The Senate and House Budget committees began marking-up their FY2009 Budget Resolutions this week. The annual budget resolution is a non-binding measure that sets annual spending limits for the government.
Both measures expressed support for rejecting the administration's TRICARE fee increases for retirees under age 65. But rejecting those increases is contingent on finding funding offsets that don't increase the deficit. So at this point, we have to consider the Resolutions a statement of intent rather than a done deal.
VA fee hikes also were nixed for the fifth year in a row. Both chambers' Budget Resolutions replace the funding cut by the president's budget in anticipation that Congress would not approve higher VA health fees. This allows the Veterans’ Affairs committees the funding "headroom" to reject the proposed VA enrollment fees for lowest priority veterans and pharmacy copay increases.
In addition to rejecting the VA fees, each Budget Resolution provided an
additional $3.2 billion more for veterans' programs than requested in the
Administration's 2009 budget submission. The additional funding is intended to
help improve veterans' disability compensation claims processing and health
care, including enhancements in mental health, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder,
and Traumatic Brain Injury treatment.
Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), the Ranking Member on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, introduced "America's Wounded Warrior Act," S. 2674, last week to overhaul DoD's disability retirement system and modernize the VA's disability compensation program. These reforms are an upshot from last year's Dole/Shalala Commission recommendations.
The bill would reform the military disability retirement system and streamline the transition of disabled servicemembers from DoD to the VA. Basically, it would simplify the claims process by eliminating the need for duplicative DoD/VA ratings and disability examinations. Underlying concerns remain, however.
Under the proposal, DoD would determine a disabled servicemember's fitness for duty, and if found unfit, provide a lifetime annuity based on the member's rank and years of service. VA would then establish compensation for service-connected injuries, disease, or wounds. Under this proposal, the offset between DoD's annuity and future VA compensation would be eliminated.
The revamped VA compensation system would have three elements - replacement value of average loss of earning capacity; a new payment for loss of quality of life; and a new transition payment provided to servicemembers who participate in treatment or vocational rehabilitation programs or who are within three months if their retirement from service.
However, the jury is still out on what the new DoD disability health care benefit and VA compensation levels would eventually look like - MOAA expressed concern with these same issues when the original Dole/Shalala report was released.
Currently, servicemembers who retire due to a 30% or higher military disability are eligible for lifetime family TRICARE coverage (dependent children until majority age). However, the bill directs DoD to study and recommend to Congress new TRICARE lifetime eligibility criteria under the new system. In the absence of a law change, the Secretary of Defense would establish eligibility by regulation effective the date of implementation of the new system.
Additionally, the bill directs VA to study and provide a report to Congress within nine months and submit a proposal one year later detailing the new compensation and transition payment rate structure.
Even though there are certain elements that MOAA supports in the bill, the "devil is in the details" and, until the specific rate structure of the new VA compensation system is better understood, we must withhold endorsement of this legislation.