Research - Rehabilitation - Re-Employment

Sgt. Shaft 10/04/2004

Dear Sgt. Shaft,
I thought you would like an update on medication safety inside the Department of Veteran Affairs. As you know mistakes and miscues with prescription medications can be life threatening. Recently, there has been a big push inside the VA to help blind vets that have difficulty reading the tiny print on their prescriptions medicines. Well, after a long evaluation period of several different technologies, the VA selected ScripTalk Audible Prescriptions. The VA has issued a directive and contract that calls for nationwide implementation of the ScripTalk service inside all VA outpatient pharmacies over the next 12 months. The VA chose ScripTalk because of its ease of use, cost effectiveness, and ease of delivery by pharmacy.

Now vets throughout the country can get their prescriptions with a tiny microchip embedded in the label. At home, the vet uses a handheld ScripTalk Reader that speaks all the information stored on the microchip. This device will give vision impaired & elderly veterans the ability to maintain safety, independence, and privacy for their medications.

David Raistrick
Envision America

Dear Dave,
You and your Dad, Phil, have a tremendous product which enables many veterans to take their medication safely while maintaining their independence. I also wish to thank you publicly for donating $1000 to the Blinded American Veterans Foundation which matched your contribution and then donated to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund. This as you know is the organization that assists families of wounded marines at Bethesda Naval Hospital to pay for expenses not covered by the Department of Defense. If anyone else wishes to make a contribution their address is Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund 825 College Blvd Suite 102 PMB 609 Oceanside, CA 92057

Shaft Notes
The Sarge was happy to be on hand when

The Military Coalition (TMC), a Washington, DC-based consortium of 35 military and veterans groups, presented its highest awards to two legislators and two congressional staff members who have played leading roles in improving compensation and benefit programs for military families and survivors.

Senator Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Congressman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) received TMC's 2004 Award of Merit for their sponsorship of key bills in the Senate and House that would phase out and ultimately repeal the current law that reduces Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuities for military survivors by more than one-third once they attain age 62.

Eliminating this "military widow’s tax" is a top goal of The Military Coalition. Military survivors are the only federal survivors who are required to accept any benefit reduction at any age. Federal civilian survivors receive 50% to 55% of retired pay for life, whereas military survivors' annuities are reduced as low as 35% of retired pay at age 62. The military SBP program is also subsidized by the federal government at a much lower rate, with the government only paying 19% of the cost, vs. the 40% originally intended by Congress. In contrast, federal civilian survivor programs enjoy federal subsidies ranging from 33% to 48%.

Landrieu and Miller have proposed legislation that would phase out the military benefit reduction over several years. Thanks to their personal leadership, the House and Senate have each passed separate versions of the bills. House and Senate leaders are currently negotiating a resolution, which will be included in the Fiscal Year 2005 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 4200).

The Military Officers Association of America's Colonel Steve Strobridge (USAF-Ret), Co-Chairman of The Military Coalition, credited Miller for convincing the House to authorize funding to address the problem this year. "That didn't happen by itself," he said. "It happened because of Rep. Miller's success in winning 340 cosponsors and his personal lobbying of the Armed Services and Budget Committees and other House leaders."

Mr. Michael Cline, also a TMC Co-Chairman and Executive Director of the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the US, similarly lauded Sen. Landrieu's efforts. "Senator Landrieu took the initiative to stand up on the floor of the Senate last Spring to insist on including an SBP amendment in the Budget Resolution. Then she did it again to make sure a similar amendment got in the Senate's Defense Authorization Bill. It's thanks to her and Rep. Miller's personal leadership that we finally have provisions in both the House and Senate defense bills."

TMC presented its annual Freedom Award to Mr. Clint Highfill, Legislative Assistant to Senator Tom Daschle, and Mr. Michael Higgins, professional staff member for the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee.

Cline cited Highfill's tireless work over several years with the Coalition and other stakeholders. "He has worked extremely hard with the Coalition and its members to build leadership support for military people issues, ranging from concurrent receipt and survivor benefits to veterans health funding," he said. "This year, he was a key player in convincing the Senate to authorize TRICARE coverage for the Selected Reserve."

Strobridge lauded Higgins for his labor behind the scenes to improve the quality of life for the whole military community. "This year alone," he said, "he helped win Committee and House approval for military commissary benefit protections, full commissary benefits for Guard and Reserve members, an accelerated schedule for the SBP fix, and authority for a permanent ID card for elderly spouses and survivors to ensure they don't lose their health benefits due to an inadvertent ID card expiration."

TMC represents the interests of more than six million members around the world, including active duty, National Guard and Reserve, and retired members and veterans of the uniformed services, plus their families and survivors.

Send letters to Sgt. Shaft, c/o John Fales, P.O. Box 65900, Washington, D.C. 20035-5900; fax to 301-622-3330; call 202-462-4430 or email sgtshaft@bavf.org.

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