Research - Rehabilitation - Re-Employment

Sgt. Shaft 02/05/2009

Dear. Sgt. Shaft:
The Fleet Reserve Association (FRA) is receiving considerable e-mail traffic regarding the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) recent recommendations to cut the government's cost for Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs health care programs. The report includes recommendations to shift some of the costs to the beneficiaries.

While FRA takes these recommendations and their potential impact on our members very seriously, it is important to note that, at this point, these are only recommendations for consideration by lawmakers. Any of these may, or may not, be introduced as legislative proposals or included in the fiscal 2010 budget. Additional information on the CBO recommendations is available on FRA's Web site at www.fra.org.

This is a recurring CBO practice and past recommendations have also been related to military pay and benefit. Some of this year's suggested remedies are not new and are related to drastic Tricare fee hikes consistently proposed by the Defense Department since 2006. Thanks to strong advocacy work and grass-roots support, we've successfully halted these fee increases and FRA will continue its efforts to hold the line on Tricare's fee structure.

FRA is evaluating the CBO recommendations and, as always, will alert its membership accordingly if a serious legislative threat emerges. As it has for more than 83 years, FRA remains committed to protecting the hard-earned benefits for active, reserve and retired personnel, veterans and their families.

The first session of the 111th Congress is under way. We'll know more about the new administration's priorities and budget proposals after the fiscal 2010 budget goes to Capitol Hill in February. FRA will respond accordingly to preserve pay, health care, benefits and quality-of-life programs.

Sincerely,
Joe Barnes
National Executive Director
Fleet Reserve Association (FRA)

Dear Joe:
Shaft will also be joining you by keeping a mind's eye on any legislative or administration proposal that would break a promise of medical care for our military retirees, veterans and their families.

Dear Sgt Shaft:
The National Association for Uniformed Services (NAUS) is a national military/veterans association with about 90 chapters across the country. Our membership is open to all members of the uniformed services (active and retired and veterans with all length of service), all grades and ranks, all components (active, Guard, reserve), and widows and widowers of military personnel. We are a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization and registered with the U.S. government as a 501(c)(19). We were founded in 1968 and are "the serviceman's voice in government." Our purpose is "to protect and enhance the earned benefits of uniformed service members, retirees, veterans, and their families and survivors, while maintaining a strong national defense through nonpartisan advocacy on Capitol Hill and with other government officials."

Our NAUS staff and many of our members read the Sgt. Shaft column in The Washington Times. We have a bimonthly magazine called the Uniformed Services Journal, which is mailed free to all members. Our Web site is www.naus.org.

We would be honored to have you as a member, and I will send you a packet of information with a membership application. Our dues are only $15 per year or $37 for three years. We also have life memberships available.

Best regards,
William M. Matz Jr.
MG, U.S. Army (retired)
National Association for Uniformed Services
5535 Hempstead Way
Springfield,VA 22151-4094
703/750-1342 ext. 1000 (office)

703/642-1076 Fax

Dear General:
I will proudly join your great organization, and I urge all those eligible to do the same.

Shaft Notes
Kudos to the Veterans Affairs Department for its recent announcement of plans to reopen enrollment in its health care system by July to about 265,000 veterans whose incomes exceed current limits.

"We're pleased to be able to offer what has been called 'the best care anywhere' to many more new veterans," said James B. Peake, former secretary of veterans affairs. "We'll be able to provide these newly enrolled veterans with the kind of timely, high-quality health care veterans who already use our system are accustomed to."

The change affects veterans whose incomes exceed the current VA means test and geographic means test income thresholds by 10 percent or less. Congress provided funds in VA's fiscal 2009 budget to support the new enrollment.

In 1996, Congress established a priority-based enrollment system for VA and a uniform package of medical benefits for all enrollees. The legislation opened enrollment in VA's health care system to all eligible veterans and required that each year the secretary of veterans affairs assess veterans' demand for services and determine whether the necessary resources are available to provide timely, quality care to all enrollees.

VA originally suspended enrollment for Priority 8 veterans because it was unable to provide all enrolled veterans with timely access to its health care because of a tremendous growth in the number of veterans then seeking enrollment. VA now plans to reopen enrollment for a portion of these veterans without compromising the quality of current services.

VA's computer systems are being modified to accommodate the changes, and the department is preparing communication and education materials to ensure that Congress, veterans service organizations and the public are aware of the coming changes.

"The rule will take effect by June 30, 2009, if the regulatory process proceeds smoothly," Mr. Peake said. "We look forward to welcoming these newly eligible veterans into the VA system. VA will continue to monitor wait times to ensure the quality of care is not adversely affected."

Additional information is available at www.va.gov.

Send letters to Sgt. Shaft, c/o John Fales, P.O. Box 65900, Washington, D.C. 20035-5900; fax to 301-622-3330; call 202-257-5446 or email sgtshaft@bavf.org.

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