Federal Daily - November 21, 2008

FTC Debuts Health Care Info Resource

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Nov. 19 announced the launch of a new booklet and interactive Web site to help consumers “tell fact from fiction” and find reliable health care information. “Who Cares: Sources of Information About Health Care Products and Services,” at www.ftc.gov/whocares, was designed to serve as a central repository of consumer-oriented health care information. Both the booklet and Web site point users to federal agencies and private organizations that provide reliable information about things such as generic drugs, hormone therapy, care-giving, vision surgery, alternative medicine, hearing aids, Medicare fraud and medical ID theft. To help sort out conflicting health care claims in particular, the Web site points users to two government-sponsored operations—MedlinePlus (sponsored by the National Library of Medicine) and Healthfinder.gov (a product of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in the Department of Health and Human Services). To see more, go to: www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/11/whocares.shtm.

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Premiums to Decrease for TRICARE Reserve Select

Starting next year, participants in the TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS) program will see monthly premiums drop significantly—TRS individual coverage will drop 44 percent, from $81.00 to $47.51, and TRS family coverage will drop 29 percent, from $253 to $180.17. The new rates go into effect Jan. 1 and are the result of the 2009 National Defense Authorization Act, which required TRICARE to analyze Reserve Select costs from 2006 and 2007 and set new rates for 2009, TRICARE Management Activity (TMA) said in a Nov. 19 statement. TRS is a premium-based health plan for National Guard and Reserve personnel available for purchase by members of the Selected Reserve who are not eligible for or enrolled in Federal Employee Health Benefit plans. TRS also features continuously open enrollment. “Now that TRS has been in place for several years, we were able to calculate premiums for 2009 from actual cost data obtained in earlier years,” said Army Maj. Gen. Elder Granger, TMA deputy director. To see more, go to: www.tricare.mil/pressroom/news.aspx?fid=480.

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Federal Register Announces New Web Portal

The Office of the Federal Register (OFR) on Nov. 19 announced it launched a new Web portal that will allow greater access to government documents. The new Electronic Public Inspection Desk provides online access to documents governing federal regulations related to business, health and safety as soon as the documents are placed on file. By as early as 8:45 a.m. EST, the new desk grants public access to documents slated for publication in the next day’s Federal Register. Previously, such documents could only be seen this early by viewing the documents physically located at the Office of the Federal Register in Washington, D.C. To see more, go to: www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2009/nr09-06.html.

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