PAHRUMP MILITARY RETIREE



and VETERANS COUNCIL



******A Veteran - whether active duty, discharged, retired, national guard, or reserve - is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America," for an amount of "up to and including my life." - (anonymous)******

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Survivors Benefits and SBP Annunity

24 April 2012


The House of Representatives bill H.R. 178 and the Senate Bill S.260 are the same thing in the two different houses of Congress.  When the service member dies and he had the Survivors Benefit Package thru the Military (so much for his wife usually 55% of Retired Pay) and he has a VA Pension also, the law now says they have to offset the SBP by the amount of the VA's dependency and indemnity compensation (normally $1154 a month I think).  These two bills if they pass will eliminate the reduction.

After all, you paid into your SBP and should not have to have your benefit reduced.

Here's what the RAO Bulletin has about the two bill's and who you contact to "Prime the Pump" and remind your congressman to  vote for these bills.   The more Cosponsors the better the chances of getting these bills passed.   Cosponsors on  H.R.178 are 181 and Cosponsors on S.260 are 49.

H.R.178 : Military Surviving Spouses Equity Act.  A bill to amend title 10, United States Code, to repeal 
the requirement for reduction of survivor annuities under the Survivor Benefit Plan for military surviving 
spouses to offset the receipt of veterans dependency and indemnity compensation. 
Sponsor: Rep Wilson, Joe [SC-2] (introduced 1/5/2011)      Cosponsors (181)  
Committees: House Armed Services  
Latest Major Action: 2/4/2011 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on 
Military Personnel. 
To support this bill and/or contact your legislators send a message via    
http://capwiz.com/usdr/issues/alert/?alertid=21785541&type=CO or TREA’s 
http://www.capwiz.com/trea/issues/bills/?bill=22113586 
http://capwiz.com/fra/issues/alert/?alertid=21755506 
http://capwiz.com/dav/issues/alert/?alertid=56534511 
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S.260 : SBP DIC Offset.  A bill to amend title 10, United States Code, to repeal the requirement for 

reduction of survivor annuities under the Survivor Benefit Plan by veterans' dependency and indemnity 
compensation. 
Sponsor: Sen Nelson, Bill [FL] (introduced 2/2/2011)      Cosponsors (49)  
Committees: Senate Armed Services  
Latest Major Action: 2/2/2011 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the 
Committee on Armed Services.  
To support this bill and/or contact your legislators send a message via  
http://capwiz.com/naus/issues/alert/?alertid=25851506 
http://capwiz.com/dav/issues/alert/?alertid=56534511 

Posted by Chairman, Pahrump Military Retiree & Veterans Council at 7:55 PM

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RECOMMENDED BY PAHRUMP AREA MILITARY RETIREE AND VETERANS COUNCIL:

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VA- APPLICATIONS For DISABILITIES

Applications are pending for over 12 months.

Everyone is aware of this problem. The VA and certainly the Veterans.

This is an outrage! Approximately 1/3 of the applications submitted are by Retired Military Personnel and therefore a problem to the Retired Military Councils.

The other 2/3 are Veterans that have served their country and deserve a decision.

Many have conditions that are aggravated by non treatment. We can do better.

The current omnibus bill, and especially the MILCON-VA provisions, covers a number of important priorities, including: $1.7 billion to allow VA to hire 1,200 additional claims processors to address the nearly 397,000 claims backlog.

(On January 20, 2010 the Federal Times reported the backlog at 489,345.)

This will require; first approval, then hiring, followed by training, and then they can start working on the problem! Looks like about 12 months before they start processing the actual applications. Our veterans deserve better treatment than this. We need to change the way the processing is accomplished.

One possible answer may be: take 200 military personnel clerks, 20 Personnel NCO’s and 5 Warrant Officers and take 95% of the pending applications and process them.

This is not rocket science, there is an established criteria to decide which applications get what percentage and it doesn't have to be done by VA Civilians. The VA may welcome the help. We realize the Active Army is stretched thin, but these veterans need help. This is not the only answer, but it is one solution.

GI BILL POST-9/11: Dependents.

This is the House of Representatives bill to adjust Educational Assistance for Retiree's.
H.R. 3577: Education Assistance to Realign New Eligibilities for Dependents (EARNED) Act of 2009 to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide authority for certain members of the Armed Forces who have served 20 years on active duty to transfer entitlement to Post-9/11 Educational Assistance to their dependents. Latest Major Action 9/24-2009 House committee subcommittee actions. Status:
Subcommittee Hearings Held.

DENTAL PROGRAM

Dental program for Emergency situations for Retiree’s could be initiated at the Installation or the VA level to solve only the emergency problems.

EYE COVERAGE:

There is vision/eye coverage for Retirees who use Tricare for life thru NOSTRA, they an get glasses but the coverage does not cover the eye exam. This is provided by the Navy. See the handout for details. TRICARE Prime has coverage for both the exam and glasses every 2 years. Recommend equal coverage through out the Services.

INCREASED PAY FOR DOCTORS

Increase the pay for doctors who handle VA Cases or use Contract services to get the job done. We need to incentivize Doctor participation. The current level of waiting is not treating our former warriors with the respect they deserve. We have sent a letter to Dr Toppo for Input.

IDENTITY THEFT

The phasing out of Social Security Numbers on ID Cards has begun and will be one solution to the problem of Identity Theft.

This problem was brought up by Col Rast (USMC Retired) of Amorgosa

SUICIDE

Discussion revealed a consensus of opinion that Active duty combat tours are too many. We recommend 2 tours in a combat zone in a 7 year period for combat personnel and not more than 3 tours for combat support personnel in the same 7 years.

Discussion: There are 1.1 million personnel in the Army alone. The war has lasted 8 years, Some people are on their 5th tour. This is unprecedented in our history and certainly creates stress. If nation building is the goal, use the civilian agencies to build the new country such as Dept of Agriculture to teach crops, Dept of Education to establish schools etc. and leave the soldiers to provide security for the Americans, and put down insurrections. If we stop some of the Stress we may cut down on Suicide.

POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDERS (PTSD)

PTSD cases are now taking 4 months for an appointment in VA Clinics in rural areas. Recommend increasing the funding and/or contracting services from people that can help. Personnel who have PTSD may not have 4 months before they do something irrational. We can do better.

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