Concurrent Receipt   | 145 of 346 cosponsors haven’t yet signed.

Discharge Petition Gathers Steam

On June 12, Rep. Jim Marshall (D-Ga.) filed a discharge petition to require a House vote on H.R. 303, Rep. Mike Bilirakis’ (R-Fla.) bill to end the unfair disability tax on military retired pay. If the petition manages to gather 218 signatures, the House leadership will be required to bring some form of the bill to the floor for a vote. 

Speaking at Marshall’s press conference to mark the petition’s first signatures, MOAA President Vice Adm. Norbert R. Ryan Jr., USN-Ret., noted that H.R. 303 has 346 cosponsors—far more than the simple majority of the House required to pass the bill. 

“The challenge now is to convert that overwhelming support into legislative action,” said Ryan. “It’s time for our cosponsors to step up, sign this discharge petition, and demand a vote that will put this into law.”

By the end of June, the discharge petition had collected 201 signatures. Unfortunately, the Republican leadership in the House had opposed the petition (recognizing continuing White House opposition) and was urging Republicans not to add their names. At press time, only one Republican (Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado) had broken ranks and signed. The leadership, for its part, responded by accusing the Democrats of playing partisan politics with the issue. 

We couldn’t disagree more. This is only a partisan issue if politicians choose to make it so. H.R. 303 has wide cosponsorship from both parties (171 Republicans and 174 Democrats—and one Independent). It’s not partisan in any way, shape, or form to expect legislators of both parties to back up their words and their signatures with real action. 

If we are to overcome the stonewalling, we must remind legislators that their first duty is to their constituents. The only way we’re going to move forward is to generate an avalanche of mail to Capitol Hill and make those who say they support disabled retirees realize they can’t have it both ways. 

Even if you have done so in the past, please take a moment now to contact your representative and ask him or her to sign the discharge petition. There are three ways to do this:

• Write a personal letter to your representative (the address for all House members is: U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515).
• Send an e-mail via the Action Alert on MOAA’s Web site, http://capwiz.com/
  moaa/home/. 
• Call your representative’s office via MOAA’s toll-free line to Capitol Hill, (877) 762-8762.
  This is particularly important if your representative has not signed the discharge petition (see the list of nonsigners on page 19). The message can be simple and to the point: “You have indicated you support concurrent receipt by cosponsoring H.R. 303. Now I want my representative to sign the discharge petition to make it happen.”

Health Care  | Supreme Court declines to hear Class Act case.

Health Care Lawsuit Refused

On June 2, the Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of the Class Act Group’s (CAG) health care lawsuit against the federal government. This effectively ended any chance of redress through the judiciary system. 

Led by Col. George “Bud” Day, USAF-Ret., the CAG argued that military servicemembers were promised lifetime health care if they served a full career and that the government failed to fulfill this obligation. The lawsuit sought up to $10,000 compensation for health care costs incurred by these servicemembers before the enactment of TRICARE For Life in October 2001. 

MOAA had filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the suit and was disappointed to see that the Supreme Court refused even to hear the case. We believed Day deserved to present his case before the highest court in the land. 

Despite the outcome, we commend the members of the CAG for their efforts to attract public attention to the government’s obligation to keep its health care promises.

Legislation  | Concurrent receipt, TRICARE improvements top agenda.

Coalition Highlights Defense Bill Goals

In late June, MOAA and the 34 other organizations of The Military Coalition (TMC) wrote to the House and Senate Armed Services committees outlining TMC recommendations for resolving key differences between their two versions of the FY 2004 Defense Authorization Bill (H.R. 1588). 

TMC summarized its most important recommendations in a cover letter and enclosed a side-by-side analysis. 

• TMC endorses the Senate proposal to eliminate the disability offset to retired pay for all retirees who served long enough to qualify for retirement, independent of any disability. 
• TMC strongly supports the measures in both the House and Senate bills to improve access to TRICARE Standard providers, along with the Senate proposal to allow Guard and Reserve members to purchase TRICARE on a cost-share basis or give them the option of a partial subsidy of employer-sponsored premiums during recall periods. 
• TMC supports the House’s strength increases and restrictions on further force reductions. 
• TMC endorses the Senate proposal to raise the death gratuity for survivors of members killed on active duty from $6,000 to $12,000 and expressed hope that the committees would soon address Survivor Benefit Plan inequities. 
• TMC supports the Senate proposal to provide an average pay raise of 4.15 percent, with equal pay raises for the NOAA Corps and U.S. Public Health Service, and codify the principle of comparability with private-sector raises in permanent law. 
  

Armed Services committees leaders hope for early resolution, but in previous years negotiations have dragged into October and beyond. 

Survivor Benefits  | Survivor advocates reaffirm commitment to action. 

SBP Champions Speak Out 

MOAA President Vice Adm. Norbert R. Ryan Jr., USN-Ret., joined several key legislators at a June 12 Capitol Hill press conference to reaffirm commitments to upgrade the military Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP). 

Rep. Henry Brown Jr. (R-S.C.) organized the press conference, supported by Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.). Also participating were Michael H. Michaud (D-Maine) and Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.). All have sponsored or cosponsored bills to increase SBP payments to survivors, eliminate unfair offsets, and bring SBP up to par with other federal survivor benefit programs. 

• 4 Miller’s H.R. 548 would phase in annuity increases for survivors age 62 and older. 
• 4 Brown’s H.R. 1726 would eliminate the reduction of SBP payments for any federal annuity paid to survivors of veterans who died of service-connected causes. 

Unfortunately, neither the House nor the Senate included either of these initiatives in this year’s Budget Resolution or Defense Authorization Act, so action will be deferred—again—until at least 2004.

“We’re told it’s a matter of money,” Ryan said. “Yet the government is in the process right now of passing hundreds of millions of dollars in tax cuts and other benefits for all kinds of other Americans. Fixing the problem for surviving spouses is a relative drop in the bucket. There’s no way that taking care of military widows and widowers should be our government’s last priority.”

Success will require an aggressive and persistent campaign to raise this priority in legislators’ minds. To date, the volume of mail just has not been enough to generate action. 

If you think, as MOAA does, that this should be a top congressional priority, we urge you to make a personal commitment to invest $10 in postage in this cause. For that cost in stamps, you can generate almost 30 letters to your legislators between now and next spring. That’s one letter a month to each of your two senators and your representative. 

Legislators say persistent constituent input generates action. Generating action requires personal commitment and follow-up to remind your legislators that this is an important issue and that you’re not going to give them any rest until they fix it. 

You also can use MOAA’s toll-free Capitol Hill hot line, (877) 762-8762, to call your legislator’s office, talk to his or her military legislative assistant, and ask for a personal commitment for support and action. Then it’s important to follow up with more letters and calls if you don’t get it. 

If enough people generate repeated letters, e-mails, and phone calls, legislators will respond—if only to get you off their backs.

Taxes  | Military tax provisions caught in political tug-of-war. 

Tax Relief Battle Goes On 

As this column went to press, the House and Senate had passed different child tax credit bills aimed at lower- and middle-income families. One fact highlighted by supporters is that the legislation would provide refundable tax credits for thousands of military families. 

But the House bill also includes tax relief provisions for military homeowners, military survivors, and drilling Guard and Reserve servicemembers.

This is the latest round in the tax bill table tennis game in which the House and Senate keep passing slightly different versions of these military tax relief provisions but have yet to reach closure. 

The Senate included similar provisions in the president’s $350 billion tax cut bill, but the House didn’t —and they ultimately were dropped from the final bill. Now the House has put them in the child tax credit bill, and the Senate hasn’t. 

That makes three times the House has passed such provisions in the past four months. The Senate has passed them twice in the same period. For years, the House, Senate, and administration have said they support these fixes, but there’s always some excuse for not getting it done. Meanwhile, the current unfair tax law keeps forcing many military members to pay thousands of dollars (in capital gains taxes and nondeductible drill-related travel expenses) out of their own pockets just for complying with military orders. 

Congress needs to stop playing political games with military members’ money and just get these long-overdue fixes into law. 

Health Care  | Legislation includes Part B penalty waiver.

Medicare Bill Won’t Affect TRICARE Rx

At press time, both the House and Senate had passed versions of a bill to provide a Medicare prescription drug benefit. Conference committee negotiators were hoping to reach agreement on a final bill for the president’s signature in July. 

This new proposal would not affect TRICARE Senior Pharmacy benefits. The military program is a separate, employer-provided benefit.

However, the Medicare bill carries items closely related to MOAA’s legislative goals. One of the more significant is the question of Medicare reimbursement rates. An increase in Medicare/TRICARE rates was one of our highest-priority legislative goals this year. In February, we successfully prevented a proposed 4.4 percent Medicare rate cut, instead substituting a 1.6 percent increase for both Medicare and TRICARE rates for 2003. 

But we might have to refight this battle. Recently, Medicare officials announced that rate formulas will dictate a 4.2 percent cut in provider payments next January. With many providers already refusing Medicare and TRICARE patients because of low payment rates, another round of cuts would deter even more from participating, disenfranchising more beneficiaries who rely on Medicare or TRICARE for their health needs. 

The problem is that the Medicare reimbursement formula assumes that care consumption declines when the economy does. That’s just not true. In a good or bad economy, people still need health care. 
The House Medicare pharmacy bill would replace the 2004 Medicare rate cut with a 1.2 percent increase, but the Senate proposal contains no similar provision. We’re optimistic the House will prevail.

We’re also pleased to report that both chambers have included provisions that would waive the Part B late-enrollment penalty for military TRICARE For Life (TFL) beneficiaries. 

Part B enrollment (which covers doctor fees, versus Part A, which covers hospitalization) is a prerequisite for TFL eligibility. But military benefits advisors previously counseled many older retirees not to enroll in Part B because they live overseas (where Medicare doesn’t pay) or because (supposedly) they’d have lifetime care in military or VA facilities. Those who enroll in Part B after age 65 face stiff late-enrollment penalties.

The Senate’s Medicare pharmacy bill would eliminate the late-enrollment penalty for Medicare-eligibles who first signed up for Part B between Jan. 1, 2001, and Dec. 31, 2004. It would let 90,000 current nonparticipants enroll anytime in 2004 to gain access to TFL in January 2005. The House bill would allow immediate enrollment and refund any penalties already paid by TFL-eligibles during 2003. 

MOAA will be pushing for the House version.

Health Care  | President’s Task Force calls for increased collaboration, access.

DoD-VA Panel Offers Report

In late May, the President’s Task Force (PTF) to Improve Health Care for our Nation’s Veterans delivered its final report. Chaired by former Medicare chief Dr. Gail Wilensky and former Rep. John Paul Hammerschmidt, the PTF worked nearly two years to analyze current problems with Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care and propose new solutions to improve the veterans’ health system. 

MOAA Deputy Director of Government Relations Sue Schwartz, DBA, RN, served as one of the 14 PTF commissioners.

The report offers a number of recommendations on how the Department of Defense (DoD) and VA health care systems can work together more effectively, such as:

• fully funding care for disabled, indigent, and Purple Heart veterans to meet va access standards (primary care appointments within 30 days);
• requiring va facilities that can’t meet the access standards to refer the veteran patient to a non-va provider, unless the veteran prefers to wait for a va appointment;
• allowing military retirees to fill military or va prescriptions in either system;
• speeding a seamless transition from active duty to veteran status, with a single separation physical, an electronic medical record, and documentation of risks during military service; and
• using joint planning, budgeting, and accountability to improve resource sharing and joint construction.

In June, MOAA’s Schwartz and Col. Bob Norton, USA-Ret., deputy director for Government Relations, testified before the House Veterans Affairs Committee on the PTF findings.

Much of the hearing discussion centered on the PTF’s recommendation that the government should provide full funding for all veterans enrolled in Priority Groups 1–7. (Disabled, Purple Heart, indigent veterans, and veterans exposed to toxic substances in service are assigned to priorities 1–6; priority 7 veterans have no disabilities and have incomes higher than $24,600 — but below certain levels established locally.) 

Committee Chairman Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and other committee members expressed skepticism at testimony by VA Deputy Secretary Dr. Leo McKay that the administration has fully funded the VA’s health program for 2004. More than 200,000 veterans are now on appointment waiting lists of six to 12 months. 

Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Ind.) asserted that the PTF had been hijacked by turning its attention too much to va funding issues rather than DoD/va sharing activities. But Smith and Veterans Health Subcommittee Chairman Rob Simmons (R-Conn.) agreed with the PTF assessment that real collaboration between the two health systems would not be possible unless the VA’s demand versus funding mismatch is resolved. 

Schwartz noted the PTF’s unanimous decision that all veterans enrolled in Priority Groups 1–7 should have their care fully funded. She pushed strategic planning, top leadership commitment, and incentives to reward DoD-va collaboration. 

Norton stressed the importance of “seamless transition” initiatives, noting that hundreds of thousands of veterans’ claims face VA action delays because of poor or missing documentation. Unless DoD and the VA get this right, the problems of the past will continue.