Military Officer - April 2006 - (Page 27)

washingtonscene Fee, Fie, Fumble DoD’s civilian and military leaders urge Hill support for retiree health fee hikes and get mixed reactions at February hearings before the House and Senate Armed Services committees. L E G I S L AT I V E N E W S T H AT A F F E C T S Y O U I tunately, the plan would require an even n February, several Capitol Hill steeper increase schedule than those we hearings publicly kicked off the received in earlier informal reports. Defense Department’s campaign Their testimony drew varying responsto signiﬁcantly raise health fees for es from the Senate and House Military retirees under age 65. Secretary of Personnel subcommittee chairmen. Sen. Defense Donald Rumsfeld; Chairman of Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) applauded the the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace, witnesses for thinking “out USMC; and Army Chief of the box” and appeared to of Staff Gen. Peter Schoosupport the initiative while maker testiﬁed in three “It’s going Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.) hearings before the House to be poand others on the House side and Senate Armed Services committees as well as the litically dif- criticized the appropriateness of fee increases and House Appropriations ficult for questioned DoD’s savings Subcommittee on Defense. Congress calculations. McHugh also Senior enlisted and civilian to support had questions about the moDoD leadership also testirality of achieving budget ﬁed at separate hearings. these fee DoD’s proposed imposiincreases.” savings by driving people away from the health bention of large health care fee — Rep. James Walsh eﬁts they earned through increases on retirees under (R-N.Y.) a career of service. 65 — and a 67 percent inMOAA President Vice crease in retail pharmacy Adm. Norb Ryan Jr., USNcopayments for all beneﬁRet., spoke with Graham later and came ciaries — touched off serious debate. Rumsfeld told committee members that away with the impression that Graham thinks some changes need to be made, current military health care spending is unsustainable, having nearly doubled over but not necessarily the speciﬁc plan DoD proposed. (At press time, Ryan and several the past ﬁve years. Pace devoted much of his testimony to outlining the need to raise other association leaders were scheduled to attend a late-February “health fee sumhealth fees signiﬁcantly for retirees under mit” with Graham and senior defense ofﬁage 65. Although he didn’t specify the details of the plan in his testimony, MOAA cials to exchange views on this key issue.) The same leaders testiﬁed before the and other military associations were proHouse Appropriations Subcommittee on vided the speciﬁcs in a separate brieﬁng Defense a week later. by DoD health care ofﬁcials Feb. 6. UnforAPRIL 2006 Give Us Your Fee Feedback ■ See page 29 of March’s Military Officer magazine for the updated DoDproposed fee increases, or view them on MOAA’s Web Base at www.moaa .org/proptricarefeeincrea ses. Then take MOAA’s three-question online poll at www.moaa.org/feesu rvey to let us know what you think. MILITARY OFFICER 27 http://www.moaa.org/feesurvey http://www.moaa.org/feesurvey

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - April 2006

Military Officer - April 2006 Contents From the Editor President’s Page Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Chapter Activities Lap of Luxury Magic Carpet of the Rails Blue Ridge Wonderland Salud, Santé, Cin Cin! Cover Story: Wounded Warriors On Duty MOAA Scholarship Donors MOAA Member Services Pages of History Information Exchange Member Books MOAA Calendar Advertising Index Sounding Taps Encore

Military Officer - April 2006

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