
VI H 1
i so si S3 56 59 ss
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The Altus Times (Altus, Okla.), Vol. 113, No. 61, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 24, 2019, newspaper, April 24, 2019; Altus, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2187012/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.