washington scene
Military Coalition “Storms” Senate
Pharmacy and retirement issues are addressed.
More than a dozen teams of representatives from The Military Coalition (TMC) visited offices of Senate Armed Services Committee members in late October, seeking senators’ support to change the Senate’s FY 2013 Defense Authorization Bill in two key ways:
■ Avoid tripling TRICARE beneficiaries’ pharmacy copayments by adopting the House alternative plan to achieve equivalent savings through requiring a temporary test of refilling TRICARE For Life maintenance medications through either the mail-order or military pharmacy system.
■ Amend a provision to establish a military retirement reform commission by dropping rules that would require Congress to vote “yes or no” on any commission recommendations, without any changes and with only limited debate.
These issues were identified as the top defense bill priorities for the 34-association TMC, which MOAA cochairs.
With the legislators out of town, even the most sympathetic staffers couldn’t commit specifically to how their bosses would vote on these issues.
One expressed doubt the Senate would approve such tight restrictions on considering military retirement recommendations. We reminded him the Armed Services Committee his boss sits on already voted to uphold them.
And not all were sympathetic. One senator’s staff member said unequivocally his boss was on the side of the “big box pharmacies” and would oppose any mail-order plan (which means sticking military beneficiaries with far higher copayments).
Many others said they had been visited by drug store lobbyists arguing against the House proposal. The National Chain Drug Store Association alone already has made more than $170,000 in campaign donations.
This is an important fight.
As this article went to press, MOAA alerts had generated more than 65,000 messages urging legislators to protect the military families who have sacrificed so much to protect America.
Joint Disability Process Slammed
GAO reports wait-time increases.
A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report (GAO-12-676) on the Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES) asserts disability evaluation times actually have increased under the new IDES system, instead of dropping as expected.
Built in 2007, IDES was designed to address a growing chorus of complaints that returning warriors from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts were being subjected to overlong medical and fitness evaluations to determine their disability.
But the GAO report says, “Since 2008, annual average processing times for IDES cases have steadily climbed, while the percentage of cases meeting established timeliness goals declined.”
Average times to clear cases jumped to 394 and 420 days for active duty and reserve component troops in 2011, compared to goals of 295 and 305 days, respectively. Less than 20 percent of cases completed the process and received benefits within the goals.
36 MILITARY OFFICER DECEMBER 2012
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