July 10, 2009
| Support Senate Amendments Please send a MOAA-suggested message urging your legislators to support key floor amendments when they are introduced next week |
| Free Preventive Care Coming DoD is waiving copayments for some preventive services. The hope is that this action will lead to earlier detection and treatment, reduce reliance on high-cost treatments, and help beneficiaries live healthier and longer lives. |
| VA Gears Up for Post-9/11 GI Bill VA officials recently updated MOAA and other military and veterans groups on their plans to launch the new GI Bill on August 1. |
Support Senate Amendments
Next week the Senate is scheduled to discuss floor amendments to the FY2010 Defense Authorization Bill (S. 1390). MOAA is working with Senate sponsors to offer amendments on several topics, including force levels, concurrent receipt, health care, survivor benefits, and Guard/Reserve retirement.
Please send a
MOAA-suggested message urging your legislators to support these key floor amendments when they are introduced next week.
Free Preventive Care Coming
Starting September 1, DoD will waive copayments for some preventive services for TRICARE beneficiaries under age 65.
More specifically, copays will be dropped for screenings for colorectal, breast, cervical, and prostate cancer.
Immunizations and well-child visits for children under age six also will be free of any copays.
This change comes as a result of MOAA-supported legislative guidance in the FY2009 Defense Authorization Act. The intent of the law-change was to ensure that fee structures don’t discourage beneficiaries from obtaining needed preventive care.
The hope is that encouraging greater use of preventive services will lead to earlier detection and treatment of certain conditions. This should result in reduced reliance on high-cost treatments and help beneficiaries live healthier and longer lives.
Although the implementation date is September 1, 2009, the law makes the free coverage retroactive for qualifying services received on or after October 14, 2008.
Beneficiaries who were charged a copayment or deductible for any of those services since Oct. 14, 2008 can file a
claim for reimbursement through their
TRICARE contractor – but any such retroactive claim can’t be filed before September 1st.
Unfortunately, despite MOAA’s best lobbying efforts, the final law-change didn’t include Medicare-eligibles in this initiative. Armed Services Committee leaders tried to include them, but were prevented from doing so by congressional budget rules that require a dollar in program reductions for each additional dollar spent on care for Medicare-eligibles. Their creative efforts to try to get around that requirement were frustrated in the end. Our hope is to rectify that situation in the future.
VA Gears Up for Post-9/11 GI Bill
On Monday, VA Under Secretary for Benefits Patrick Dunne and Education Service Director Keith Wilson outlined their ongoing efforts to ensure a successful rollout of the Post-9/11 GI Bill on August 1.
They said the VA is on track to issue the first checks for student-veterans and active duty participants on Monday, August 3.
Demand for VA “certificates of eligibility” has been heavy. As of early July, 98,000 applicants had submitted on-line applications. VA has issued 65,000 certificates and reports no problems resolving any application discrepancies.
Also beginning this week, colleges and universities have been asked to submit student enrollment certifications to assure the VA that veterans had been approved to take college coursework this coming semester on their campuses.
Under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, the VA reimburses colleges directly for tuition and fees for a full semester’s coursework based on the highest in-state public college or university costs. The VA pays student-veterans a monthly housing stipend set at the DoD housing rate for an E-5 with dependents at the school’s zip code, plus an annual book stipend of $1,000 for full-time study. Full-time distance (on-line) students are ineligible for the housing stipend.
The VA has accepted over 3,400 agreements from private colleges and universities and some public colleges under the Yellow Ribbon program. Yellow Ribbon schools agree to cover up to half the difference between the cost of attending a public college and the participating private school. The VA matches the amount pledged by the school.
Veterans who withdraw from college may have to pay back some or all of their Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits, depending on the circumstances involved. The VA will use existing procedures to make recoupment determinations.
Please refer to last week’s MOAA Legislative Update for information on how currently serving members may transfer their Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to a spouse and/or dependent children in exchange for an extended service commitment.
MOAA recommends that service members who are entitled to Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) benefits carefully review their situation before making an irrevocable election for the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
For example, a MGIB participant who has used up a portion of MGIB entitlement might be better off sticking with that program and then converting to the Post-9/11 GI Bill after exhausting MGIB benefits. ‘Dual eligibility’ rules limit total entitlement to 48 months’ of benefits. But MGIB participants lose their remaining MGIB entitlement if they make an election for the new program.
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