Military Officer - September 2007 - (Page 38)

washingtonscene have been denied care since enrollment was closed in 2003. A [nondisabled] veteran making only $36,400 a year in Hawaii has been cut out of the VA system.” Four years ago, then-VA Secretary Tony Principi imposed the restriction on new enrollments of category 8 veterans because the mismatch between VA funding and the number of eligibles seeking care was causing nearly yearlong waiting times at many VA facilities. Principi declared at the time the traditional “ﬁrst come, ﬁrst served” appointment process was grossly unfair to the most severely wounded veterans. To address the problem, Principi gave ﬁrst priority to veterans with serviceconnected disabilities rated at 50 percent or higher and suspended new enrollment of category 8s. Those already enrolled were allowed to continue receiving care. MOAA supported Principi’s prioritization, agreeing with him that if the VA wasn’t going to be given enough resources to treat all veterans, ﬁrst priority should be given to the more severely disabled. The legislation would rescind the VA regulation that suspended category 8 enrollments, but that’s still a long way from actually happening. The legislation still will have to be approved by the full Senate, agreed to by the House, and signed into law by the president — and even then, the VA secretary still could renew the restriction if he asserts that it’s necessary. MOAA would have no problem opening the system to all veterans if Congress really is willing to put up the large funding increase that would be necessary to do that. Unfortunately, we’ve not yet seen that level of extra ﬁscal commitment. While the new congressional leadership has indeed gone well beyond past Congresses in its commitment to fully fund needs for current VAeligibles, this new initiative would require a great deal more. The real proof will be in the funding, not the eligibility rules. In addition, Akaka’s committee approved legislation that would: SEPTEMBER 2007 Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) ■ improve DoD and VA efforts in treatment, rehabilitation, and reintegration of veterans with traumatic brain injury; ■ extend the current two years of automatic VA health care to ﬁve years for all returning combat veterans, regardless of disability or income status; ■ expand retroactive eligibility for Traumatic Servicemembers Group Life Insurance coverage to all servicemembers who suffered qualifying traumatic injuries since Oct. 7, 2001 (not just for those who incurred the injuries in the combat zone); ■ improve VA compensation and beneﬁts for veterans who suffer signiﬁcant vision impairment in both eyes; and ■ require the VA to establish a comprehensive suicide-prevention program. 2008 Medicare Payment Cut? The cut would apply to TRICARE, too. I n what has become an annual ritual, Medicare administrators announced steep cuts in Medicare payments to physicians to take effect next year. Unless the law is changed, the payments will be cut by 9.9 percent, beginning in January 2008. The cuts also would apply to TRICARE providers because TRICARE payment rates are tied to those of Medicare by law. The problem is the statutory formula that sets Medicare reimbursement rates is ﬂawed. It doesn’t accurately reﬂect the cost of running a physician practice; it simply cuts physician payment rates when the economy goes down. Congress has stepped in for the past ﬁve years to stop the annual payment cuts — holding reimbursement rates constant for the past few years. Today, 38 MILITARY OFFICER

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

Military Officer - September 2007 Contents From the Editor From the President Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Chapter Activities Plan for Your Future At Home in a High-Rise Lone Star Living Common Ground Insert: Community Source Cover Story: Waging War on Disease More Than Beaches MOAA Scholarship Donors Pages of History Faces of MOAA Information Exchange Advertising Index MOAA Calendar Sounding Taps MOAA Member Services Encore

Military Officer - September 2007

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