The TRICARE Mail Order Pharmacy is a convenient and economical option for long-term prescription drug needs. It can help you save both time and money. Effective 1 June 2004, it has chosen Express Scripts, Incorporated to provide mail order prescriptions.

Eligible members include active duty personnel worldwide including Reserve and National Guard personnel and their family members, and retired reservists, guardsmen and former members and their family over the age of 60 years old. It is important that their profiles be accurate in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS).

The TRICARE Mail Order Pharmacy is best used when a member is taking a prescription for long-term, ongoing medical conditions. The prescription drugs available through ESI are contained on a formulary, which is an FDA approved list used by ESI. It includes generic drugs, oral and topical drugs, and injectables.

One can order prescription drugs by mail, fax or online. All deliveries are by mail and can be sent to any U.S. address, APO/FPO address, or official Washington DC address. Private foreign addresses are unacceptable. The deliveries will generally arrive within fourteen days.

There is no copayment for active duty members; for all other TRICARE beneficiaries, it is $3 for generic drugs and $9 for brand-name drugs.

For questions, contact the TRICARE Retail Pharmacy Customer Service Center at 1-866-363-8779.

The Tricare Retiree Dental Program is a voluntary enrollment program that offers diagnostic, preventive, and basic restorative services (including endodontics); oral surgery; allowance toward payment for tooth-colored fillings on back teeth; dental accident coverage; and emergency services. Members of the Retired Reserve who are eligible to receive retired pay, but are under age 60, are eligible for this program. It offers continuous open enrollment. For more information, call toll-free at 1-888-838-8737.

Access is Power! TRICARE Online.com is the Department of Defense Internet medical portal that provides TRICARE beneficiaries with secure, interactive, one-stop-shopping access to a host of unique and exciting services, tools and resources. TRICARE Online.com allows beneficiaries to take control of their family's health care needs. Why a dotcom? Only a dotcom can provide unconstrained, universal access from any computer or laptop in the world - dot.mil may not always be accessible because of geographic and security restrictions. But, TRICAREOnline.com is always accessible.

Features

Real-time, online military treatment facility appointing- for primary care and certain self-referral appointments

Rx Checker -for drug interactions and side effects

TRICARE health care- claims, benefits, enrollment and other entitlement information

Personal Health Journal -users record and update their own medical information, such as immunizations, test results, treatment instructions, medications and more; printouts make medical history forms faster, easier and more accurate

Medical library -provides a variety of databases for the latest information about pharmaceuticals, symptoms, illnesses, surgical and diagnostic procedures.

Health and wellness- links to women's, men's, children's and teen's health; aging and health; food and nutrition; sports and fitness; mental health; sexuality and health; alternative medicine and health; medications; traveler's health, articles from the New England Journal of Medicineand more

Healthy life style tools -programs such as smoking cessation and health calculators for individual, overall health assessments

Facility and clinic pages -information about each facility, its clinics, hours, driving directions and more

Provider pages- Credentialed providers' individual pages feature their education, clinical background, and care and treatment philosophies

Future Features

Pharmacy refills

Routine pharmacy renewal requests via secure messaging

Routine lab test requests via secure messaging

Online TRICARE enrollments

Secure patient and provider messaging

Appointment reminders

Health assessments

Beneficiary access to key portions of their electronic health record

For More Information

For more informationbeneficiaries may visit www.tricareonline.com or call stateside customer service at 1-800-600-9332 or (210) 767-5250 (direct). Agents are available 24 hours a day to assist beneficiaries. Overseas users may refer to the applicable numbers below.

For Access From	Access Number
Belgium Germany Greece Guam Italy Japan Korea - U.S. Army installations Korea - All other installations Netherlands Panama Portugal Spain Turkey United Kingdom	0800-72115 0800-1011129 00800-12-5629 1-866-637-8725 800-782407 00531-1-20743 550-6474 (MHSH) 00798-14-800-5242 0800-0228847 001-800-507-1669 800-8-12305 900-951895 00-800-151-1005 08-005871786

 

 

In time of war or national emergency declared by Congress, the Secretary of the Navy may recall any other retired member of the reserve component, with the approval of the Secretary of Defense, when it is determined there are insufficient qualified reservists in an active status. The Department of Defense categorizes all military retirees.

Category I retirees are those within their first five years of retirement who are under the age of 60 and are not disabled.

Category II retirees are those who have been retired more than five years and are under the age of 60 and not disabled.

Category III retirees include all others, and include those who are disabled.

All Category I and II retirees are considered mobilization assets. Category III retirees with selected skills, primarily medical personnel, are also considered mobilization assets.

To calculate your projected retired pay, you will need the number of drill points you earned during your Navy career. You can find this information in the Annual Statement of Service History. Go to www.bol.navy.org (BUPERS On-Line) for that information. You can call them toll-free at 1-800-952-6289 or 1-866-830-6466. You will also need to locate a current pay table and look up your base pay according to your rank/rate and number of years in service. The Naval Reserve Association can calculate your retirement pay – just click on the section “Retired without Pay” in their website, then go to "Retired Pay Calculation." Input these numbers where required, and the Naval Reserve Association will send the information back to you.

Retirees who are at least 55 years old can travel within the continental United States only. Retirees who are 60 years old can travel with their dependents around the world. Retirees are classified in Category Six which is the lowest priority after all essential DOD personnel and cargo are loaded. Be patient and flexible. The nearest air mobility center is Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. For more information, contact them at 719-556-4521. There is additional information in the 2003 Retired Military Almanac and the Space Availability Air Route map; the latter is available at the post exchange at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora.

Go to www.navy-nex.mil and click on "Lodge".
You may call them at 1-800-NAVY-INN (626-9466).

There is an easy way to locate a former service member. Simply write a letter to the retiree. Place it in a stamped envelope (only one per envelope) with the retiree's name on it. Indicate your return address. In a short note provide what information you have about the person you are trying to locate. Include the complete name, rank, social security number, birth date (approximate age) and any other identifying information. State your reason for wanting to contact this person. Place the postage-paid, sealed envelope and your note in another envelope and address it to the appropriate service. A search fee may be required for each name. There is generally no fee charged if the request is from a parent or immediate family member. You will be notified only if the retiree cannot be located.

For Navy personnel, address the letter to:


or telephone: 901-874-3388

The fee is $3.50. Make the check payable to U.S. Treasurer. For other services, addresses are listed in the 2004 Retired Military Almanac.

The purpose of the Survivor Benefit Plan is to insure that the surviving dependents of military personnel who die in retirement or after becoming eligible for retirement will continue to have a reasonable level of income.

Persons eligible to receive the annuity are the spouse, spouse and children, children only, the former spouse, or persons with an insurable interest.

The monthly premium depends on the base amount of retired pay. It can be as little as $300 monthly or the full retired pay.

The monthly benefit for annuity for the surviving spouse is 55% of the base amount until age 62, and 35% of the base amount after age 62.

For further information, contact Defense Financing and Accounting Services at 1-800-321-1080.

Beginning in the fall, 2004, enrolled veterans will be able to obtain chiropractic care at VA facilities under a law signed by President Bush in 2002. The services will be available at 26 hospitals and clinics in all VA health regions. The services will be available in Phoenix; Los Angeles and Martinez, California; West Haven, Connecticut; Miami and Tampa, Florida; Augusta, Georgia; Danville, Illinois; Togus, Maine; Iron Mountain, Michigan; Jackson, Mississippi; Kansas City, Missouri; Fort Harrison, Montana; Buffalo and the Bronx, New York; Salisbury, North Carolina; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Columbus, Ohio; Butler, Pennsylvania; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Mountain Home, Tennessee; San Antonio, Dallas and Temple, Texas; Seattle, Washington; and Martinsburg, West Virginia. For those veterans living outside these areas, a referral from the primary care provider and prior authorization from the VA is required.

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Each year, military retired pay is adjusted to meet the increased cost of living. The cost of living adjustment (COLA) varies from year to year and is based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The Consumer Price Index measures inflation. The percentage adjustment for each year is determined by the percentage increase in the average Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the same three month period of the previous year. The authority comes from 10 United States Code section 1401 (10 USC 1401) which is the Armed Forces Computation of Retired Pay. The COLA for the year 2006 will be 4.1% for retired pay, survivor benefit program (SBP) annuities, Social Security, and veterans’ disability compensation. This adjustment applies to those who retired before 1 January 2005. It will become effective 1 December 2005 and will be seen in the 15 January 2006 paycheck. The percent increase in COLA, however, varies according to your retirement date. For those who retired between 1 January 2005 – 31 March 2005, there will be a 3.4% adjustment. For those who retired between 1 April 2005 – 30 June 2005, there will be a 2.8% adjustment. For those who retired between 1 July 2005 – 30 September 2005, there will be a 1.4% adjustment. There will be no increase for those retiring between 1 October 2005 – 31 December 2005.

Military retirement pay is taxable and must be included in your income as a pension. There are many states, however, that do not tax retirement pay of military retirees. There are also numerous veterans’ benefits that are not taxable. These benefits include, but are not limited to: education, training and subsistence allowance; disability compensation and pension payments; rehabilitative program payments; grants for homes designed for wheelchair living; grants for motor vehicles for those who have lost their sight or use of their limbs; and qualified long-term care benefits. Concurrent receipt may be taxable but combat-related special compensation pay is not taxable.