WASHINGTON REPORT

Pentagon Transfers TRICARE Funds in Major Reprogramming Request

A major Defense Department request to reprogram defense funds would strip $708 million from the Defense Health Program. DoD would transfer the "underexecuted" TRICARE money to expenditures in areas such as fuel costs, counterterrorism for several Middle Eastern countries, and use it also to compensate for Pakistan closing ground supply routes to Afghanistan

 According to DOD, TRICARE funds “are available because of a significant downward spike in the private sector care (PSC) cost growth rates. Through the first 6 months of FY 2012, private sector care costs are growing at historically low rates of 0.6 percent for active duty and -2.7 percent for all other beneficiaries.”

 In its request to Congress, the Department said, “The FY 2012 budget estimate assumed private sector care cost growth rates of 12.9 percent for active duty and 8.5 percent for all other beneficiaries.” With a negative rate of military medical inflation for beneficiaries, the Pentagon estimate for TRICARE costs becomes greatly excessive.

 “These funds,” the Department said, “are excess to Defense Health Program requirements and can be used for higher priority items with no impact to the program.”

 The reprogramming of $708 million of “underexecuted” TRICARE funds is similar to last year when the Pentagon and Congress moved more than $500 million from the TRICARE account to a wide array of “higher priority” items, including $350 million from TRICARE for research projects unrelated to traditional research of battlefield medicine or related military research.

 While shifting TRICARE funds, Pentagon officials continue their bleat that healthcare costs, earned by military retirees in career service to the nation, “are hurtful, taking away from the nation’s ability to defend itself.” DoD tells us, “TRICARE is crippling” the Pentagon. But now we know the actual fact: TRICARE is a bill-payer, spending hundreds-of-millions less than allocated.

 Report Attacks TRICARE

This week, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) presented a report titled “Rebalancing Military Compensation: An Evidence-Based Approach.” The report analyzes one of the key pressures on defense procurement – the Pentagon’s budget for personnel.

 The main basis of the CSBA report is a survey of 2,300 military members. CSBA’s Todd Harrison, the lead analyst for the report, conducted a survey of 2,300 military members, as part of what Harrison calls an evidence-based approach. Harrison says findings indicate that service members at all stages of their career do not value free TRICARE for Life commensurate with what it costs DoD to provide.

 The findings suggest, Harrison said, that the Pentagon could increase TRICARE fees and raise basic pay in a way that could save the military money and enhance the morale of the force. More than 80 percent of service members in each age group would prefer a 1 percent increase in basic pay in exchange for raising the retirement collection age to 50.

Harrison suggests that the findings might help the Pentagon improve the overall value for how it compensates servicemembers. To sum up the report, Harrison said, “We're not getting good value.”

 NAUS Note: Here’s an interesting disclosure. CSBA is funded by unspecified U.S. Defense Department agencies and corporations. While one cannot discount the study entirely based on how the group is funded, it is clear that CSBA is not a group that represents the concerns of those who bravely serve in uniform. NAUS members understand the value of TRICARE. We may have been born at night, but it wasn’t last night.

Click here to read the fatiguing 102 page CSBA "study"!

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New Stolen Valor Legislation Introduced

Recently, the Supreme Court ruled the Stolen Valor Act (PL 109-437) unconstitutional. The Court said the 2005 law, which made it a crime to lie about one's military decorations, intrudes on free speech. In essence, the Court said it is perfectly okay to lie about military service awards.

 Tuesday, Rep. Joe Heck and Sen. Scott Brown held a press conference to call on Congress to pass an updated version of the Stolen Valor Act that would pass the court's muster. Instead of criminalizing the act of lying about military honors, the bill would make it a crime to profit from those lies. Rep. Heck's bill is H.R. 1775. Senator Brown’s (R-MA) companion bill is S. 1728.

 On Wednesday, Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) introduced another bill, “The Military Service Integrity Act of 2012,” that would make it a crime to lie about receiving a military decoration "in order to secure a tangible benefit or a personal gain," according to a press release.

 NAUS is pleased to endorse these initiatives. While we respect the Court decision, we continue to view fabrication of military service records and awards as repulsive behavior, lying and fraud.

 Help pass H.R. 1775 and S. 1728. Please click on NAUS alert system at CapWiz Alert to send an email. Please ask your family, friends and neighbors to become involved too.

Free speech is a basic right but deliberately lying for gain or to impress others demeans the sacrifices made by real veterans. We look forward to Congress taking a second look at developing a constitutional way to stop those who would steal or impersonate another’s valor.

TMA Announces Higher Fees for TRICARE Prime

 Last week, TRICARE Management Activity (TMA) announced TRICARE Prime enrollment fees will increase for some retired military personnel and their families by 3.6 percent and for most by 17 percent starting October 1.

 The increases fall in line with legislation President Obama signed into law in 2011 that lifted Prime rates 13 percent and established future fee increases equal to the annual military cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).

 When TMA stumbled in getting the 13 percent increase in place, those who were already part of the TRICARE Prime program were given a one-year reprieve from the steep jump in fees. However, new enrollees paid the higher fee immediately when they enrolled.

With the TMA announcement, TRICARE Prime participants will see annual fees increase for individuals to $269.28 and for families to $538.56. The Pentagon has decided that survivors of active duty deceased sponsors or medically-retired uniformed service members and their dependents are exempt from enrollment fee increases.

 Though NAUS spoke strongly against these increases, the Pentagon plan to increase fees 13 percent split the usually united voice of The Military Coalition, giving the Administration and Congress the backing needed to go forward with a modified plan. The increase goes into effect Oct. 1, 2012. Click here to see the chart on the new TRICARE Prime Fee Increase.

 GAO Denies TriWest Protest

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) announced July 2 its decision to deny the TriWest protest of the TRICARE West Region contract award to United Healthcare, a United Health Group company.

 UnitedHealth is scheduled to take over the West Region contract in April 1, 2013. The Region includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa (excluding Rock Island Arsenal area), Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri (except the St. Louis area), Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas (the southwestern corner, including El Paso), Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

 Following the GAO decision, TriWest President and CEO David J. McIntyre, Jr., said, "We will be discussing this decision with our company's owners and the counsel who represent us, and will, in turn, be making a decision on what, if any, action we will take in response to the GAO's denial of our protest." TriWest has managed the military’s health services for the nearly 2.9 million active duty and retired military service members and their families across the West Region for the past 16 years.

 Progress on the “Doc Fix”?

On Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee held a full committee hearing titled "Medicare Physician Payments: Perspectives from Physicians."

 The witness list invited to discuss the Medicare Physicians Payments included: Ardis Dee Hoven, immediate past chairwoman, Board of Trustees, American Medical Association

Glenn Stream, president, American Academy of Family Physicians; Frank Opelka, vice chancellor of clinical affairs, and professor of surgery, Louisiana State University Health Science Center; W. Douglas Weaver, vice president and system medical director, Heart and Vascular Services, Henry Ford Health System; and, Barbara McAneny, CEO, New Mexico Oncology Hematology Consultants.

 Failure to repair, replace or avert drastic cuts to physicians who treat Medicare and TRICARE patients would cause a nearly 30 percent drop in payments to doctors. As the Doc Fix deadline of Dec. 31, 2012, ticks down, there appears no strong proposal attracting bipartisan attention. NAUS is pleased to see Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) call the hearing, however, we need positive action. The clock is ticking on the approaching funding cliff.

Camp Lejeune to get $10 million Battle Training Course

The new range “provides II Marine Expeditionary Force a realistic and relevant training range in support of live-fire and maneuver training for a Marine infantry squad fighting while in the offensive and defensive positions,” a Marine Corps spokesman said. More from Stars and Stripes click here.

 Former Top General Says, “Bring Back Military Draft”

Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the former top commander of international forces in Afghanistan, said at a June 29 event in Colorado that the United States should bring back the draft if it ever goes to war again.

 McChrystal said, "I think if a nation goes to war, every town, every city needs to be at risk. You make that decision and everybody has skin in the game."

 The retired General argued that the burdens of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan haven't been properly shared across the U.S. population, and emphasized that the U.S. military could train draftees so that there wouldn't be a loss of effectiveness in the war effort.

"I've enjoyed the benefits of a professional service, but I think we'd be better if we (the nation) actually went to a draft these days," he said. More on McChrystal's comments.

The House unanimously approved Monday two bills meant to help jobless and disabled veterans. The first veterans' bill considered, The Veteran Skills to Jobs Act (H.R. 4155), would allow veterans to substitute their military experience for certain training and certification requirements when applying for federal licenses. This is a priority for NAUS and other veterans organizations, who have consistently urged companies to accept relevant military experience in lieu of other types of certifications for many years.

The second veterans’ bill, the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act (H.R. 4114), introduced by Rep. Jon Runyan (R-NJ), would increase the amounts paid to veterans for disability compensation and to their survivors for dependency and indemnity compensation by the same cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) payable to Social Security recipients. The increase (1.3% next year) would take effect on Dec. 1, 2012, and the resulting adjustment would be rounded to the next lower dollar.

 Under current law, an increase in veterans disability compensation and DIC payment requires Congressional approval. Previous lawmakers believed that if the matter was left in the hands of an elected Congress the adjustment might need to be raised above Social Security due to the stark differences in the basic reason for the compensation. Over time, however, the adjustment seemed always to find delay, which caused unnecessary anxiety in the veterans community about whether the increase would be approved.

 The Senate passed Wednesday HR 4155, the Federal license approval bill, and sent it to the President for signature into law. The Senate has yet to address HR 4114. It will either approve the House bill in whole or take up its own versions of the legislation, S. 2259. Neither measure is considered controversial.

 House Veterans’ Committee Advances Measures to Full House

Under the bipartisan leadership of Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs unanimously advanced three bills to the full House for consideration: The improving Transparency of Education Opportunities for Veterans Act of 2012, as amended (H.R. 4057), the Military Family Home Protection Act, as amended (H.R. 5747), and the Veterans Fiduciary Reform Act of 2012, as amended (H.R. 5948).

 “These bills contain provisions from seventeen different legislative proposals, and represent a considerable amount of the work done by the Committee this session,” said Rep. Jeff Miller, Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

 NAUS is pleased to see, for instance, the content of Rep. Todd Akin’s “Open Burn Pit Registry Act” included in H.R. 4057. Rep. Akin’s NAUS endorsed measure would deal proactively with the high potential for health problems related to toxic fume exposure from battlefield burn pits.

 NAUS is also encouraged to see The Veterans Fiduciary Reform Act of 2012 (H.R. 5948), introduced by Rep. Bill Johnson, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, favorably reported to the full House. The bill would enhance the attack on fraud within the Fiduciary Program and stir improvements in VA management and oversight.

Scam Targets Veterans, VA Warns

The Department of Veterans Affairs is warning veterans about a scheme it calls “an 'inexcusable scam.”According to the Department, "The scam artists call veterans and say the process of dispensing their prescription medicines have changed. The scam artists then ask for credit card information."

 Dr. Gerald Cross, VA's undersecretary for health, said, "VA simply does not call veterans and ask them to disclose personal financial information over the phone."