| NAUS Update |
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR UNIFORMED SERVICES WEEKLY UPDATE FOR 3 FEBRUARY 2006 www.naus.org "Honor is not the exclusive property of any political party." ~Herbert Hoover~
WASHINGTON REPORT 8th Annual TRICARE Conference NAUS Legislative assistant Kimberly Stanish attended the entire 8th Annual TRICARE Conference, which took place on January 30 thru February 2 this year. She was joined by NAUS Legislative Director, Rick Jones on Monday at the keynote presentations by the Department of Defense (DoD). The new title for the conference, State of the MHS spoke volumes to Department of Defense's views/goals for the past, present and future of the Military Health System. The recurring theme was "sustaining the benefit." At the start of the conference Dr. David Chu, Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness and Dr. William Winkenwerder, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, addressed the current MHS and the challenges it faces from health care cost increases. Their numbers show that the health care portion of the budget has gone from 5% of the overall defense budget to 7½ % today (from $19 billion in 2001 to $38 billion in 2005/6) and is estimated to increase to 12% in 2015. Dr.Chu and Dr. Winkenwerder confirmed the rumors that DoD's budget request will include increases in enrollment fees and cost shares, most notably those fees and cost shares that affect the under 65 retiree and their families. Though no specifics were provided, these proposals were brought up for discussion during the Congressional Panel, which was comprised of senior staff for the House and Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC). After noting that the SASC had not been briefed, the entire panel unanimously asserted that DoD did not have their full support. It was observed that these increases would directly affect the under-65 retiree population, a population that will begin to grow as the veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraqi wars begin to retire. According to key congressional staff Iit will be very hard to justify increasing these earned benefits. NAUS NOTE: On Monday, February 6, Rick Jones, NAUS Director of Legislation and Kimberly Stanish, NAUS Health Care Advocate, will be attending the official TRICARE briefing where the specific proposals will be announced. Look for more information in next week's NAUS Update and in our Uniformed Services Journal. NAUS President Sends Letter to President Bush This week NAUS President MG Matz sent a letter to President Bush to express his and the Association's deep concern over proposals that the Pentagon will double the cost of TRICARE premiums for retired enlisted military members and triple the premiums for retired military officers. MG Matz stressed that if these proposals go into effect, it will demonstrate that benfits earned by military members are not actually a priority of Congress or the Administration. MG Matz urged the President to ensure that appropriate adjustments are made in budget priorities to provide full funding for the military health care system. NAUS NOTE: Please go to the NAUS website, click on Legislative Alerts and send the alert we have made available entitled "Pentagon 2007 Budget Proposes Drastic Increase in TRICARE for Retirees." Please take action on this and ask your family, friends and neighbors to do the same. Also since Congress is now back in session please resend any and all NAUS legislative alerts. We need to let Congress know we are still watching them! Republicans Elect New House Majority Leader Thursday afternoon, on a second ballot the Republican members of the House elected Representative John Boehner (pronounced Bay-nor) of Ohio to be the next House majority leader 122-109. Rep. Boehner replaces Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri. Rep. Blunt will continue as the majority whip. Clarification of Veterans Disability Commission Meeting The Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission is hosting two meetings open to the public on Feb. 15 and 16, 2006, at the Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront, 333 First Street South, St. Petersburg, Florida. On Wednesday, Feb. 15, an evening town hall meeting will begin at 7 p.m. and end at 9 p.m. On Thursday, Feb 16, a half-day business session of the Commission will begin at 8:30 a.m. and end at 11:30 a.m. The agenda for this meeting will include updates of the research plans and work in progress by the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM), an overview of the Tampa VA Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center, and an opportunity for Public Comments. Interested persons may attend either or both meetings and present oral statements to the Commission. Oral presentations will be limited to five minutes or less, depending on the number of participants. Interested parties may also provide written comments for review by the Commission via e-mail to veterans@vetscommission.intranets.com or by mail to Mr. Ray Wilburn, Executive Director, Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission, 1101 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20004. The purpose of the Commission is to carry out a study of the benefits under the laws of the United States that are provided to compensate and assist veterans and their survivors for disabilities and deaths attributable to military service. Last week we reported that the VDBC business session on Feb. 16 was all day. This has been changed in order to allow the commissioners more time to make their necessary visits to the local VA Medical Center, Regional Office and military installations in the area.
HEALTH CARE NEWS First, the act forbids any conversion of military medical or dental positions into civilian slots before June 1st. After that, conversions can be made only if the Defense Department certifies that they will not diminish the quality of care or increase taxpayer expenses. Each certification will require a market survey to show that medical care and costs for beneficiaries in the area would not be adversely affected. The original plan contended that, although civilians might be paid more than service members, the net cost would be less because civilians don't create transfer and retraining costs. Service members and their families seen by physicians, dentists, nurses and technicians in U.S. military installations worldwide would be affected by the plan.
ACTIVE DUTY NEWS The Armed Forces Tax Council has summarized several key issues of tax year 2005 for service members and their families. The Council advises victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma to visit their installation tax center or the Internal Revenue Service. The council warns that provisions of the code affecting them are lengthy and complicated, and can include extensions for tax filing and help for those who lost homes or property. In addition, all income earned in 2005 by enlisted members in a combat zone, such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Kosovo, is exempt from tax. Officers' income is exempt to a limit of $6,529 a month. And, starting for 2005, members can elect to include their combat zone income as earned income to qualify for earned income credit and child tax credit. Such income will not be taxed. The Council additionally advises that service members in a combat zone during tax season get an automatic extension to file their taxes. They have six months to file from the time they leave the combat zone. Members stationed elsewhere overseas have a two-month extension to file. Returns filed through an installation tax center are sent electronically, so filers should receive their refunds within seven to 10 days. Members also can get online help with their taxes. For example, the IRS provides a Free File service on its Web site, www.irs.gov. The site also lists several tax preparation services, many of which provide free service to military members. Overseas Voters Need to Take Action (American Forces Press Service) U.S. service members and federal employees stationed overseas need to act quickly to request absentee ballots for this year's primary and general elections, a Defense Department official said recently. This year, U.S. citizens will elect 34 senators, the entire House of Representatives, 37 state governors, and hundreds of state and local officials. Primaries begin in March, and the general election is Nov. 7. To participate in their home states' elections, service members and overseas citizens need to complete a Federal Post Card Application requesting an absentee ballot, said Scott Wiedmann, deputy director of the Federal Voting Assistance Program. The application needs to be completed and returned as quickly as possible, to give the local election office time to mail the ballot to the citizen and then time for the ballot to be returned before the state's deadline, he said. "For the Federal Post Card Application, we recommend they send it in as early as possible in the year," he said. "Anytime that they move during that year, they should send another form in so the local election official has their address and the ballot will get to them in a timely manner." All U.S. service members, federal employees and their families, and U.S. citizens living overseas are allowed to vote in their home states under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, Wiedmann said. This year's elections are especially important for service members, because Congress controls many aspects of military life, such as housing, health care and retirement benefits, he said. Federal Post Card Applications are available from military voting assistance officers, who are part of every unit, and U.S. embassies and consulates, Wiedmann said. The forms can also be accessed on the Federal Voting Assistance Program's Web site, www.fvap.gov. $1000 Bonus for Referring Friends to Join the Army Soldiers can now earn $1,000 for referring their acquaintances to Army recruiters should those referrals result in enlistment. The referral bonus was authorized by the recently signed National Defense Authorization Act. Under the referral pilot program, eligible members of both the Army's regular and reserve components may receive the $1,000 bonus per recruit. Referrals under the program will be made via the Sergeant Major of the Army Recruiting Team, or SMART referral process. The bonus will be paid in a lump sum to the referring Soldier once the qualified applicant completes Basic and Advanced Individual Training, known as AIT. There are no retroactive provisions to this pilot program, officials said. They said payments would be made directly to the referring Soldier's military pay account within 45 days after the person that was referred completes AIT. The referring Soldier must either submit the referral through the SMART link or through the U.S. Army Recruiting Command 1-800-223-3735, ext. 6-0473. To receive a bonus, the sponsor (person making the referral) must provide the name of the applicant as a referral using this process, prior to the applicant conducting an appointment with an Army recruiter. For more information on the $1,000 referral bonus, visit https://www.usarec.armymil/smart or call 1-800-223-3735, ext. 6-0473.
VETERANS and RETIREE NEWS Starting in Feb. 2006, DFAS will send enrollment packages to retirees and annuitants living in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Finland, Greece, Grenada, Haiti, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad & Tobago. Under IDD, electronic payments go to the retirees' banks in local currency, often saving conversion costs. Eligible retirees who do not receive enrollment packages can get them at http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/infomgt/forms/eforms/of1199i.pdf.
NAUS NEWS More than 800 of you have participated in the NAUS member survey, either online or by mailing in the printed version from the Uniformed Services Journal. But that's not all of you by any means. The easiest way to complete this survey is online (simply click on this link http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=50441632206). It only takes a few minutes and gives you the chance to tell us what you think. Thank you. GOD BLESS AMERICA E-mail your comments to: mplumer@naus.org Include your full name and mailing address in the body of your message To subscribe/unsubscribe e-mail to: kstanish@naus.org |
