Military Officer - March 2007 - (Page 38)

washingtonscene TRICARE Task Force Convenes Stacked panel appears poised to push fee hikes. So once again, we’ll be taking our campaign to Congress to do the right thing. To that end, please take a few minutes to sign, stamp, and mail the postcards on the cover of this magazine. Urge your legislators to support bills (see lead article, page 31) being introduced in the House by Reps. Chet Edwards (D-Texas) and Walter Jones (RN.C.) and in the Senate by Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.). M id-January saw the ﬁrst meeting of the DoD Task Force on the Future of Military Health Care, which owes Congress interim recommendations on beneﬁciary fee changes this spring. Mandated by the FY 2007 Defense Authorization Act, the task force is composed of 14 members appointed by the secretary of defense — seven from DoD and seven from non-DoD sources. The task force will examine military health programs, structure, management, and costs. Congress required its formation mainly to examine the Pentagon’s controversial proposal to triple and quadruple TRICARE fees for retirees under age 65. The law requires the task force to provide interim recommendations concerning beneﬁciary fees and cost sharing to the House and Senate Armed Services committees by the end of May 2007. MOAA and other military and veterans’ associations began making their cases to individual task force members even before its ﬁrst meeting. We hope that, by the time you read this, MOAA and The Military Coalition will have testiﬁed before the panel in time to inﬂuence its interim report. However, we can’t ignore the obvious: DoD wants big fee increases, and the task force members were appointed by the secretary of defense. That means the task force has been packed with a preponderance of members who are inclined to support the Pentagon position. We’ll be surprised if it doesn’t end up recommending fee increases at least as large as those proposed by the Pentagon. Joint DoD/VA Electronic Health Record? Department leaders tell Congress that’s their plan. T wo Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearings on Jan. 23 and 24 shed some additional light on progress made by DoD and the VA in improving the transition between military and VA health care systems for wounded and disabled veterans. On Jan. 23, Deputy VA Secretary Gordon Mansﬁeld and DoD Undersecretary for Personnel and Readiness Dr. David Chu testiﬁed about the joint DoD/VA plan in this area, which Mansﬁeld said “fosters an unprecedented level of cooperation between VA and DoD in an effort to remove institutional barriers and address operational challenges.” They said several ﬁrst steps are under way. A “Beneﬁts at Discharge Program” is in place, enabling active duty members to register for beneﬁts before leaving active service. Each VA ofﬁce now has a point of contact assigned to work with veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Thus far, the VA has coordinated the transfer of 6,700 injured or ill active duty servicemembers from DoD to VA, and both agencies have agree- 38 MILITARY OFFICER MARCH 2007

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - March 2007

From the Editor From the President Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Chapter Activities Forward, March 10 Top Cities Tell Us About It Fly the Plan Cover Story: The War Poster One Percent Pages of History Information Exchange Advertising Index MOAA Member Services Member Books Sounding Taps MOAA Calendar Encore

Military Officer - March 2007

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