washingtonscene
COLA Making
provide a substantive and consistent sys- Under current law, the VA bills private
Headway
tem of care for their support, he said. insurers only for care concerning conditions
Norton also recommended: that were not caused by military service.
a73 February’s CPI in-
creased 0.5 percent. Cu-
a73 reducing the huge backlog of VA disabil- Ryan and the others expressed concern
mulative inflation is -4.1
ity claims through upgrades in technology, that expanding billing to service-caused
percent since October. training, and quality control; conditions — many of which are cata-
Only five times since 1970
a73 consolidating all GI Bill programs to strophic — could result in raising veterans’
has a CPI swing of more
maximize their utility for readjustment, premiums and exhausting coverage need-
than 4 percent occurred
in those five months, and
recruiting, and retention purposes; ed for their family members, causing can-
this is the only time it
a73 improving the Vocational Rehabilitation cellation of veterans’ family health policies
has been negative or flat
and Employment Program; for the more severely injured, or deterring
for the entire fiscal year. a73 upgrading VA compensation and small businesses from hiring disabled vet-
If inflation is negative or
educational benefi ts for survivors of erans for fear of large health care bills.
flat for the entire fiscal
year, there will be no 2010
veterans whose death was caused by They reiterated that the government
COLA for retired pay or
military service; and has a moral obligation to fully fund med-
Social Security.
a73 strengthening reemployment and fi nan- ical care for service-caused conditions,
cial-protection laws for activated guard- without seeking to shift any of that cost
members and reservists. to civilian insurers or veterans.
President Obama responded he didn’t
Obama Heeds
intend to do anything to raise fi nancial risks
for disabled veterans and asked the leaders
Association
back for a follow-up meeting March 17.
After the second meeting, the president
Leaders
announced he was canceling the proposal.
“Our voices were heard,” said Ryan
Plan to bill veterans’ insurance
after the announcement. “The president
dropped.
told us he wouldn’t do this if it hurt vet-
erans. After listening to our concerns, he
kept his word. We’re grateful that he in-
S
tunned at veterans’ negative vested his personal time to get the facts
backlash to a draft plan to have and do the right thing on this important
the VA bill veterans’ health insur- matter of principle.”
ance plans for the cost of treating their
service-connected injuries and illnesses,
President Obama asked for a personal New Bills
meeting in March with the leaders of 11
Reid, Nelson championing
military and veterans’ association lead-
ers who wrote him a letter urging him to
SBP and disability bills.
drop the plan.
MOAA President Vice Adm. Norb Ryan
Jr., USN-Ret., was one of the signatories
invited to the March 15 meeting, where C
ontinuing their championship
of two of MOAA’s top legislative
priorities, Senate Majority Leader
President Obama explained the intent was Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Bill Nelson
to help fund his multibillion-dollar expan- (D-Fla.) have reintroduced their respec-
sion of the VA budget by billing insurance tive bills to end the disability offset to
companies that his staff saw as getting a military retired pay and the deduction of
free ride (collecting premiums from veter- VA survivor benefi ts from military Survi-
ans but not paying for care). vor Benefi t Plan (SBP) annuities.
3 4 M I L I T A R Y O F F I C E R M AY 2 0 0 9
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