washingtonscene
The bill includes $52 billion to prefund veterans’ health care for FY 2013 in com- pliance with a law change championed by MOAA and major veterans’ groups to ensure continuity of health care operations from one year to the next, because Con- gress rarely approves appropriations bills before the Oct. 1 start of the new fiscal year. • Arlington National Cemetery, Va. The legislation includes $45.8 million, an increase of $700,000 over 2011, for ad- ditional personnel to maintain operations and help fix problems with mismanaged gravesites and botched records.
TRICARE COLA M
Explained What would it mean to retirees?
any MOAA members have asked how the COLA index pro- posed by the House Armed Ser-
vices Committee would work for adjusting future TRICARE fees. Some have the impression it could com- pletely offset future COLA adjustments to retired pay. Not so. The index would be a percentage
change, not a dollar-amount change. Be- cause TRICARE fees represent a small fraction of retired pay, an equal percentage adjustment to each means any TRICARE- fee COLA amount would still be a small fraction of the retired-pay COLA amount. For 2012, the proposed TRICARE Prime
enrollment fee for a family is $520 a year. By comparison, the average military retired pay for all ranks is about $30,000 a year. If the 2013 COLA is 3 percent, the TRICARE Prime enrollment fee increase would be 3 percent of $520, which equals $15.60 for the year. In contrast, a 3-percent COLA would in- crease average retired pay by $900 a year.
So if you speculated that indexing TRI-
CARE fees by the COLA percentage might somehow eat up retired pay COLAs, you can rest easy on that score.
Caregiver Benefits
T
Implemented The VA provides training, health care, and respite care.
he VA released new rules May 9 that will allow more caregivers of wounded warriors to apply for new
benefits enacted last year. The caregiver benefits include special training, mental health services, access to CHAMPVA health insurance, respite care, and a stipend. Earlier, the VA proposed overly tight
restrictions that would have limited the benefits to approximately 850 caregivers. In the wake of protests from associations and legislators, the VA adjusted the new rules to roughly quadruple the number of potential eligibles — to 3,500. Disabled veterans must meet specific criteria for their caregivers to receive ben- efits. The disability must be a serious injury, including traumatic brain injury, psycho- logical trauma, or other mental disorder, and must have been incurred or aggravated in the line of duty in the armed forces on or after Sept. 11, 2001. MOAA is pleased the VA responded to the concerns.
MO
— Contributors are Col. Steve Strobridge, USAF- Ret., direc tor; Col. Mike Hayden, USAF-Ret.; Col. Bob Norton, USA-Ret.; Cmdr. René Campos, USN- Ret.; Capt. Kathy Beasley, USN-Ret.; Col. Phil Odom, USAF-Ret.; Kelly Cotton; Bret Shea; and Matt Mur- phy, MOAA’s Government Relations Department. To subscribe to MOAA’s Legislative Update, visit
www.moaa.org/email.
*online: Veterans and caregivers may download the family caregiver program application at
www.caregiver.va.gov. 40 MILITARY OFFICER JULY 2011
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84