I am halfway between disgust and despair:
Congress is considering an array of major deficit-reduction initiatives, including options to:
freeze military pay raises and/or reduce military manpower levels
dramatically reduce the military retirement package
significantly increase out-of-pocket healthcare expenses for retirees
In addition, Congress must pass additional legislation to stop a 30% cut in Medicare and TRICARE payments now scheduled for Jan. 1, 2012.
The Military Officer Association of America (MOAA) and others are sounding the warning knell. Now the question: is anyone listening?
Well, my congresscritters haven't heard. I spoke with the offices of all three and because of the debt limit crisis, they haven't been briefed on this topic yet. The news is a week old and growing cold.
If we can't get answers over the phone, we have to go one step better. MOAA is asking for help. The organization is preparing military members and their families to be lobbyists. That's right. It is time for us to take these issues directly to Congress.
Many Kossacks who are not a part of the military community have asked how to say THANK YOU for our service. Well, the time has come. We need you to visit your congressman or, at the very least, the congressman's aide. We need you to take this issue directly to his or her desk and to say, emphatically, that military pay and benefits need to be taken OFF the chopping block.
Below the fold, I give you MOAA's recommended lobbying package and some of my own two cents.
Protect Our Troops and families from Budget-Driven Cutbacks
Conversation in the halls of both Congress and the Pentagon is all about saving money. Currently, many people in both places believe cutting the salaries of our troops would be a good place to start.
First, a little background from MOAA (italics, mine):
...Congress has approved increased military pay raises over the last decade to gradually alleviate a nearly 14% pay-comparability shortfall that hurt retention and readiness in the late 1990s. Even so, persistent wartime demands mean servicemembers now must work far harder for their compensation, and endure far more family separation than was ever envisioned by the architects of the all-volunteer force.
Although military salaries have raised in the last few years, according to MOAA, the proposed increased for 2011 and 2012 are the smallest in nearly 50 years. Add to that a never ending cycle of deployment. As long as we maintain forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, we will continue sending troops. Furthermore, we still support remote assignments in Turkey, Iceland, and Korea that specify families stay behind. We ask our military members and their families to sacrifice a lot. Are we really going to ask them to sacrifice pay as well?
MOAA position:
Budget-driven force reductions while the Nation is still at war would pose
inappropriate risks to national security and impose even more disproportionate sacrifices on troops and families already stretched to their limits by protracted combat deployments.
Forces should not be reduced until services meet their stated goal of being able to provide 2 years of “dwell time” at home for every year deployed.
Freezing military pay in wartime is the wrong message to send to those who have spent the last decade being asked to sacrifice more for their country than all other Americans combined.
MOAA action requested:
Sustain the force levels and the 1.6% military pay raise specified in the FY2012 Defense Authorization Act approved by the House and the Senate Armed Services Committee.
I would add, end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Period. End of sentence.
Cutting Military Retirement Benefits
Basically, the current military retirement program is the major incentive to keep officers and enlisted in the Armed Forces for 20 to 30 years. Health care after retirement, though no longer free, is affordable (I have a not so secret desire to have Congress return free health care to military retirees, but that will be a long time coming if we keep fighting battles like this one).
Since shifting some of the burden of health care costs to retirees back in 1995, Congress has repeatedly rejected proposals to shift more costs in their direction. The first shift occurred under a Democratic President, Bill Clinton. It is ironic that the push for more changes is coming now - military members would once again be pointing fingers at a Democratic Administration.
As to military retirement, plans to make it more in line with civilian programs have been around for about a decade:
Multiple proposals over past decades... have envisioned civilianizing the military retirement plan by shifting to a civilian 401(k)-style plan, delaying eligibility for an annuity until age 57 or later, and vesting servicemembers at 10 years of service.
When Congress passed a much less severe retirement reduction in 1986, then-Secretary of Defense Weinberger warned it would cause readiness problems.... Congress had to repeal the change a little more than a decade later after it undermined (peacetime) retention.
MOAA Position:
The experience of the last decade demonstrates the continuing truth that military service conditions differ dramatically from civilian working conditions and that extraordinary incentives are required to induce top-quality people to serve decades in uniform.
Dramatic benefit reductions only create an illusion of savings if they undermine readiness and later must be repealed.
MOAA Requested Action:
Resist temptations to achieve short-term savings via major military retirement and healthcare cutbacks that can only undermine long-term retention and readiness.
Support the more appropriate health care changes included in the FY2012 Defense Authorization Act approved by the House and the Senate Armed Services Committee.
My personal response is to agree with requested action item #1 but to question action item #2. The suggested changes in FY2012 Defense Authorization Act still include raising rates on military retirees. We should work to lower health care prices overall in the United States. This piecemeal legislation attacking health care issues willy-nilly is ill-advised and does more to damage the system than to correct it. It only further hides the true cost of health care instead of addressing the issue head on.
Stop the 30% Cut in Medicare/TRICARE Payments to Doctors
Many of you are probably already aware that Medicare payments to doctors will be cut by 30% as of January, 2012. What you may not know is that military health care is tied to Medicare. When we cannot see doctors on a military base, we use a system called TRICARE to see off-base providers. These providers are reimbursed at Medicare rates.
Currently, many military families have trouble finding providers because reimbursement levels are so low. I have had providers tell me that they provide a service because they feel it is their obligation to help military families. These doctors also need to earn a living and receive fair compensation for their work.
MOAA Position:
Access to quality care is the #1 healthcare problem faced by members of the military community. Deployed troops shouldn't have to worry whether their doctor will refuse to see their sick spouse or child because of these large payment cuts.
MOAA would like these actions taken:
Reverse the 30% Medicare/TRICARE payment cut scheduled for Jan. 2012.
- Correct the flawed statutory payment formula to prevent recurring annual threats to seniors’ and military beneficiaries’ health care access.
I would ask for a bigger fix - if we fixed the way we provided health care to all Americans, we could bring prices down overall. The military health care system, as well as Medicare, would benefit from these changes. It's time to go back to the drawing board and bring forth some big picture solutions for our American health care crisis.
The NEXT step - Taking these issues to your Congressman
If you're not sure where to begin, visit We Need Lobbyists for August Recess about scheduling a District Meeting.
You can use the MOAA talking points to help you plan a meeting with your Congressman. MOAA has a great summary sheet of the issues. Use it to help you out. Take some extra copies to your meeting to hand out to the staff. Remember to make any changes that better reflect your views. You can also use this spreadsheet to find out information specific to your state about military members and retirees. Having numbers to add to your information can help convince recalcitrant staffers that you know what you are talking about.
If you do this for military families, you will have thanked us for our service. I will owe you my thanks from the bottom of my heart.