Military Officers Association of America
MOOA Legislative Alert
October 7, 2005

Issue 1: Defense Bill in Big Trouble

Don't they know there's a war on???

Incredibly, Senate leadership is still blocking consideration of the FY2006 Defense Authorization Bill (S. 1042), even though the House passed its version of the bill more than four months ago. 

This outrageous delay is jeopardizing hundreds of personnel, equipment, and weapons issues needed for the war effort, as well as the military pay raise, health care improvements, compensation fixes for disabled retirees and survivors, increases in family and quality of life program support, and much more.

The delay so troubles Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-VA) and Ranking Minority Member Carl Levin (D-MI) that they tried Wednesday night to attach the authorization bill as an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Bill (H.R. 2863), which normally follows the authorization bill.  Their effort won almost half the Senate, but failed because of leadership opposition. 

With that amendment disposed of (and having adopted Sen. McCain's amendment to establish the Army Field Manual as the statutory guideline for treating all prisoners), the Senate moved quickly to pass the appropriations bill.  Now House and Senate Appropriations Committee leaders will get together to hammer out a compromise between their different versions of the appropriations bill.

But the appropriations bill can only continue funding last year's programs if there's no authorization bill to permit new ones.What's the objection to bringing up the defense authorization bill, too?  Leadership doesn't want to allow debate on controversial amendments that have been offered for that bill.  But refusing action on the defense bill only ensures that nothing will get done, regardless of the need.

Every year, the Senate spends a week or so on the defense authorization bill and manages to deal with hundreds of amendments - including lots of controversial ones.  This year, leadership has decided it doesn't want to take the time to do that.  Talk about mixed-up priorities.  What's more important during wartime than getting the defense authorization bill passed?

Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) made a telling comment Wednesday night.  "Our nation isn't at war," he said.  "Our military is at war."  His point was that nobody but the troops seems to be making any sacrifice or making the war effort a national priority.

Please act now to tell your senators that they need to get the Senate off its backside and pass the defense authorization bill.

Send a MOAA-suggested message by clicking on the "Pass the Defense Authorization Bill Now" link at http://capwiz.com/moaa/home or use MOAA's toll-free Hot Line to Capitol Hill (1-866-272-6622).  Just ask the Capitol operator to connect you to your senator's office.

Issue 2: Retiree Pay Statement to Show Concurrent Receipt

Retirees who have been receiving two separate checks from the Defense Accounting and Finance Center (DFAS) for retired pay and concurrent retired disability pay (CRDP) will see those payments combined in a single check starting this month.  In the past, DFAS had to make the payments separately and didn't have the computerized capability to show the CRDP payment on retiree pay statements. 

Now that's changing.  But the updated statements are causing some confusion.

Retirees eligible for concurrent receipt will notice a change in the "VA waiver" line of the pay statement.   Normally that means your VA payment changed.  In this case, it just means that the accounting system is catching up with the actual amount of retired pay that is offset by the retiree's VA compensation. 

Now that CRDP is being incorporated in disabled retirees' pay statements, the statements will show a dollar-for-dollar decrease in the waiver amount and a dollar-for-dollar increase to their taxable retired pay.  

Unfortunately, DFAS can't yet show Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) payments on the pay statement.  That's in DFAS' plans for the near future, but a date has yet to be determined.  

The bottom line:  disabled retirees are still receiving the same pay amounts from both the VA and DFAS that they have in the past.  They're just getting both retired pay and CRDP in a single check now, and that combined amount is now being shown on the pay statement.   

Issue 3: More Drugs Considered for $22 Copay

At a Sept. 28 meeting, the DoD Beneficiary Advisory Panel (BAP) was asked to review a proposal by another DoD pharmacy panel to move several additional medications to the third tier, which means they would require a $22 copay, vs. the normal $9 TRICARE copay for brand-name drugs or $3 copay for generics.

The drugs involved are:

*ACE Inhibitors Univasc, Aceon, Accupril, and Altace (for high blood pressure). 

*Calcium Channel Blockers Verelan, Verelan PM, Covera HS, Cardizem LA, Norvasc, DynaCirc, DynaCirc CR, Cardene, and Cardene SR (a different kind of blood pressure drug).

*Alpha-blocker Flomax (for benign prostate enlargement).

Drugs are considered for the third tier when there are other drugs that are equally effective for the same purpose and significantly less costly to TRICARE.

MOAA's CDR John Class (USN-Ret) and several other BAP members concurred with most of the proposals, based on the availability of several other $9 options.  But the panel urged against moving Altace to the third tier, since it has been shown to be particularly effective for high-risk patients. 

Dr. William Winkenwerder, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, will make the final decision. 

The BAP was pleased to see a minimum 120-day waiting period proposed between the final decision and actual implementation, to allow time for patients now taking these drugs to discuss other options with their doctors. 

But Class and others expressed concern over the number of medications being moving to the third tier.  When panel members were appointed, Defense officials intimated to them that only a small number of medications would be elevated to the third tier. But the growing number of drugs in this category means large numbers of beneficiaries will be affected.  The BAP once again pressed Defense leaders to implement a communications plan to ensure TRICARE Standard beneficiaries are informed of such changes.

For more information on these medications, contact the retail pharmacy (TRRx) customer service line at (866) DOD-TRRX, (866) 363-8779. For The Mail Order Pharmacy (TMOP) the number is (866) DOD-TMOP, (866) 363-8667.  

MOAA
201 N. Washington St.
Alexandria, Va. 22314
Phone: (800) 234-6622 (MOAA)

Copyright (C) 2005, Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), all rights reserved. Part or all of this message may be retransmitted for information purposes, but may not be used for any commercial purpose or in any commercial product, posted on a Web site, or used in any non-MOAA publication (other than that of a MOAA affiliate, or a member of The Military Coalition) without the written permission of MOAA. All retransmissions, postings, and publications of this message must include this notice.
© Copyright 2005 Military Officers Association of America. All rights reserved.
MOAA
201 N. Washington St., Alexandria, Va. 22314
(800) 234-6622 (MOAA)
http://www.moaa.org