washingtonscene
COLA Watch
Gen. Norton Schwartz, USAF, and
Vice Adm. Mark Ferguson, USN, chief of Free Preventive
■ Inflation rose 1.1 percent
in June, but the CPI is still
Naval Personnel, noted the importance
2 percent in the hole over
of family support and children’s educa- Care Coming
the first nine months of
tional opportunities, not only because it’s
Plan covers only those under
FY 2009. If retirees see the right thing to do but also in order to
any 2010 COLA at all (and
attract and retain forces.
age 65.
that would require pretty
Gen. George Casey, USA, and Gen.
hefty inflation for July,
August, and September),
James T. Conway, USMC, emphasized the tarting Sept. 1, DoD will waive
it’s likely to be tiny.
importance of improving health care ac-
S
copayments for TRICARE benefi -
cess, especially for specialty care, during ciaries under age 65 for screenings
this period when military medical profes- for colorectal, breast, cervical, and pros-
sionals are deployed. tate cancer. Immunizations and well-child
Other priorities on the chiefs’ list in- visits for children under age 6 also will be
cluded eliminating the stigma that many free of any copayments.
in the military associate with getting The hope is that encouraging greater
mental health assistance, getting more use of preventive services will lead to
services to Guard and Reserve families, earlier detection and treatment of certain
and modernizing the way services com- conditions. This should result in reduced
municate with families. reliance on high-cost treatments and help
“The resilience of our soldiers and their benefi ciaries live healthier and longer lives.
families has been amazing, but it comes Although the implementation date is
with an effect,” said Casey, indicating the Sept. 1, 2009, the law makes free coverage
stresses of these years of war will be cu- retroactive for qualifying services received
mulative for years to come. on or after Oct. 14, 2008.
Suicide prevention, joint basing, family Benefi ciaries who were charged a co-
program standardization, and Exceptional payment or deductible for any of those
Family Member Program challenges were services since Oct. 14, 2008, can fi le a
among the issues about which the chiefs claim for reimbursement through their
spoke candidly. Gen. Craig McKinley, TRICARE contractor.
USAF, chief of the National Guard Bureau, Unfortunately, despite MOAA’s best
acknowledged the strong community sup- lobbying efforts, the fi nal law change did
port they are seeing. not include Medicare-eligibles.
In the meantime, they noted strides are Armed Services committee leaders
being made with school liaison offi cers tried to include them, but they were pre-
and the Post-9/11 GI Bill transferability vented from doing so by congressional
option to military spouses and children. budget rules that require a dollar in pro-
Also at the conference, Brig. Gen. Loree gram reductions for each additional dollar
Sutton, USA, director of the Defense Cen- spent on care for Medicare-eligibles.
ters of Excellence for Psychological Health Their creative efforts to try to avoid that
and Traumatic Brain Injury, joined Sesame requirement were frustrated in the end.
Workshop to announce a new program Our hope is to rectify this in the future. MO
to help children cope with the death of
a loved one. It’s an unfortunate fact that,
— Contributors are Col. Steve Strobridge, USAF-
between 2006 and 2007 alone, more than
Ret., direc tor; Col. Mike Hayden, USAF-Ret.; Col.
Bob Norton, USA-Ret.; Cmdr. René Campos, USN-
1,300 children from military families lost
Ret.; Cmdr. John Class, USN-Ret.; Col. Phil Odom,
a parent serving in the military, and those
USAF-Ret.; Joy Dunlap; Bret Shea; and Matt Mur-
children need special support. phy, MOAA’s Government Relations Department.
44 MILITARY OFFICER SEPTEMBER 2009
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