LEGISLATIVE UPDATE BY MOAA
Friday, March 28, 2008 at 2:34 PM
by Legislative
Legislative Action March 28, 2008Courtesy of Mike "Gunner" Furgal
Frequent military moves often pose significant problems for children of military families in completing school requirements on time. State-unique course requirements and inflexible administrative practices often cause military children difficulty in meeting course comparability credit, records transfer and graduation requirements, as well as in extracurricular activity participation.
To help, some states have passed an interstate compact to promote cooperative policies in eligibility, enrollment, placement and graduation for military children. We're asking MOAA councils, chapters, and individual members to press their state governments to address this need.
Age-62 Widow's Tax Is History
The age-62 Social Security offset of the military's Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) will officially end on April 1. Find out when SBP annuitants can expect the government to "show them the money."
Top Five Member Questions
Every so often, we like to take a moment and address some of the more frequent questions we receive through MOAA's Member Service Center. We asked MOAA's member service representatives what questions are most on the minds of the people who call MOAA headquarters.
1. Am I eligible for the new combat related special compensation (CRSC) provision passed in the recent defense bill? When can I apply?
Under the new provision, which became effective on Jan. 1, CRSC eligibility was extended to anyone who was retired from the military with less than 20 years of service and was awarded VA disability compensation for a combat- or operations- related condition. This includes medical (chapter 61) retirees and members who retired under the Temporary Early Retirement Act (TERA) during the force drawdown of the 1990s.
Eligible members have to apply to their service for CRSC. Applications can be made now, but the application form hasn't yet been updated to reflect the new change in eligibility rules. Service CRSC officials have asked that newly eligible members hand-write "Chapter 61" or "TERA" on their application form (note the link to this form is an Army site. All CRSC forms are the same, but the Army site offers the easiest place to access the form online. The form has directions for filing with all services).
2. I'm on TRICARE For Life. How do the DoD health fee proposals affect me?
There are two parts of the plan proposed by the Task Force on the Future of Military Health Care that would affect Medicare-eligibles. The plan calls for significant increases in copays for most medications not obtained at military hospitals and clinics. For drugs purchased in retail pharmacies, the plan would raise the generic drug copay to $15 (vs the current $3), for brand name formulary drugs, it would be $25 (vs. the current $9) and for non-formulary medications, it would be $45 (vs. the current $22). Generics would be provided at no charge through the mail-order system, but the copay for other drugs would rise. The Defense Department included these proposals in the FY2009 defense budget proposal. MOAA is fighting those unfair increases.
The Task Force also proposed an annual $120 enrollment fee for TRICARE-For-Life beneficiaries, but the Defense Department didn't include that in the FY2009 defense budget, so that's not on the legislative table this year. MOAA believes it's only a matter of time before Defense leaders push for a TFL enrollment fee at least that big.
3. Has the Shingles vaccination SNAFU been fixed yet? I'm being required to pay for almost the whole thing out of pocket!
TRICARE does cover the vaccine, but TRICARE deductibles and copays will apply for TFL users. That means that retirees who get the vaccine early in the year, before they've met their annual deductible will pay some or all of the cost of the benefit. MOAA believes preventive care such as this vaccine should be exempt from any deductible or copay, and has recommended that to both the Defense Department and Congress. At the very least, it should be covered as a pharmacy issue rather than a health care service, so that it would only have a $3 or $9 copay and be exempt from the deductible.
4. What else is MOAA doing for those who still aren't eligible for concurrent receipt?
MOAA's goal remains full repeal of the disability offset for all retirees with any service-connected injury. We've made significant progress, for many but about two-thirds of the disabled retiree population remains to be helped. MOAA is pushing Congress to equalize coverage for all members 50% or more disabled, regardless of years of service, and to expand coverage to those with 40% or lower disability ratings. MOAA considers this a vesting issue. Disabled members should be entitled to keep their service-earned retired pay (2.5% of pay times years of service), independent of any service-caused disability.
5. Is MOAA stopping the campaign to get equity for survivors who suffer from the offset between the military's and the VA's survivor annuity?
Definitely not. MOAA's goal is the full elimination of any VA compensation deduction from the military Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP). Last year, we won a step in the right direction when Congress formally acknowledged the inequity of the current offset and authorized a very modest $50 monthly payment to the affected survivors, with some additional increases in future years. That's a very small payment indeed, and even that change excluded eligibility for survivors whose military sponsors died on active duty.
But hard experience indicates that full repeal isn't likely to happen in one year. We're pushing Congress to include active duty deaths and plus up the monthly payment to all affected survivors, with the goal of eliminating the offset as quickly as humanly possible.
Age-62 Widow's Tax Is History
The infamous Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) age-62 "widow's tax" will finally be eliminated as of April 1, 2008. Prior to the law change MOAA won in 2005, SBP was reduced at age 62 from 55% of covered retired pay to 35% (covered retired pay could be as low as $300 or as high as full retired pay). The FY2005 Defense Authorization Act phased out the age-62 benefit reduction over a 4 year period.
April 1 marks the end of the Social Security offset and a significant improvement to a critical benefit. SBP annuitants who are drawing Social Security benefits should see an increase in their May 1 SBP checks (which is payment for April) to reflect 55% of the deceased retiree's covered retired pay.
The increases phased in over the last 4 years represent up to a cumulative 57% increase in benefits -- excluding the effects of annual inflation adjustments, which make the increase even larger. Congress recognized that these two benefits are earned independently of one another through service and sacrifice to our nation.
MOAA takes great pride in having been the primary force behind that change, and getting Congress to agree that SBP and Social Security are independently earned and independently paid-for benefits.
Stop the 10.6% Medicare/TRICARE Cut
Unless Congress acts, we're only three months away from a 10.6% cut in Medicare and TRICARE payments to doctors. Please send a MOAA-suggested message urging your senators to cosponsor and pass S. 2785 to prevent the cuts.
COLA Watch
The Consumer Price Index for the month of February jumped 0.3 percentage points over January's value. That puts cumulative inflation at 1.8% for the first five months of the fiscal year.
