| Show toUT £ SJPWP Weber Standard Thursday May 27 1999 W Many military pay benefit details are left to decide lot of weighty issues for service people will be on the table w hen a House-Senat- e conference committee meets this summer to work out differences in their separate versions of the defense authorization bill Last week here we reported key initiatives that seem certain to become law by appearing in both bills We'll add two One is variety of special and incentive pays we hope to detail in a later column Also enlisted moving to their first duty stations would for the first time receive a Temporary Lodging Expense OLE) which reimburses lodging tad meal costs of up SI 10 a day for up to 10 days The House and Senate will have to reconcile positions on many more initiatives Some of these include: SPECIAL SUBSISTENCE PAY: Only the Senate wants to provide military families with an ertra SI 80 a month if their income is low enough to qualify fhr food stamps A HOUSING ALLOWANCES Only the House wants to pump an extra $4425 million next year into stateside housing allowances to cut the typical renter's expenses FLAG et OFFICER tax-fre- pay PAY: Only the House would raise the current ceiling on basic pay for three and four-st- ar officers from Executive Level V pay to Executive Level HI Basic pay of a four-sta- r officer now is capped at $9225 a month or $1625 below what’s authorized on the military pay table CONCURRENT RECEIPT: Military retirees see retired pay reduced by the dollar-for-doll- e amount they receive in disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs for service-relate- d injuries or illnesses Citing the cost Congress for years has declined to end this ban on concurrent receipt of retired and disability ar The House bill would take a “first-step- ” toward that goal by allowing the most severely-disable- d retirees some added pay If rated 100 percent disabled retirees typically have forfeited thetr full retirement for an equal or greater amount in e disability payments Under the House bill those given a 100 percent rating within four years of retirement could keep $300 a month of their retired pay on top of the full VA payments Those with a 90 percent rating again within four years of retirement could keep $200 more a month in retired pay Those 80 or 70 percent disabled could keep $100 a month more No one else would benefit but proponents say it’s a tax-fre- start Sen John McCain was expected to try to attach identical Language to the Senate bill Lie didn’t try however during full committee action It w as unclear whether he would try on the Senate floor Paul Arcari director of government relations for The Retired Officers Association said prospects for passage still are good DUAL COMPENSATION: Neither bill calls for repeal of dual compensation penalties on regular retired officers who work as federal civilians The House merely would extend to service secretaries the authority to waive the restrictions to fill critical job vacancies That authority now rests with the Office of Personnel Management In the Senate Sen Michael Crapo plans to offer an amendment on the floor for full repeal The Senate overwhelming approved the same amendment when offered for different bill 4 earlier this year 4 was shelved for lack of House (R-Ari- z) o) S-- S-- make military families overseas eligible for W1C (Women Infant and Children) benefits offered by the Department of Agriculture Such assistance for care and feeding of mothers and children is now available only stateside The military not Agriculture would pick up the extra cost but for the first time compensation like base housing would be counted in income levels for WIC eligibility support Prospects for inclusion in the Senate defense bill look good given the earlier vote THRIFT SAVINGS: The Senate bill supports a military savings plan with contributions of up to five percent of monthly basic pay plus bonus money up to a maximum total contribution of $10000 The House bill didn’t support a military TSP citing budget constraints But Rep Steve Buyer chairman of the personnel subcommittee said his panel “is committed to seeing such a provision enacted” If so the Senate TSP could surviv e conference committee negotiations FUTURE PAY RAISES: From 2001 through 2006 the House bill calls for annual military raises to match private sector wage growth The Senate would exceed such wage growth by a half percentage point a year to help close a perceived military “pay gap” with the private sector W1C BENEFITS: Only the House bill w ould B low-inco- L n a w e “in-kin- (R-ln- S n c g PILOT BONUSES: The Senate would extend the offer of annual pilot bonuses from 14 years of commissioned service out to 25 years of aviation service the House would raise maximum bonus authority to $25000 a year take it out through 25 years of aviation service and include the rank of t it h o S a 0-- 6 Write to Military Update PO Box 1230 Centreville Va 20122-823- 0 to: or send milupilateaolcom UTARY SOUNDQFF Base pharmacy users struggle with Readers of Tom Philpott should be able to take care of 's Mili- their own OSCAR J LOYRAK Major UASF-Re- t Puyallup Wash tary Update sound off 1 Retired military medical support is going down hill more every day Here in the Northwest retirees still can go to Madigan Army Medical Center on Fort Lewis to ea prescriptions but they give us mch a run around most just give Vp and have prescriptions filled Si a civilian pharmacy at our own cost The latest change at Madigan to discourage retirees from having prescriptions filled is to make it mandatory' to have a Madigan p&armacist examine the prescriptive Your own doctor an MD la Dot good enough " If the prescription is a high-CPitem they will deny it and Md you away saying you have ta have your doctor write a less MtJy prescription even though toy have it in stock I object to gya Who is more qualified to Wits prescriptions the doctor or pharmacist? On April 5 I was toued a prescription for Zithro-DS- L SPECIAL NEEDS I write on behalf of Special Needs Military families In June a small group of families will be visiting Washington special-need- deter-dne- d by my civilian physician fifed confirmed by It was operative I start using this drug tesnediately given my breathing problems The Madigan pharma-ig- p d clerk told me I had to be by the pharmacist on duty f&t that day was bad since he o busy No appointments were or the next day I would just have to come in wait see what might happen I went to a civilian pharmacy msd the high cost took the new medication and got well I might kave died waiting for Madigan I wrote to the Madigan commanding general about this over & days ago with no satisfactory fwponse If America can help millions of people in foreign Gauntries with expensive aid they eval-Wte- avail-tomorro- w 1 f 5f r cerns can contact me by at: care621 laolcom CARRIE SAPP Broken Arrow QkJa lish a “beneficiary advocate” to assist persons with questions and problems they encounter with TRICARE - Tom Philpott Regarding your final point be advised the Senate version of the year 2000 defense authorization bill contains a provision that would require every TRICARE region’s lead agent and every military treatment facility to estab STAY AWHILE I way to resolve this conflict over whether to renovate barracks to the new 11 standard would be j for Senator Roberts and those j who agree that 11 is extravagant to “live” for a year in the type of barracks they espouse for single ' enlisted people E J Robins AFB Macon Ga i I If he could have his way I guess Sen Pat Roberts would have us go back to the old barracks and days of open-ba- y communal latrines Perhaps one (R-Ka- fDfcon and ‘-- Pi FLAVOR OF THE WEEK Reg s87 Strawberry Banana Pie doctor-prescribe- to had pneumonia children s spouses Some of us face problems obtaining medical care for our families In many cases the DoD refuses to provide our families with d medicines and care We have been told this very limited care is the benefit Congress intended We find that hard to believe Some of us are being pushed to use Medicaid We do not believe that was the intention for members who served and are serving honorably to be left to find better health coverage using Medicaid and that Tricare be payer of last resort Some families are being pressured to put special-need- s family members in institutions Others are being told to get out of the military if they can’t handle both their careers and their families’ demanding needs Just a few of the issues we want addressed are: 1) Why does the military health care system - TRICARE Champus TRICARE contractors and military treatment facilities -focus only on doing the minimum for special needs families? 2) Why do TRICARE managers and contractors seem to hide behind official definitions like “custodial care” and “therapy St I DC to inform and educate our representatives and military leaders about how the Defense Department and its TRICARE system fail to meet the medical needs of limits” that allow them to give only minimum care? 3) Why is the fight for benefits seen as an individual responsibility with no government person allowed to intervene represent or serve as an advocate for the military family with the Tricare contractor? 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