Military Officer - September 2006 - (Page 38) washingtonscene ■ Tier 3: Drilling members with access to employer-sponsored coverage will pay $247 or $767.41 a month for self or family coverage, respectively (85 percent of the TRS cost). Tier 2 and Tier 3 coverage will take effect as of Oct. 1, 2006, for members whose request forms and premiums are submitted to TRICARE by Sept. 25, 2006. For those whose request forms and premiums are postmarked or submitted from Sept. 26 through Nov. 25, coverage will begin Jan. 1, 2007. MOAA has told Congress that the Tier 2 and Tier 3 premiums are too expensive. With this initiative, MOAA is pushing legislators to adopt a House-passed plan that would extend Tier 1 coverage to all drilling Guard and Reserve members. MOAA pushed a similar plan last year, but Congress compromised on the three-tier plan instead. It remains to be seen if there’s a better chance for success this year. ON THE WEB ■ To support this effort, send your legislators a MOAA-suggested message via MOAA’s Web site at http://capwiz.com/moaa/home. Reining in Payday Lenders Coalition seeks curbs on abusive lending. I 38 MILITARY OFFICER n mid-July, MOAA and The Military Coalition (TMC) representatives met with state and local consumer groups to strategize a legislative campaign to curb abusive lending practices under which socalled “payday lenders” entice servicemembers into loan schemes with 300-percent to 400-percent annual interest rates. The campaign will kick into high gear when the Pentagon releases a congressionally directed report on this topic that was due at the beginning of July. As this article was being written, the report was still pending administration clearance. DoD leaders have cited payday lending problems as one of 10 “key issues” affecting servicemembers’ and their families’ quality of life. Their report is expected to support strengthening restrictions on usurious lenders and putting a cap on allowable interest rates. MOAA has supported similar legislation sponsored by Sens. Jim Talent (R-Mo.) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.). An amendment by Talent and Nelson was included in the Senate-passed version of the FY 2007 Defense Authorization Bill. In late July, consumer groups and military and veteran representatives teamed up to visit offices of potential House and Senate conferees soliciting their support to retain this important provision. In testimony this year, service senior enlisted leaders joined MOAA and TMC in criticizing these unfair lending practices and their impact on service families’ wellbeing, citing the potential threat to military readiness among members ensnared by financial problems. The Navy has been leading the charge with messages from CNO Adm. Mike Mullen and testimony from former Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Terry Scott. Both have reiterated that financial difficulties have directly affected both individual and unit readiness. MOAA, TMC, and others have pushed corrective legislation for years, but the lobbying power of deep-pocketed payday lenders has posed a major obstacle. MOAA hopes the combined support of DoD, TMC, and other consumer groups will convince congressional leaders to keep these fixes in the final defense bill. MO — Contributors are Col. Steve Strobridge, USAF-Ret., director; Col. Mike Hayden, USAF-Ret.; Col. Bob Norton, USA-Ret.; Cmdr. René Campos, USN-Ret.; Cmdr. John Class, USN-Ret.; Cass Vreeland; and Bret Shea, MOAA’s Government Relations Department. SEPTEMBER 2006 http://capwiz.com/moaa/home
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