Defense budget near passage in both Houses
The National Defense Authorization Act is almost passed in both Houses of Congress according to the link that Pat sent us from Military.com. It secured a whopping 1% pay raise for the troops and, the best news is that retirees who were booted from Tricare prime are being given an opportunity to re-enroll;
Patricia Kime of the Military Times is reporting that the 2014 Defense Act includes a provision to allow the 171,000 military retirees who were kicked off TRICARE Prime last October, a onetime shot at reenrolling.
The National Defense Authorization Act of 2014 is very close to passing both houses of Congress. Some of the hot button issues of the last year will make it in. Others, like the concern about closing commissaries, were not even addressed in the current NDAA.
I remember my workmates complaining that Bush gave us “only” a 3.8% pay raise a few years back, but those same people are strangely silent this year. And, oh, the troops are getting a .5% less raise than retirees and folks getting a disability pension and it’s also a .5% less than inflation.
I guess the best news is that those retirees will be able to re-enroll in Tricare Prime. When I mentioned that problem to Mitt Romney’s veteran adviser during the election season, he didn’t even know what I was talking about, so I’m glad that the Congress remembered those folks.
Of course, there still a chance that the White House would veto the defense bill because they’re so set on making veterans pay for the defense operations. We’ll see, won’t we?
Category: Veterans Issues
The TriCare one-time enrollment is only good until you change ZIP codes. If you move a few blocks away you will lose eligibility again.
Are the reductions in COLA for retired military permanent, i.e. will effect the annual increase every year going forwards, or just applied to the next couple of fiscal years?
OMC: As I read it, retirees will get the normal COLA prescribed by law. Active duty and Federal civilians will get an annual pay increase (often termed a “COLA”, but technically not) that is less than that which would normally be due them under the normal means of calculation. The normal calculation would prescribe a 1.5% pay raise; they’re getting 1% instead.
The effect on future retired pay will be due to the smaller raise this year (and thus smaller high-3-averages and/or final pay), not to an effect on future COLA.
Here is a link to an Army Times article that explains the COLA changes for retirees as proposed in the budget compromise announced yesterday. Of course, since nobody’s seen the actual legislation, there are a lot of unanswered questions, as they acknowledge in the article:
http://www.armytimes.com/article/20131210/NEWS05/312100038/Budget-deal-would-reduce-COLAs-some-military-retirees
Next year’s reduction will be .25% below the inflation rate, the next year will be .5% below, and every subsequent year will be 1% below inflation.
Don H: that’s a different proposed law – but one I hadn’t seen. Thanks for posting the link.
Yeah, that would indeed suck. And if recalculation at age 62 isn’t included (it’s unclear if it would be or not), that would really screw military retirees who retired in their late 30s or early 40s.