MOAA: FY 2004 Defense Authorization Act

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Waiting to Inhale
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FY 2004 Defense Authorization Act

Selected Health Care Legislation

Issue

House (H.R. 1588)

Senate (S. 1050)

MOAA Position

TRICARE Standard improvements	Pentagon must develop plan to help beneficiaries, find participating providers, and attract providers to satisfy demand. Implementation schedule due by March 31, 2004.	Pentagon must survey providers’ participation and appoint official responsible for upgrading access. General Accounting Office to report on Pentagon.	Support both provisions. MOAA pressed Congress to respond substantively to long-standing problems with inadequate availability of Standard providers.
Medical and dental screenings for mobilized reservists	Authorize advance screening and services for Selected Reserves alerted for mobilization.	Similar provision.	Support both provisions. Advance screening is needed to avoid mobilization delays due to unresolved medical or dental problems.
Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP)	Extend FLTCIP eligibility to “gray area” Reserve retirees and their family members.	No similar provision.	Support House provision. MOAA worked with key committee leaders to generate this initiative.
Health care continuity for reserve families	No provision.	Selected Reserve with enrollment fee or pay part of mobilized reservists’ health premiums.	Support Senate provision. Families of mobilized reservists shouldn’t have coverage disrupted.
Uniformed Services Family Health Plan (USFHP)	No provision.	BRAC areas. No provision.	Support House provision. Continuity of TRICARE Prime networks and Standard providers is essential at potential BRAC locations.
Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC)	Establish working group to help 2005 BRAC Commission evaluate health care continuation issues in potential BRAC areas.	No provision.	Support House provision. Continuity of TRICARE Prime networks and Standard providers is essential at potential BRAC locations.
Reserve health care assistance	No provision.	Require each TRICARE region to assign a full-time beneficiary counseling and assistance coordinator for eligible reservists and families.	Support House provision. Currently, dependent parents-in-law get some coverage, but adult disabled children who revert to dependency do not.
ID cards for adult disabled dependents	Require each TRICARE region to assign a full-time beneficiary counseling and assistance coordinator for eligible reservists and families.	No provision.	Support Senate provision. Families of mobilized reservists often need spec- ialized assistance coordinating military and civilian coverage.

Selected Non-Health Care Legislation

Issue

House (H.R. 1588)

Senate (S. 1050)

MOAA Position

Concurrent receipt	Require combat-related special compensation (CRSC) payments for qualifying disabled retirees to come from Military Retirement Trust Fund.	Authorize concurrent receipt for all disabled retirees eligible to retire for length of service.	Support both provisions. Fair treatment is needed for Guard-Reserve retirees and others with noncombat service-connected disabilities.
Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP)	No provision.	Extend SBP coverage to survivors of reservists who die during inactive-duty training, retroactive to Sept. 10, 2001.	Support Senate provision. (Amendment to increase SBP age-62 annuity was denied. MOAA will not rest until this need is addressed.)
2004 military pay raise	Average 4.1% raise. Raises range from 2% (for E-1s and NOAA/USPHS officers) to 6.25% for some mid-grade personnel.	Average 4.15% for all uniformed services, including NOAA and USPHS, with raises from 3.7% to 6.25% for some mid-grade personnel.	Support Senate provision. MOAA is fighting for equal raises for all uniformed services.
Future pay raises	No provision (current law caps raises one-half percentage point below private-sector pay growth, starting 2007).	Tie military raises to private-sector pay growth.	Support Senate provision. Experience of 1970s/1990s shows pay-raise caps lead to retention /readiness crisis.
Service manning	Raise minimum military manning level by 6,000.	Provide increase of 300 for Air Force but cut Navy by 1,900.	Support House provision. Overstressed active forces and families need relief from excessive operations pace.
Special pay increases	Increase hostile-fire pay and family -separation allowance, equalize hostile-fire pay for reserve members, authorize high-deployment allowance.	Similar provisions; also, authorize $100 a month for duty in Korea.	Support both provisions. Increased deployment sacrifices warrant added compensation.
Death gratuity	No provision.	Increase death gratuity from $6,000 to $12,000 for survivors of members who die on active duty.	Support Senate provision. This modest lump- sum payment increase is long overdue.
Reserve commissary eligibility	Full commissary access for Selected Reserve and Reserve retirees under 60.	Similar provision.	Support both provisions to eliminate long-standing inequity.
Commissary privatization	Bar consolidation of commissary and exchange. Limit options to privatize.	No provision.	Support House provision; recognizes continued importance of commissary benefit.