washingtonscene
Where’s the
expressing the sense of congress that
money?
military retirement and health care bitter budget
benefits are the primary offset to the
n Enactment of the FY
2010 Defense Authoriza-
extraordinary demands and sacrifices Winds Ahead
tion Act completes the
inherent in a military career, that career
Defense bill offers ill omen.
first part of Congress’ servicemembers deserve a health benefit
annual actions on de-
commensurate with their sacrifices, and
fense programs. At press
that DoD needs to look at other ways to
time, House and Senate
leaders still were nego-
reduce health care spending than shift-
tiating provisions of the
ing more costs to beneficiaries. O
ne bitter disappointment in the
new Defense authorization act
was congress’ failure to provide
FY 2010 Defense Ap-
any concurrent-receipt relief to severely
propriations Act, which disabled military retirees forced into med-
provides the funding for
Part b relief ical retirement for noncombat injuries.
programs outlined in the
Under current law, a 20-year retiree with
authorization act.
Hung Up a 10-percent combat-related disability gets
Bill would avoid “triple hit.”
to keep retired pay and Va disability com-
pensation for the combat-related injury. But
someone forced into medical retirement
W
hen the House passed the with a 100-percent-disabling noncombat in-
medicare Premium Fairness jury has to fund his or her own Va disability
Act (H.r. 3631) in September, compensation out of earned retired pay.
most expected it would have a fast track in When President obama proposed a fix
the Senate. But the Senate finance com- in the fy 2010 defense budget, it seemed
mittee (which oversees Medicare) was to be a done deal.
bogged down with national health care re- House armed Services committee
form legislation, so the Medicare premium chair ike Skelton (D-Mo.) put his per-
bill took a back seat. sonal prestige on the line to find budget
H.r. 3631 would bar any Medicare- offsets to fund the president’s proposal
eligibles from seeing a Part B premium and won the fix in the House.
increase in January 2010. current law So we were shocked to learn it had
bars any increase for about 75 percent been dropped from the final defense bill
of beneficiaries in any year when there “for lack of sufficient budget offsets.”
won’t be a Social Security cola, to keep What happened? the answer offers a
Social Security checks from dropping be- bitter lesson in congressional budget poli-
cause of a Part B premium hike. tics and a sobering assessment of the bud-
But current law also imposes even get environment for 2010 and beyond.
higher premium increases on the other Under congress’ rules, any increase
25 percent of beneficiaries when that in mandatory spending — a category that
happens, to help make up the lost includes military retired pay, survivor
revenue for Medicare. those affected benefits, and tricare for life (tfl) —
would be people turning age 65 in 2010, must be offset by an equal reduction in
certain individuals eligible for both other mandatory spending. the savings
Medicare and Medicaid, and those with must offset the one-year, five-year, and
incomes above $85,000 ($170,000 for 10-year costs of the initiative. and the
married couples). congressional committee that proposes
at press time, the Senate was expect- the plus-up has to come up with the
ed to take up the Part B premium relief offsetting savings within its own juris-
bill by November. diction, get leadership approval to take
32 Military officer december 2009
Dec_Scene.indd 32 11/4/09 2:44 PM
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