Surviving a Heart Attack

Dr. Patrick Teefy, Head of Cardiology at the Nuclear Medicine Institute Hospital in London, Ontario has shared his expertise on surviving a heart attack when you are alone.

1- Cough repeatedly and very vigorously.

2-Take a deep breath before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, like when producing sputum from deep inside the chest.

3- A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without letting up until help arrives or until your heart feels like it is beating normally again.

4-Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it to regain a normal rhythm.

A heart attack victim can now have a little more time to get help or get to a hospital.

Some heart attacks strike suddenly, but many people have warning signs and symptoms hours, days or weeks in advance. The earliest warning might be recurrent chest pain or pressure (angina) that’s triggered by exertion and relieved by rest. A heart attack can occur in anyone with or without risk factors but your risk for heart attack increases with age, especially if you are age 50 and older.

You’re also at increased risk if you are younger than 50 and have diabetes, smoke cigarettes, are overweight, have blocked arteries, high blood pressure, or a family history of these risk factors.

Regular checkups can identify problems that can lead to heart attack before they occur.

Upcoming Changes for Medication Cost Shares through TRICARE

MOAA makes it a priority to prepare our membership well ahead of changes that will impact their earned benefits. In that regard, please consider this an advance notice for your planning purposes.

The cost shares for your medications, if you do not receive them at a DoD military treatment facility, will increase on Jan. 1. Recall back in the 2017 NDAA, TRICARE’s pharmacy cost shares changed across all medication tiers, and a new fee table was introduced. Beneficiaries saw their prescription fees start to rise in 2018 and 2019. As we published at the time, these fees will accumulate and continue to rise annually until 2027.

According to a large percentage of respondents who have taken MOAA’s health care surveys, many still recall the “sticker shock” they experienced when their mail order generic medication went from $0 to $7 – it was not so bad if you only had to take one, but most people take several so it added up very quickly.

Here are the new FY 2020 fees for all TRICARE pharmacy medication tiers and the year over year annual increases:

These annual average increases continue to be substantial, especially if CPI remains tame and retired pay and social security incomes stay flat.

The bottom line is, TRICARE pharmacy fees and other provider visit cost-shares and premiums for both TRICARE Prime and TRICARE Select, are starting to squeeze beneficiaries. MOAA continues to press the DoD to show the results of how much revenue is being generated from beneficiaries and where it is being directed. We maintain any savings should be re-invested into the TRICARE health program, not diverted into other un-specified accounts.

GI Bill Improvements Pass House

Two legislative proposals that would improve the Post-9/11 GI Bill and set an end date for the Montgomery GI Bill recently passed the House. The Protect the GI Bill Act (H.R.4625), sponsored by Rep. Mike Levin (Calif.), ensures that schools receiving GI Bill funding inform prospective students of the cost of attendance, how much their benefits cover, student outcomes, and more. The bill empowers State Approving Agencies (SAAs) to flag or suspend new enrollments to schools that violate these requirements. The bill also contains several other protections, including a ban on schools misrepresenting themselves while marketing, recruiting and enrolling students.

Further, the GI Bill Planning Act (H.R.4162), sponsored by Rep. Jack Bergman (Mich.), gives new enlistees six months rather than just two weeks, to decide to pay $1200 or opt-out of their Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) benefit. It also ends with new enlistee enrollments in the outdated MGIB by October 2029. Both bills were approved by voice vote and have been sent to the Senate for further consideration.