fromthepresident Moving Forward A
With congressional committees eyeing military health care, MOAA’s members, headquarters staff , and leadership must work with unifi ed purpose to prevent ill-considered reforms.
As your new president of MOAA, I am honored to be able to serve the military community and membership of MOAA and hope to leverage my experience and passion to further the goals of our association. I am grateful to Gen. Tony Robertson,
USAF (Ret), chair of MOAA’s board of directors; the board and staff ; and, most important, Vice Adm. Norbert R. Ryan Jr., USN (Ret), for a seamless transition. Norb and his wife, Judy, have extended the warmest of welcomes. Their heartfelt hos- pitality personifi es the caring culture of the MOAA family, and their generosity is much appreciated. Judy served as Norb’s closest advisor and one of MOAA’s best ambassa- dors. I know my wife, Laura, will play a sim- ilar role, sharing the same passion and keen understanding that it’s all about people. My fi rst impression of MOAA’s head- quarters staff is that I’ve inherited a win- ning team of talented, dedicated, and motivated professionals. Over the past few months, I have watched them operate with a sense of pride and purpose that serves our members well. They are problem solv- ers, focused on doing the right thing by our members and the uniformed services com- munity. It’s truly a world-class organization. Similarly, I’ve been impressed by my visits to MOAA chapters around the coun- try. Their commitment to “never stop serv- ing” is nothing short of inspirational. I look forward to visiting more chapters in 2016. Lastly, Norb and I have made the
rounds on Capitol Hill, meeting with key
partners and policy makers to carry pro- ductive relationships forward. We all must understand where the torch
is going. The Armed Services committees have clearly signaled their intent to under- take reform of military health care as part of the next defense bill. In recent hearings, House lawmakers reiterated they will look at the “whole system from top to bottom” to sustain readiness and improve care delivery. Unlike changes to military retirement, re- form to military health care will aff ect every one of MOAA’s 390,000-plus members. Recent testimony* laid out MOAA’s position: The fi rst goal should be to do no harm. Keep what’s working, fi x what isn’t, and protect against disproportional fee in- creases on those who experience decades of arduous service and sacrifi ce in uniform. Accomplishing that will take all our com- bined eff orts. So please watch for MOAA’s legislative alerts, take prompt action to en- gage your legislators when the time comes, and urge friends and family to do the same. For my part, I commit to you that I will
work to serve you to the best of my ability every day. That means continuing to pro- mote a strong national defense and ensure the nation keeps its commitments to those who have sacrifi ced so much in the course of preserving our freedoms.
— Lt. Gen. Dana T. Atkins, USAF (Ret)
*read more: See “Health Care in the Crosshairs,” page 52, to read MOAA’s testimony. 11 MILITARY OFFICER FEBRUARY 2016
PHOTO: ROB CANNON
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