MOAA LEGISLATIVE UPDATES
MOAA’s Legislative Update for January 7, 2005:
Issue 1: Reserve Chief Warns of “Broken” Army Reserve Force
In a blunt memo to the Army’s leadership, Lieutenant General James Helmly, USA, the commander of 200,000 Army Reserve troops, has warned that the Army Reserve (USAR) is “rapidly degenerating into a ‘broken’ force.” The Dec. 20 document from Helmly to Army Chief of Staff General Peter Schoomaker states that “current demands” on the USAR and “dysfunctional” mobilization and personnel management policies have degraded mission readiness.
“The purpose of this memorandum is to inform you of the Army Reserve’s inability – under current policies, procedures, and practices governing mobilization, training and reserve component manpower management – to meet mission requirements associated with Operation[s] Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom and to reset and regenerate its forces for follow-on and future missions,” he said.
MOAA applauds General Helmly’s candor in raising real-world policy and readiness issues that more senior Defense leaders so far have been reluctant to address.
Issue 2: Many Left Out of Part B Enrollment
The 2003 Medicare Modernization Act provided for a special enrollment period for TRICARE beneficiaries who had never signed up for Medicare Part B. It also authorized a prospective waiver of late enrollment penalties for military beneficiaries who signed up for Part B in 2001 or later. The purpose was to ease penalties for previously unenrolled retirees who had to sign up for Part B to get TRICARE For Life (TFL) benefits.
For various reasons, some individuals do not wish to take Part B – because they are still covered by employer-sponsored insurance; because they get care from the VA health system; or because they are active duty family members. However, TRICARE will not pay claims for any Medicare-eligibles who were not enrolled in Part B by January 1. They will regain their TRICARE eligibility (without any late enrollment penalty) if they enroll during 2005.
They can do that by contacting their local Social Security office, by calling Social Security at 1-800-772-1213, or by using the Social Security Web site at: (www.ssa.gov/legislation/).
MOAA's Legislative Update for January 14, 2005:
Issue 1 Senator Sessions Moves to Improve Survivor Benefits
In a speech in Alabama on Tuesday, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) announced plans to introduce legislation that would greatly improve military survivor benefits. Sen. Sessions plans to introduce a bill on Jan 24 that would raise the maximum Servicemen's Group Life Insurance (SGLI) benefit to $400,000 from $250,000. Under his plan, the government would pay for the first $150,000 of coverage when the member enters a combat zone. The bill also would raise the death gratuity from $12,420 to $100,000 for members killed in combat, and the increase would be made retroactive to cover members killed while deployed to operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Issue 2 New Bills
While the Senate will not introduce any new bills until January 24, the process already has begun in the House. To date, House members have introduced almost 300 new legislative initiatives, including several of interest to MOAA members
H.R. 147 - Social Security Fairness Act of 2005 (Rep. McKeon, R-CA): The legislation would repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provisions (WEP). Both GPO and WEP provisions result in unfair reductions in earned Social Security benefits of retired government employees, many of whom are also military retirees. This bill replaces H.R. 594 from the 108th Congress.
H.R. 197 - In-State Tuition Eligibility (Rep. Scott, D-GA): This bill would limit states to charging in-state tuition rates for active duty servicemembers and their dependents that are assigned to duty stations in the state.
You can track cosponsorship, current status, and other information on bills of interest on MOAA's Web site at: http://capwiz.com/moaa/issues/bills/ . By simply entering your ZIP code, you can send your legislators your views on these bills.
MOAA's Legislative Update for January 28, 2005:
Issue 1: More Bills of Interest
With the start of the 109th Congress a number of bills in addition to those highlighted above have already been introduced in the House and Senate. Here is a summary of selected bills of interest to MOAA members:
S. 11 (Sen. Levin, D-MI) is an omnibus bill that would increase Army and Marine Corps strengths, provide tax credits to employers of mobilized Guard/Reserve members, increase the military death gratuity to $100,000, eliminate the DIC offset to SBP, accelerate the 2008 effective date of SBP, and provide additional health coverage options to all Selected Reserve members, among other provisions.
S. 77 (Sen. Sessions, R-AL) would increase maximum military life insurance coverage from $250,000 to $400,000 (of which the first $150,000 would be premium-free for members serving in combat zones) and raise the military death gratuity to $100,000 for servicemembers killed in combat.
S. 42 (Sen. Allen, R-VA) and S. 44 (Sen. Hagel, R-NE) would both raise the death gratuity to $100,000 for members killed on active duty since 9/11.
S. 43 (Sen. Hagel, R-NE) would end the $1200 enrollment fee for the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB), refund the fee to MGIB-participating members on active duty, and offer a new enrollment opportunity to all non-participating active duty members.
S. 121 (Sen. DeWine, R-OH) would increase the death gratuity to $100,000 for the surviving spouse plus $25,000 for each surviving child, authorize free TRICARE Prime eligibility for surviving children, double the education benefit for surviving children, and increase DIC to $1500 per month for an eligible surviving spouse plus $750 per month for each surviving child
HR 303 (Rep. Bilirakis, R-FL) would eliminate the disability offset to military retired pay effective January 1, 2006 for all members with a service- connected disability who had sufficient service to retired independent of any disability.
H.R. 333 (Rep. Lynch, D-MA) would protect education status and financial interests of service members called to active duty while enrolled in college courses.
H.R. 377 (Rep. Everett, R-AL) is the House companion bill to Sen. Sessions' S. 77.
You can track cosponsorship, current status, and other information on selected bills of interest on MOAA's Web site at: http://capwiz.com/moaa/issues/bills/. By simply entering your ZIP code, you can send your legislators MOAA- suggested messages urging their support.
MOAA's Legislative Update for February 4, 2005:
Issue 1: DoD Aims to Improve TRICARE Standard
The Defense Department now has a provider directory for Standard users available on the TRICARE website at:
www.tricare.osd.mil/standardprovider.
Each TRICARE region's Managed Care Support Contractor is required to provide assistance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to locate network providers within their regions for all TRICARE beneficiaries (including Standard). Those who need assistance in finding a TRICARE-participating doctor can call:
North Region: 877-874-2273
South Region: 800-444-5445
West Region: 888-874-9378
Issue 2: More Bills of Interest
S. 13 (Daniel Akaka, D-HI) would establish a mandatory funding formula for VA health care; authorize full concurrent receipt; authorize a Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) enrollment opportunity for 'VEAP' decliners; and permit Medicare-eligible veterans enrolled in VA healthcare to have their outside Medicare prescriptions filled in VA pharmacies.
S. 32 (Mark Dayton, D-MN) would provide a National Guard and Reserve bill of rights including provisions regulating and communicating deployment periods, correcting pay problems, increasing the size and availability of bonuses, expanding TRICARE coverage and offering the option of government-subsidized continuation of employer provided coverage, and subsidizing private child care on a need-basis for families that lack access to military day care facilities.
H.R. 602 (Chris Van Hollen, D-MD) would allow military retirees and their dependents the option to enroll in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan (FEHBP); waive Medicare Part B premiums for retirees who entered service before June 7, 1956; and provide drug reimbursement at TRICARE network rates to beneficiaries who do not have access to a pharmacy in the TRICARE retail network.
You can track cosponsorship, current status, and other information on selected bills of interest on MOAA's Web site at: http://capwiz.com/moaa/issues/bills/. By just entering your ZIP code, you can send your legislators MOAA-suggested messages urging support.
MOAA's Legislative Update for February 11, 2005:
Issue 1: Reserve Bill has Big Time Support.
MOAA National President, VADM Norb Ryan, Jr., (USN-Ret.) participated in a Wednesday press conference at which a bipartisan group of Senators and House members announced bills to expand TRICARE coverage for Guard and Reserve families and lower the reserve retirement age. Read more at: http://www.moaa.org/News/NG_RShealthcare.asp
Issue 2: TRICARE Reserve Select Details Unveiled
TRICARE is gearing up to roll out TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS), and MOAA has obtained access to the new rules that will govern the new benefit, set to kick off April 28. TRS extends premium-based access to TRICARE Standard (DoD's fee-for-service health plan) to certain Selected Reservists (SELRES) and their family members.
To qualify, the member must have been mobilized on a contingency operation for 90 days or more since Sept 11, 2001. Each 90 days served provides eligibility for one year of TRS coverage--one year of deployment could earn a SELRES member and their family four years of TRS. The member must commit to continued participation in the Select Reserve in return for TRS benefits.
Rules governing this benefit are far from simple. First, activated Reservists must complete a preliminary service agreement BEFORE leaving active duty. This document commits the member to one year of SELRES service for each year of Standard benefits. Failure to sign this agreement before demobilization will result in loss of the benefit.
The second step is the final service agreement - a formal bilateral arrangement where the service member commits to further service AND the reserve component agrees to keep the member in the select reserve. It is not just a matter of the member's willingness to drill in return for benefits; there must also be a billet available for the entire time period.
Premiums will be set at 28% of the total costs of TRS coverage and paid in monthly increments. Enrollees can elect self-only or self-and-family coverage. TRS will offer access to TRICARE Standard health plan benefits only. Reservists and their families will not be able to enroll in TRICARE Prime or use military treatment facilities or military pharmacies.
Members must agree to remain in the SELRES for the duration of their TRS coverage, yet should they be mobilized during that time, the clock stops ticking. For example, one year of deployment earns four years of TRS coverage. If the member is mobilized again for 90 days after two years in TRS, the member has to forgo the two years previously earned. Upon return from deployment, the member will only have one year of eligibility -- no matter how many years the member agrees to in future service. This is patently unfair.
Current rules require the member to decide on TRS and the commensurate commitment to service before leaving active duty status.
MOAA will continue to monitor implementation of the TRS program and make information available through our email updates, website and publications.
MOAA's Legislative Update for February 18, 2005:
Issue 1: New SBP Bills Introduced in House
On Wednesday, Rep. Henry Brown (R-SC) and 23 other original cosponsors introduced HR 808, which would end the dollar-for-dollar deduction of Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (paid by the VA when the member's death is due to service-caused conditions) from the survivor's military Survivor Benefit Plan annuity. Because most SBP annuities are relatively low, the SBP/DIC offset often eliminates most or all of the SBP, leaving many surviving spouses with only the $993 monthly DIC annuity. HR 808 already has built a list of 54 cosponsors.
On Thursday, Rep. Jim Saxton introduced his bill (number not yet available at press time), which would change the effective date of 30-year, paid-up SBP from Oct 1, 2008 to Oct 1, 2005. Congress authorized paid-up SBP coverage in 1998 for any member who attains age 70 and has paid at least 30 years of SBP premiums. But the effective date was delayed for 10 years to save money. In effect, this imposed a "Greatest Generation tax" on the oldest military retirees who enrolled when SBP was first enacted in 1972. Before that, many paid premiums under the earlier Retired Servicemen's Family Protection Plan. By this fall, those 1972 SBP enrollees already will have paid almost 20 percent more premiums than a 1978 enrollee will ever have to pay.
In the Senate, Senators Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Jon Corzine (D-NJ) have combined the SBP/DIC and paid-up SBP initiatives into a single bill, S. 185. Fixing these major SBP inequities is a top goal for MOAA this year.
As soon as information on these bills is available electronically, we'll post them on our Web site so members can e-mail their legislators to request their cosponsorship.
You can do two things now to help correct these SBP inequities:
1. Visit MOAA's Web site at http://capwiz.com/moaa/issues/bills/?bill=6872756 to urge your senators to cosponsor S. 185. Just enter your ZIP code in the box and click "GO" to send a MOAA-suggested message.
2. Sign, stamp and mail the four tear-out letters to key House and Senate leaders that you'll find in your Military Officer magazine coming to your mailbox in the next few days.
Issue 2: MOAA Testifies on VA Budget
The House Veterans Affairs Committee, headed by new Chairman Steve Buyer (R-IN), held a hearing on Wednesday to review the VA budget request for FY 2006.
Secretary Nicholson said the Administration's plan increases the VA budget by 2.7 percent over last year. Assoc-iation witnesses took issue with that description, pointing out that much of the budget increase comes from plans to raise fees and copays for certain veterans and optimistic assumptions about increased collections from veterans' insurance companies. They asserted that, once medical inflation and rising demand for care for combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are taken into account, the proposed budget won't allow the VA even to continue its current level of services.
They're back. The administration's FY2006 budget request once again proposes a $250 usage fee for about 2.3 million priority 7 and 8 veterans enrolled in VA care. Priority 7 and 8 veterans are those with no compensable disabilities, and who have incomes above a geographically adjusted means-test level.
The administration is also reviving its proposal to increase pharmacy co-payments from $7 to $15 for priority 7 and 8 veterans. Disabled, indigent, and special needs veterans, (priorities 2-6) would be exempt from increased drug co-payments. Only severely disabled veterans (category 1) are exempt from all drug co-payments.
Issue 3: President's Budget Contents
President Bush's recently released FY 2006 budget proposal contains a number of provisions of interest to MOAA members. Topping the list is a 3.1 percent pay raise for active duty, Guard, and Reserve members and additional bonuses to support recruiting and retention. (Retiree pay adjustments are governed by annual COLA adjustments announced each October.)
In last week's update, we addressed some of the key budget proposals concerning veterans' benefits. Several members have inquired whether TRICARE beneficiaries would face such fee increases. The President's Budget does not propose any copay or other fee increases for TRICARE or TRICARE for Life.
In all, the budget calls for $109 billion for personnel including:
* Full payment (for the first time) of total median housing costs (by grade and locality) for servicemembers living off-base;
* Changing the Army from a division-based structure to one based on new, more agile "modular" brigades;
* Boosting the number of Special Operations forces by 1,400 and increasing spending for language training;
* Continued re-basing activities aimed at returning 70,000 military personnel from overseas bases to CONUS installations;
* Conversion of several thousand non-deployed medical positions to civilian billets.
You can read more about the President's Defense Budget Proposal at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/ omb/budget/fy2006/defense.html.
Issue 4: Associations Meet with House Minority Leaders, Committee Staffs
February is "meeting month" on the Hill, as legislators and their staffers and your association representatives work to compare and prioritize legislative goals in preparation for hearings and development of draft authorization bills.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) invited MOAA President VADM Norb Ryan, Jr. (USN-Ret) and other military and veterans association leaders to meet with her and the senior Democrats from the Armed Services, Budget, Veterans Affairs and Appropriations Committees on Thursday to outline her "21st Century Veterans Bill of Rights." Endorsements in this package include: Full, mandatory funding for VA health care, full concurrent receipt of military retired pay and VA disability compensation, repeal of the SBP/DIC offset, and a permanent increase in Army end strength to ease operational stresses on troops and families.
MOAA's BENEFITS INFORMATION UPDATE
February 2005
Item 1 Last Chance - MOAA 2005 Educational Assistance
Do you have a child in college? Need a little extra help with the expense? Then apply online today for one of the MOAA Educational Assistance Programs! Information and the online application may be found on the web at www. moaa.org/ education. But hurry! This is the last month to apply! The deadline to apply for the 2005-2006 school year is noon EST March 1, 2005.
Item 2 TRICARE Launches Healthy Choices for Life
The Department of Defense (D0D) announced the launch of TRICARE's "Healthy Choices for Life" campaign, a two-year initiative dedicated to building awareness for three key health issues: reducing alcohol abuse, tobacco cessation and weight management. Go to www.tricare.osd.mil/ healthychoices for more information.
Item 3 Dependent Permanent ID Cards - Age 75+
The 2005 National Defense Authorization Act grants dependants age 75 and older permanent military identification card (ID) status. However, DoD informs us the permanent ID card program will not be available until later this year. In the interim, the defense Enrollment Eligibility System (DEERS) considers these dependents eligible for benefits so long as a death or divorce has not been reported meaning that TRICARE claims should not be rejected due to ineligibility.
Item 4 VA Home Loan Program Higher Limits
Recent legislation signed by President Bush makes home ownership more affordable for many veterans. Changes under the law mean veterans will be able to get home loan guaranties of $89,912 to qualify for the Freddie Mac conforming loan limit for a single family home of $359,700. The previous ceiling was $240,000.
MOAA's BENEFITS INFORMATION UPDATE
January 2005
Item 1 Guard/Reserve Troops Urged to Remember Employers
Deployed service members are encouraged to maintain a good relationship with their employers to support a better reintegration upon return to their civilian jobs. One strategy is an award recognizing an employer that supports Guard and Reserve troops. It is up to the individual service member to
recommend their employers for an award. Another suggestion involves having a flag flown in the employers honor and presenting it with a certificate. For information on awards and other employer support visit the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve web site at www.esgr.org/members/ default.asp.