washington scene
Quote of the Month “Our track record isn’t good … it doesn’t look good that we will [be able to protect against another $450 billion cut in defense spending].”
— House Armed Services Committee Chair Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.)
Generations of service members were induced to serve a career by promises that their decades of sacrifice would earn these benefits. In other words, their service and sacrifice constituted their (enormous) prepaid premium.
The means-testing plan throws that out the window — along with the dignity of your service.
It turns the meaning of service on its head. What you reap is no longer based on what you’ve earned but on what you need.
So the longer and more successfully you serve, the less benefit you earn and deserve?
How does that compute?
Once you buy into establishing some kind of income threshold for means testing, you start on a slippery slope. Whenever the government needs money, it can simply reduce the threshold to make you pay more.
And the means-testing threat won’t stop with health care fees.
In the 1990s, multiple budget-driven plans would have cut COLAs or delayed them until age 60 for service members with incomes above some level. One plan would have limited COLAs for any military retiree with an income above the poverty level.
Others proposed limiting VA disability benefits based on income.
Enlisted troops and reserve component members who might think tiering based on retired pay helps them should think again, as there would be “equity” pressures to move beyond that.
The 10th Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation (QRMC) noted retired pay often doesn’t correlate with a retiree’s true income, because many enlisted retirees have high-paying jobs while officers might be unable to work after retirement for disability, etcetera.
So the QRMC proposed basing fees on adjusted gross income reported to the IRS, as is already the case with Medicare Part B premiums.
Under that philosophy, your health care benefits (and then why not your COLAs and VA compensation?) would be cut back not only because you served your country long and successfully but because your spouse has a good job, because you’ve been a successful investor, because you inherited money from a relative, or any number of other reasons.
In the end, means testing really means, “You didn’t earn squat.”
No matter what grade you retired at, that philosophy will put the blocks to you and yours.
TRICARE Q&A
MOAA answers your questions.
We’ve received a barrage of member questions about the White House-proposed TRI-CARE fee hikes. Here are answers we’ve gotten so far from Pentagon sources for members’ common questions.
Are there any special rules for medical retirees?
Yes. Retirees who received disability (Chapter 61) retirements from their parent service will be exempt from the proposed increases. But those who received service based retirements from the military and then were awarded disability ratings by the VA would be subject to the new fee hikes.
Do the changes apply to TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS) and TRICARE Retired Reserve (TRR)?
TRS and TRR premiums and deductibles would not be affected by the new proposal. However, all beneficiaries, including those on TRS and TRR, will be subject to the new pharmacy copayments.
38 MILITARY OFFICER APRIL 2012
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