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Reservists, young adults, and others will have to pay more for Tricare in 2020
Editor's Note: This article by Amy Bushatz and Jim Absher originally appeared onMilitary.com, a leading source of news for the military and veteran community.
If you are a reservist, young adult or transitioning service member enrolled in Tricare or a transition health insurance plan, you will probably soon be paying more for your health insurance. And an enrollment change could impact how much some users must pay up front.
Tricare just released the 2020 rates for the Tricare Reserve Select (TRS) and Tricare Retired Reserve (TRR) programs, as well as for the Tricare Young Adult and Continued Health Care Benefit Programs. Like almost everything else, the prices will mainly be increasing.
Air Force suspends payments to military landlord that falsified maintenance logs to boost profits
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force has suspended paying incentive fees at all 21 military housing bases operated by landlord Balfour Beatty Communities following a Reuters-CBS News report that the company falsified maintenance records at an Oklahoma base to help it qualify for millions of dollars in bonuses.
A new bill would help keep low-income military families from going hungry. The White House isn't on board
Editor's Note: This article by Patricia Kime originally appeared on Military.com, a leading source of news for the military and veteran community.
Erika Tebbens remembers her early years as a Navy wife, struggling to make ends meet at a new duty station near pricey Seattle.
College educated but unable to find a full-time job in her field, she settled into work as a part-time bank teller and, when she became pregnant, began worrying how the family would make ends meet.
"A civilian co-worker of mine informed me we would probably qualify for the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. ... I was honestly shocked. I did not think that any military family in our country would [need to] apply for any type of government assistance," she said.
Tebbens and her new baby qualified for WIC. But later, unable to afford child care, the couple decided she would reduce her hours to one day a week so they could swap parental duties. With bills mounting, she applied for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, but was denied.
Tebbens is one of several advocates pushing to help military families in financial straits, supporting a proposed bill that would furnish a basic needs allowance for service members whose gross household income does not exceed 130% of the federal poverty guidelines.
The new Marine Corps commandant wants to give new moms a full year off
Editor's Note: This article by Gina Harkins originally appeared onMilitary.com, a leading source of news for the military and veteran community.
The Marine Corps must update its parental-leave policies to give new moms and dads time with their newborns, the service's new top general wrote this week, including considering a full year's worth of leave for women who've had a child.
Marines should not be expected to choose between being the best parent possible and their career duties, Commandant Gen. David Berger wrote in his planning guidance released to the force Tuesday.
"These outcomes should never be in competition to the extent that success with one will come at the expense of the other," Berger wrote. "Our parental/maternity leave policies are inadequate and have failed to keep pace with societal norms and modern talent management practices."
TurboTax uses a 'military discount' to trick US service members into paying to file their taxes
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on ProPublica.
In patriotism-drenched promotions, press releases and tweets, TurboTax promotes special deals for military service members, promising to help them file their taxes online for free or at a discount.
Yet some service members who've filed by going to the TurboTax Military landing page told ProPublica they were charged as much as $150 — even though, under a deal with the government, service members making under $66,000 are supposed to be able to file on TurboTax for free.
Troops could get their biggest pay raise since 2010 under DoD’s proposed fiscal 2020 budget
President Donald Trump wants to give service members their biggest pay raise in a decade.
The Defense Department's proposed $718 billion budget for fiscal 2020 includes a 3.1 percent pay raise, according to the Office of Management and Budget. That compares with the 2.6 percent pay hike that troops received starting in January.