washingtonscene COLA Going Flat
■ There was no change in inflation for July. For retir- ees to see even a fraction- al COLA for 2011, inflation would have to rise about 1 percent each month for August and September.
she now faces the unpleasant decision to withdraw before completing her degree because she no longer is eligible under the restructured program. MOAA believes longer-serving military
spouses have made significant sacrifices and should not be excluded from this benefit.
“Gray Area” TRICARE
Coming Questions remain about the start date and cost.
O
n Aug. 6, the Office of Manage- ment and Budget (OMB) released an interim final rule for the new
TRICARE Retired Reserve (TRR) program. The program permits “gray area” Guard and Reserve retirees — those eligible for a retire- ment check and TRICARE when they reach age 60 — to purchase TRICARE health care insurance. Gray area reservists who are en- rolled in or eligible for the Federal Employ- ees Health Benefit Program (FEHBP) are not eligible for TRR. TRR enrollment is expected to com- mence this fall, and coverage will be exactly the same as TRICARE Standard, which covers 75 percent of allowable charges after a deductible of $150 for indi- viduals and $300 for families. Unlike the current TRICARE Reserve
Select (TRS) program — in which pre- miums are 72-percent subsidized by the government — gray area retirees will be responsible for paying premiums equal to the full cost of coverage. The OMB announced the monthly TRR
rates for the rest of 2010 will be $388 for member-only coverage and $976 for family coverage. In January 2011, the rates will rise 5 percent to $408 a month for member-only coverage and $1,020 for family coverage.
3 4 MI L I T A R Y O F F I C E R O C TO B E R 2 0 1 0 Although comparable to Blue Cross
Blue Shield rates under FEHBP and mili- tary COBRA rates, the new TRR rates are substantially higher than TRS. Unsubsi- dized TRS premiums would be about $177 a month for a single servicemember and $705 a month for family coverage. Reservists enrolled in TRS likely will
experience sticker shock when their TRI- CARE rates increase from $177 for unsub- sidized TRS coverage to $388 under TRR — the day they take off their uniforms. Full-cost TRR premiums will be sub-
stantially higher than TRS rates because of demographic differences and compa- rable claims experience. MOAA has asked DoD to provide the analysis that led to the rate-setting for TRR so Guard and Reserve families can see the basis for the rates. With enactment of TRR, Congress has
realized a strategic objective long sought after by MOAA and The Military Coalition: lifetime TRICARE coverage options for actively serving and retired guardmembers and reservists.
Gates Plans
Retirement SecDef announces budget cuts and retirement plans.
I
n August, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced he plans to retire sometime in 2011. He has been
in charge of the Pentagon since late 2006. He recently announced he will reallocate $100 billion of the defense budget over the next five years to war fighters by stream- lining the Pentagon’s massive bureaucracy and tightening efficiencies.
Gates intends to implement the plan
well before his departure. In a recent memo to military department secretar- ies, Gates directed “a series of initiatives designed to reduce duplication, overhead,
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