Military Officer - June 2007 - (Page 43)

washingtonscene and maintain mission readiness, including military family readiness. Service leaders agreed with MOAA’s concerns about the 30,000 shortfall of child care spaces, the downward trends in MWR dividends (which help fund MWR programs), and the urgent need to construct more child care centers and other MWR projects. Senators Slam Disability Ratings Extended 15-month Iraq tours also draw criticism. Tax-Free Health Premiums? Bills would help military and federal retirees. O O nce again, Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) and Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) are championing the cause of allowing military and federal civilian retirees a tax exemption for premiums paid for federal health and dental plans (including TRICARE Prime enrollment fees and TRICARE supplement plans). They have reintroduced legislation (H.R. 1110 and S. 773, respectively) that would amend the tax laws to allow that. Currently, active federal workers are able to pay their federal health insurance premiums with pretax dollars, so they pay no federal income tax or payroll tax on those premiums. The new bills would extend the same beneﬁt to retired federal civilians and servicemembers. MOAA strongly supports this legislation. Rising health care costs affect all federal employees, civilian or uniformed, active or retired, and all have earned — and deserve — the same beneﬁt. MOAA is encouraged by the new bills, but their cost has stymied action in Congress so far. Similar legislation has been introduced in each of the past three congresses, but the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee, which have jurisdiction over tax issues, have never approved them. n April 11, the Senate Armed Services and Veterans’ Affairs committees held a rare joint hearing to examine inconsistencies between the military and VA disability rating systems. Several key senators also took the opportunity to voice concerns about the Army’s new 15-month deployment schedule. Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England and other senior DoD and VA witnesses testiﬁed at the hearing. But the most riveting testimony was given by the chair of the Veterans’ Disability Beneﬁts Commission, Lt. Gen. James Scott, USA-Ret. Scott said his commission’s analysis shows large variations between DoD and VA disability ratings. More than 13,000 soldiers were determined to be unﬁt for retention and assigned a zero-percent disability rating by the Army, he said, but were later rated by the VA, on average, at 56-percent service-disabled. Scott also cited signiﬁcant disparities in disability ratings awarded by different services. Of 50,000 disability separations and retirements by the Army in the past seven years, the Army granted 30percent or higher disability ratings — a level that allows eligibility for disability retirement beneﬁts — to only 13 percent of them. The disability retirement award rates for the Navy and Air Force were more than twice as high: 36 percent and 27 percent, respectively. The rate for the Marines was 18 percent. A number of senators questioned whether the Army in particular was “lowballing” soldiers’ disabilities to save money. JUNE 2007 Help Win Premium Deductions ■ You can help raise the visibility of this important issue by visiting MOAA’s Web site at http://capwiz.com/moaa/ issues/bills. Under Health Care Issues, click H.R. 1110 and S. 773 to urge your legislators to cosponsor these two bills. MILITARY OFFICER 43 http://capwiz.com/moaa/issues/bills http://capwiz.com/moaa/issues/bills

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

Military Officer - June 2007 Contents From the Editor From the President Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Chapter Activities Getting the Best Care Stand By Me Promise for PTSD Cover Story: Heavy Duty Unified Medical Command Pages of History Faces of MOAA Information Exchange Member Books Advertising Index MOAA Member Services MOAA Calendar MOAA Scholarship Donors Sounding Taps Encore

Military Officer - June 2007

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