washingtonscene Fixes on the Way?
The House is set to vote on legislation authorizing a three-year fix for the 21-percent Medicare/TRICARE payment cut as well as concurrent receipt for highly disabled medical retirees.
I
n late May, the House of Repre- sentatives was nearing a vote on legislation that would implement a multiyear fix for the 21-percent Medicare/TRICARE cut problem
and take another important step toward MOAA’s goal of ending the VA disability offset to military retired pay. The American Jobs and Closing Tax
Loopholes Act (H.R. 4213) started as a bill to extend unemployment benefits and tax breaks but now includes two major MOAA priorities. The bill would reverse the 21-percent
cut in Medicare and TRICARE payments to doctors scheduled to take effect June 1. Unlike the month-to-month fixes Con-
gress has done recently, this would be a relatively long-term fix — staving off cuts and allowing some modest payment in- creases for 2011 through 2013. In addition, House leaders included au- thority and funding for the first two years of President Obama’s five-year plan to phase in concurrent receipt eligibility for all Chapter 61 (medical) retirees. For FY 2011, it would authorize full
concurrent receipt for all who were medi- cally retired with less than 20 years of service and who have a 90-percent or 100-percent VA disability rating. In FY 2012, concurrent receipt would be ex- tended to similar servicemembers with a 70-percent or 80-percent rating. That would give Congress two years to find funds to phase in the same protection
for all Chapter 61 retirees, regardless of disability rating. Among other provisions, H.R. 4213 also
would extend additional standard deduc- tions for state and local real property taxes and extend the employer credit for firms paying differential wages to activated guardmembers and reservists. MOAA strongly endorses this legisla-
tion. On May 20, MOAA President Vice Adm. Norb Ryan Jr., USN-Ret., sent a let- ter to Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.), Health Sub- committee chair, urging their support of these important initiatives.
Pentagon Opposes Pay
Plus-Up Analysts say servicemembers are paid enough.
W
itnesses from the Pentagon, the GAO, the CBO, and RAND Corp. advised the Senate Armed
Services Personnel Subcommittee against increasing the 1.4-percent raise proposed for the FY 2011 defense budget. Subcommittee Chair Jim Webb (D-
Va.) opened the hearing saying, “The cost of military personnel, including pay and
J U LY 2 0 1 0 MI L I T A R Y O F F I C E R 2 9
Late Update on Provider Pay Fix
■ On May 27, House lead- ers amended the Medi- care/TRICARE payment fix to extend through 2011 rather than 2013. The main reason for this change was concern over the lack of cost offsets to fund the longer fix.
L E G I S LAT IVE NEWS THAT AF F ECTS YOU
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