Military Officer - May 2007 - (Page 32)

washingtonscene The Senate also adopted Sen. Bill Nelson’s (D-Fla.) SBP amendment to provide funding to end deduction of VA survivor beneﬁts from SBP and accelerate 30year, paid-up SBP coverage and Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) amendment to provide funding to expand eligibility for concurrent receipt. Reid’s amendment would authorize full concurrent receipt for all disabled retirees with 20 or more years of service, 1990s-drawdown early retirees, and combat-disabled personnel forced to medically retire with fewer than 20 years of service. One caution is that the above-mentioned provisions in the budget resolution (other than restoration of the TRICARE funding cuts) are contingent on ﬁnding funding offsets that don’t increase the deﬁcit. So at this point, we have to consider them statements of support and intent rather than done deals. MOAA will be working with the Armed Services and Budget committees in hopes of maximizing the potential improvements. Strobridge said TMC could not accept DoD arguments that fees had to be increased to restore government/beneﬁciary cost relationships from the 1990s. He noted that much of DoD’s cost growth has been driven by the government’s own decisions, over which beneﬁciaries had no control. As for Pentagon arguments that fees need to be doubled and tripled now because there have been no increases since 1995, Strobridge said that ignores the ﬂip side of the coin. “There are plenty of military compensation elements that are set at ﬂat rates and adjusted only occasionally,” he said. He also told the task force that the same population being targeted for higher TRICARE fees already has suffered an average loss of 10 percent of retired pay because military pay raises were capped below the average American’s throughout the 1980s and ’90s. “An E8 who retired with 26 years of service under those depressed pay tables in 1995 lost 12.6 percent of retired pay for life,” Strobridge said. “In 2007, that’s about $3,700 a year, and that amount will grow every year for life. For an O5 who retired with 20 years of service, the loss is more than $4,600 a year.” The other TMC witnesses agreed and added their own objections to the DoD plan. The Fleet Reserve Association’s Master Chief Joe Barnes, USN-Ret., highlighted ﬁve principles endorsed by TMC, including: ■ Servicemembers on active duty and their families should pay no fees other than retail and mail-order pharmacy copayments except to the extent they choose to use TRICARE Standard. ■ TRICARE fees should not increase in any year by a percentage that exceeds the percentage growth in their military compensation. ■ The TRICARE Standard inpatient copayment ($535 a day) should not be increased for the foreseeable future, as it already exceeds the amount charged by most other plans. Task Force Hears MOAA Input TRICARE fee plan ignores pay penalties. O n March 7, MOAA Government Relations Director Col. Steve Strobridge, USAF-Ret., and other The Military Coalition (TMC) representatives from the Fleet Reserve Association, the National Military Family Association, the Retired Enlisted Association, and the National Association for Uniformed Services presented TMC’s health care views and objectives to the Task Force on the Future of Military Health Care. 32 MILITARY OFFICER M AY 2 0 0 7

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

Military Officer - May 2007 Contents From the Editor From the President Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Chapter Activities Cover Story: Back Home Capt. David Porter, Pirate Hunter Where Valor Rests Emblems of Courage MOAA Member Services Pages of History Information Exchange Advertising Index Member Books MOAA Calendar MOAA Scholarship Donors Sounding Taps Encore

Military Officer - May 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.