The IRS Deductions Blog

Archive for March, 2009

Question: TRICARE standard vs. prime and Lap-Band procedure?

My husband is AD in the Army. As of right now I only have TRICARE standard. I am aware that with TRICARE standard you are allowed to choose your own physicians but also have to pay deductibles. I am interested in switching over to TRICARE prime but don`t know exactly how all of this works. I live near Fort Dix but my husband is completing AIT in APG, Maryland. Would I be required to go to the medical facilities on APG or does it not matter which one you go to as long as it`s on any military base? I am also interested in getting the lap-band procedure done. I`ve read up on the TRICARE website for the qualifications but I`d really like to hear from anyone that has personally had a weight loss surgery and is insured under TRICARE.

Answer: I have no experience with Tricare Standard because I am on Tricare Prime.

Tricare will cover your surgery completely with a civilian doctor if you do OPEN SURGERY. They will not cover you to have it laproscopic except for in a military hospital…because they consider that experimental. I had Gastric Bypass April of last year and chose to go Civilian because as you probably know civilian care is so much better. When I had surgery they did not cover lap-band…Last november they started covering lap band. I never looked into the surgery requirements for lap band as I have already had gastric bypass but since they just approved it I would assume if you wanted it done lapo it would be the same and you would have to go military but if you are willing to be cut open you can go civilian.

The requirements for tricare is 100 pounds overweight with a co-mobility (physical problem such as diabetes or heart condition), or 200 pounds overweight without a co-mobility.

From time of submission for surgery request I was approved in 3 days.

If you decide to go civilian I would suggest going to a surgeon in the excellence program. A program put together for weight loss surgery that put surgeons to a higher standard as well as the hospital that you have the surgery at. I had my surgery done with a doctor part of the excellence program and the knowledge I was given beforehand and well as the care and extra appointments before and after just to make sure everything was going as planned and nothing bad would happen was way more then what I read other patients receive (from www.obesityhelp.com). To be part of the excellence program your death rate has to be way lower then industry standards also. I was really surprised that Tricare covered a doctor from the excellence program considering it costs more money but found out later they are more likely to approve an excellence doctor because they dont have to pay for the complications that can occur afterwards and extra surgeries that may come from complications or your lack of knowledge. Excellence program doctors also have to have a certain percentage of success rate, which is way higher then the normal weight loss surgery success rate.

Good luck with your journey. Check out www.obesityhelp.com, very informative.

I had surgery April 1st, weighed 300 pounds and now weigh 145. Went from size 26 to now size 6!

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Health care proposals will affect military, vets and their families

Due to the large number of military, military retirees and veterans in the Alamogordo and El Paso areas, I feel the following information should be brought to their attention.

Recently, Microsoft has made a significant announcement that Office 2010, including the latest version of Word with plenty of dramatic new features, will be released next year. Since Microsoft has brought us much surprise when releasing new products each time, what are the new feathers of Word 2010 that are worth looking forward to? Let’s take an overall look at Word 2010 Technical Preview version.

1. A new navigation pane and search experience
With navigation pane, users can not only quickly switch to the beginning of any chapters by clicking the desired headlines, but also locate your desired text by inserting keywords in the instant search box. As the following image presents, the search words will be highlighted in the text.

2. New graphical goodness
Word 2010 provides users more artistic picture effects and easier picture editing, and more SmartArt diagrams, richer graphical and typographic effects on text are also available.

3. Online simultaneous editing with multiple people
In Word 2010, users can share co-author right within Word documents. Using new co-authoring capabilities, users can edit or modify Word documents with multiple people from different locations at the exact same time. You can see who else is working with you, and where they are editing. In the way, users do not need to hassle with exchanging documents via email attachments when they have to confirm them together.

4. Offline editing and sync’ing of shared documents online
When you open a shared document, Word 2010 will automatically cache it so that you can edit it offline, and then Word will automatically sync your changes when you come back online. So if you need to work outside the office, you will no longer need to worry about saving local copies or manually merging your changes into the server document when you get back to your office. Word 2010 takes care of all of that for you.

5. Access and edit Word 2010 documents anywhere
In Word 2010, users can store their documents online, then access and edit Word 2010 from practically any Web browser and mobile phones without compromising your document’s richness.

Create PDF from Word 2010
As the most authoritative word-processing and document-exchanging solutions provider, Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF have their own file format which cannot support each other for format converting between themselves. Few years ago, the two companies had engaged in a lawsuit because MS Word embedded the function that allowed users to create PDF from Word. Consequently, conversion between PDF and Word is always a hassle. In Word 2010, we are delighted to see that it provides a quick way to create PDF from Word directly.

Convert PDF to Word 2010

As for PDF to Word conversion, it still calls for 3th-party apps support. After researching and testing, Adreamsoft PDF to Word Converter 2.0 is proven to be one of rare PDF to Word 2010 converters that can let users convert PDF to Word 2010 well even in Window 7 OS. It supports batch conversion and encrypted PDF documents. All the elements and layout of the converted Word files are preserved accurately from the original files. After editing, Word 2010 provides a quick way for users to create PDF from Word 2010 directly.

With the new feathers of Word 2010 and the conversion methods between PDF and Word 2010 presented above, hope that you have a good view of the two tools and enjoy modern working style that the advanced technology has brought to us.

Items on Amazon Right Now for 2010 Minimum Deductible For Hsa:

Your 2010 Financial To-Do List

Use this clip-and-save calendar to tackle one financial task at a time.

Question: Can someone please make health insurance that makes sense?

I am so sick of insurance- my hubby was laid off in October, when I was 7 months pregnant, we were pretty much forced to do COBRA because private plans have crappy maternity coverage and we don’t qualify fro Medicaid. He got a job with a temp agency which has crappy insurance, so now that I had the baby, we are looking at private plans. They are so expensive and have high deductibles and a bunch of crap they won’t pay. Can’t they put together something that makes sense?

Answer: i agree!
insurance by itself of ALL kinds, is another form of “forced taxation.
either insurance Pays for “everything” or we do not make ANY of it mandatory.

so many times ive seen people get rejected, its easy money money for theives and con men to start an insurance company, where they dont have to physically do any labor

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Staying insured when you’re out of work

Leaving a job is always stressful, and the idea of losing health insurance makes it even more so. Many employees mistakenly believe that having no job also means going without insurance. That’s not entirely the case, though.

Online Searching For Health Insurance?

Question: What is an Embedded Deductible re: Health Insurance?

What is the difference between a $3000k/$6000k “embedded deductible” health plan and a non-embedded plan with the same deductible limits? Please give examples of the differences.

Answer: These are usually applicable when purchasing a Health Savings Account Qualified Plan (HSA).

You have a $6,000 Family Deductible with a $3,000 embedded indivdiual deductible in your example. If the plan has 100% coinsurance, there is a $6,000 max out of pocked for the family. The embedded deductible would apply to one person max out of pocket of $3,000.

The HSA plans are great plans as long as you have complete understanding as to how they work.

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Answers to Your Tax Questions

Answers to your questions on a variety of tax issues.