European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 5, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 22 stars and stripes thursday april 5 2007 your Money a Lutary update Tom Philpott wedges drive healthcare Tiff the surgeons general of army Navy and air Force have criticized defense officials for imposing million in phony efficiency wedges on their medical budgets that will not produce real efficiencies but will Only mean cuts in on base medical services for beneficiaries the feud Between the services top medical officers and the office of the undersecretary of defense for Force readiness and personnel got its first Public airing at a february meeting of the task Force on the future of Mil itary healthcare they continued and perhaps intensified their critic Cis March 27 before the House armed services subcommittee on personnel to illustrate the Impact of a million Cut to Navy Medicine vice adm Donald Arthur said if s Compa Rable to closing a Large family prac Tice Hospital at Camp Lejeune no or the naval base in Pensacola Fla to capture the cynicism of the a never Arthur quoted Portia in Shakespeare merchant of you May have your Pound of flesh but draw nary a drop of blood the same sort of impossible circumstance exists Here Arthur said with defense officials telling military Medicine to handle the budget cuts simply by being smarter managers there is no More flesh to be gained without drawing the blood of medical services from our family members and our Active duty Arthur said unless Congress inter Venes he continued we will have to have a serious conversation about what services we can provide at 16 percent less funding than the year be fore maj Gen Gale s Pollock acting army surgeon general said her Cut is the budget equivalent of losing a Large medical department activity which Means a Community Hospital plus support elements basically it Means were going to take an entire Middac out of our ability to contribute to the health care of the men and women in uniform and their families Pollock said there is no Way i can salamis ice that will need to make a decision about what we Are going to Stop doing so if s not efficiency if s a Flat out Cut in service at a time when our nations at War asked rep Vic Snyder dark chairman of the personnel subcommittee sir it will be a Cut in service said Pollock the air Force faces its own million efficiency wedge for the fiscal year that begins in october it Gen James g Roudebush said there Are ways to handle it besides cutting patient services but none will produce real savings patients who cant be treated on base simply move to the private sector which Means even higher Tricase costs said the air Force surgeon general but before that happens the service will slow spending on facility maintenance on new medical equipment on research and training the efficiency mandates imposed by defense officials Are in addition to billion withheld from the 2008 defense healthcare budget on the As sumption that Congress will approve the Bush administrations plan to raise Tricase fees on military retirees under age 65 and their families Arthur told the military healthcare task Force feb 20 that in his opinion the efficiency wedges directed by or David Chu undersecretary of de sense for personnel and readiness Are just one More Way to show Law makers the consequences of not Rais ing Tricase fees i dont like it Arthur said but x think were being squeezed in tie mid dle of the politics of that defense officials want Money shifted from military direct care to help pay for burgeoning Tricase support contracts for networks of physicians and other providers who treat beneficiaries off base Arthur said the surgeons general also warned of plans to convert another 2700 Mili tary medical billets to civilians Start ing in october on top of 5500 already converted since 2005 when conversion plans were set said Pollock we did not take into consideration that we could truly be in a Long War and some of the elite nation weve done Are for staff we now real ize Are absolutely critical to comment write military update to Box 231111 Centreville a 201201111 email or visit  porsche accelerates vow Deal David unsold 2007 pass ats sit under the sign bearing the company logo on the storage lot of a Volkswagen Dealership in the North Denver suburb of Thornton Colo on sunday porsche a completed its acquisition of More shares in vow for a total stake of 3094 percent triggering a formal takeover offer to vows shareholders the German sport scar maker said last week while porsche move was Long expected analysts have expressed concern that it could Hurt the company in the Long run since any troubles at vow could have a proportionally larger effect on porsche tuesdays Market sum Iveary 52week net Ltd 52wk High Low name last chg 1279593 1068332 Dow Jones industrials 1238130 55 521142 413472 Dow Jones transportation 481683 50515 38097 Dow Jones utilities 51020 946362 770811 nose composite 930555 217989 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Seq a Texas text Ron United key Mutual funds name Nav Ltd chg ret Fidelity invest Fidelity invest Fidelity spartan  Putnam funds a Amer Century inv Fidelity invest Fidelity invest Fidelity invest aim investments a const Frnk a Sec Para aim investments a Narta Fidelity advisor Fidelity advisor t Groppo Putnam funds a Globe qty Fidelity advisor t Putnam funds a gig a military rates euro costs april 5 Dollar buys april British Pound april japanese yen april South korean won april commercial rates Bahrain British Pound Canada Dollar China Denmark Krone euro Hon Kong Dollar Hungary Israel Japan yen Kuwait 03770 419733 11555 77355 55801 56970 78158 18416 41325 uasi 02892 Norway Philippines Poland saudi Arabia Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey new military Exchange rates Are those available to customers at military Bank ing facilities in the country of issuance for Japan South Korea Germany the Netherlands and the United kingdom for no local currency Exchange rates in purchasing British pounds in Germa Check with your local military Bank ing facility commercial rates Are inter Bank rates provided for reference when buying currency a figures Are foreign currencies to one Dollar except for the British Pound which is represented in dollars Pound and the euro which is dollars euro precious metals Gold Silver new York merc dose 466400 interest prime rate825 discount rate Federal funds Market rate520 3month biil504 30year bond485 sources the associated press Bank of America its and sensibility Money tip of the Day lenders rethinking fees by Susan Tompor Detroit free press this year Congress has hauled credit card executives to Washington twice to explain their fees no Surprise then that were now watching some issuers eliminate some High priced practices that had no Good explanation so if youre annoyed in any Way shape or fee by your credit card id say give that card issuer a Jingle right now credit card companies cannot afford to ignore Consumers at this Point after years of unsightly fees were hearing real talk about re vamping the rules a few credit card companies Are making changes on then own Worth not ing Chase card services a Divi Sion of up Morgan Chase has eliminated two Cycle interest calculations a costly practice for Consumers How did that work say the Cus Tomer pays on time of a Bill the balance is car ried Over into the next month whats the interest owed it could be 11 cents with single Cycle Bill ing or up to with Dou ble Cycle Billing Citigroup inc will no longer raise interest rates and fees for current customers at any time for any reason the change takes place for new customers immediately and goes into effect for current cardholders this month rates and fees could change when a card expires and a new card is issued usually every two years Citi would raise rates or fees before the card expires if the customer pays late exceeds the credit limit or sends a Check that bounces Citigroup also stopped uni Versal rates on a Citi card can go up if a consumer makes a late payment or defaults with another Lender All this Buzz Means Consumers have a slight upper hand Here now is the time for Consumers to get assertive when they have problems with their credit cards said Travis Plunkett legislative director for the consumer federation of America in Washington Susan Tompor is the personal finance columnist for the Detroit free press