Military Officer - October 2008 - (Page 34) washingtonscene Grassroots Report Card I MOAA members’ will- ingness to write their legislators has a big impact on MOAA’s ability to win on the Hill. Through the end of August, 278,000 e-mails to Congress had been sent through MOAA’s Web site, compared to 240,000 in all of 2007. A special alert to stop a 10.6-percent cut in Medicare/TRICARE payments accounted for 83,000 messages. of station or deployment orders and penalize providers who violate the law. I spouse domicile: H.R. 6225 would let spouses of active duty servicemembers maintain the same state of domicile as their military sponsor for voter registration and other purposes. I Roth Thrift Savings Plan (TSP): A provision in H.R. 1108 would allow servicemembers and federal workers a Roth TSP option, entailing taxable deposits into the federal retirement savings plan and tax-free withdrawals in retirement. I in-state tuition: H.R. 4137 would require all states to continue in-state college tuition rates for a military dependent previously granted such rates if his or her military parent is reassigned outside the state. H.R. 3221 was passed by the Senate and signed into law. It remains to be seen whether the Senate will have time to act on the other bills before adjourning for the year. Carter Pushes Spouse Bill Plan would ease PCS woes. sonal property such as cars or boats in the state they are stationed in if their domicile is elsewhere — thus avoiding duplicate taxation. If passed, H.R. 6070 would allow the same benefit for a spouse who chooses to share a servicemember’s domicile. Spouses who move with a servicemember will be able to select and keep the same domicile the servicemember holds. If the SCRA is modified in the manner lawmakers and MOAA hope, spouses would not pay employment taxes on money they make in the state they reside in — if they select the same domicile as their servicemember. (Every state determines its own domicile eligibility requirements.) Carter’s intent also is to protect working spouses who have home businesses from having to pay higher state income taxes when assigned to a state with higher tax rates, and his staff is working to address that in future legislation. MOAA strongly supports this initiative and will work with Carter to win congressional approval. More $22 Drugs M ilitary spouses who are tired of changing their voting residence, driver’s license, and income tax payments after every military-directed move have a champion in Rep. John Carter (R-Texas). Carter’s new bill, H.R. 6070, is intended to solve these problems by extending Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act (SCRA) coverage to include military spouses along with servicemembers. If enacted, it would let spouses select the same domicile as their military sponsor, consistent with the state’s domicile eligibility requirements. Currently, the SCRA allows servicemembers to avoid paying state tax on per- Migraine and hypertension meds are affected. O n July 24, the DoD Beneficiary Advisory Panel (BAP) met to review DoD proposals to move some migraine and osteoporosis medications to the third tier, or $22 copayment level. Migraine medications Axert, Frova, and Amerge will be moved to the higher $22 copayment. Imitrex, Zomig, Maxalt, Relpax, and Treximet will continue to be available at their current copayment. The osteoporosis medication Miacalcin will move to the third tier, with Fosamax, Boniva, Actonel, Evista, 34 MILITARY OFFICER OCTOBER 2008
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