Military Officer - November 2008 - (Page 32)

washingtonscene Don’t Forget To Vote Nov. 4 ■ Whether you favor Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) or Sen. Barack Obama (DIll.), make sure your vote counts Nov. 4. $36,000 a year, allowing carryover monthto-month, and requires a DoD report on providing temporary transition coverage upon retirement. Guard/Reserve Issues ■ TRICARE Reserve Select premiums: DoD must recalculate (and presumably reduce) premiums for 2009 and beyond (the GAO says participants have been overcharged by 45 percent to 72 percent). ■ Guard/Reserve medical/dental readiness: Services have discretion to give free health/ dental care to servicemembers subject to involuntary recall and may waive dental copayments to facilitate/ensure readiness. Other Issues ■ decorations: requires DoD to replace decorations on a one-time basis upon request by recipient or next of kin. ■ salute: authorizes servicemembers and veterans not in uniform to salute the U.S. ﬂag during the national anthem. What Happened? Key issues died in pork ﬂap. Retiree/Survivor Issues ■ concurrent receipt: no provisions. ■ Survivor Beneﬁt Plan (SBP): extends eligibility for the new $50 monthly special survivor allowance to SBP widows whose sponsors died on active duty. I Wounded-Warrior Issues ■ disability determinations: A disqualifying condition is to be deemed service-connected unless there is “clear and unmistakable” evidence it existed before service entry and wasn’t aggravated by service. ■ centers of excellence: provides centers for hearing loss/auditory injuries and for traumatic extremity injuries/amputations. ■ bonus treatment: bars recoupment of any paid amount and requires full payment of unpaid balance within 90 days for a servicemember who dies or is separated/ retired for combat-related injury or illness. Military Family Issues ■ spouse permanent change of station weight allowance: authorizes 500 pounds for professional items. ■ spouse education: authorizes programs to help spouses with degrees, credentials, and licenses to pursue portable careers. ■ impact aid: authorizes $35 million to assist schools with a high proportion of military children, with additional amounts for schools in base realignment and closure and unit-movement areas or attended by severely disabled military children. 32 MILITARY OFFICER NOVEMBER 2008 n mid-September, Senate leaders were looking at a list of more than 350 amendments when the FY 2009 Defense Authorization Bill (S. 3001) came to the ﬂoor for action. The list included proposals to expand concurrent receipt eligibility, limit TRICARE fee increases in future years, ease Guard/Reserve retirement age restrictions, authorize TRICARE coverage for “gray area” reserve retirees, improve beneﬁts for military spouses, authorize a partial family separation allowance for single servicemembers assigned to remote duty, and many, many more. A couple of days later, the Senate voted abruptly to cut off debate and pass the bill, and none of those 300-plus amendments were part of it. The only amendment of MOAA interest to be included was Sen. Bill Nelson’s (D-Fla.) amendment — approved a few days earlier — that would end the deduction of VA survivor beneﬁts from military Survivor Beneﬁt Plan (SBP) annuities. But that also was dropped during subsequent sped-up negotiations with the House. With the end of the congressional year looming, Senate leaders had tried to get some consensus on amendments to get the bill ﬁnished. In fact, the senior bipartisan leaders of the Armed Services Committee already had agreed on a list of more than 90 amendments they would propose to approve by “unanimous consent” — which al-

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - November 2008

Military Officer - November 2008 Contents From the Editor From the President Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Chapters in Action Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Financial Guidebook Out of the Red 7 Year-End Tax Strategies Cover Story: Memory Survives Something to Say MOAA Scholarship Recipients Pages of History Faces of MOAA Information Exchange Member Books Advertising Index MOAA Member Services MOAA Calendar Sounding Taps Encore

Military Officer - November 2008

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