Storm the Hill
Join the democratic process and help MOAA improve survivor benefits.
By Vice Adm. Norbert R. Ryan Jr., USN-Ret.

One of the many positive things about living in Washington and working at MOAA is the opportunity to vigorously participate in our democratic governmental process on a close-up and personal basis. 

While the process can be frustrating, requiring dogged determination and perseverance, the beauty of our system is that it starts with the individual voter and remains in the hands of the individual voter. The process also allows for debate and argument right up until a final vote is taken. The democratic process is one reason many serve their country in uniform.

Later this month our council presidents (as well as some chapter presidents from states without councils) will join board and staff members to Storm the Hill and talk about the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP). I wish all of you could be here to see your elected MOAA council and chapter representatives present their case on an issue to your elected legislators; it represents the best of democracy in action.

Our major thrust this year is on SBP because the offset reduces the monthly benefit by more than one third at age 62. This is totally inequitable and unfair to our surviving spouses. Why should they be forced to give up money from a program their late husbands or wives paid into? Why should they be forced to go back to work in their late 60s and early 70s because of a “widow’s tax”? This doesn’t happen to federal civilian survivors—why should these elderly widows and widowers be singled out? As leaders, we must speak out to correct this injustice.

You can Storm the Hill right from your own home by continuing to push your legislators to fix the SBP offset problem. You can do it with letters, e-mails, telephone calls, and personal contact when you visit them in Washington—or in your home district or state. If you need information, check MOAA’s Web Base, www.moaa.org, or call our Member Service Center, (800) 234-MOAA (6622).

Some question the value of calls and letters to Congress and the White House. Let me offer an example of how some of you made a difference. Before Christmas, the administration asked DoD to consider budget cuts and revenue items, including tripling the cost of copayments for prescription drugs in military treatment facilities. Thanks to some fast work by MOAA’s Government Relations Department, MOAA members quickly generated 22,000 e-mails to the White House and Capitol Hill. The issue went away (for now) as quickly as it surfaced; DoD agreed to study the item in 2005.

So, Storm the Hill with us this month. Let Congress and the White House know how you feel about the unfairness of the SBP offset. Help restore the money to those surviving spouses who need it at age 62 and beyond. It’s democracy in action, something you served with great dedication to protect and defend.