STATEMENT OF
MARK H. OLANOFF, Command CMSgt, USAF (Ret)
Executive Director, Washington, D.C., Office Of
THE RETIRED ENLISTED ASSOCIATION
Before a
HEARING
Of the
HOUSE VETERANS AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
FY 2006 VA Budget
On
February 16, 2005
Biography of Mark H. Olanoff, Command Chief Master Sergeant, USAF (Ret)
Executive Director, Washington Office, The Retired Enlisted Association
Command CMSgt Mark H. Olanoff enlisted in the U.S. Air Force on September 27, 1967 after graduating from Darby Township High School in Glenolden, Pa. After completion of basic military training and technical training he was assigned to Osan AB, Korea in 1968 working in the military personnel division. Chief Olanoff served in numerous military personnel assignments at Othello AFS, Washington; RAF Bentwaters, England and Griffiss AFB, NY. He was discharged from the U.S. Air Force on July 30, 1976 and joined the New Jersey Air National Guard in Atlantic City, New Jersey serving in positions of Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge (NCOIC), Customer Assistance; NCOIC, Consolidated Base Personnel Office and Chief, Personnel Systems Management. Chief Olanoff transferred to the Air Force Reserve at Dover AFB, Delaware on June 19, 1989 serving as Chief, Personnel Systems Management until Feb 9, 1991. Chief Olanoff assumed the position of Chief, Personnel Systems Management for the 436th Airlift Wing (as a federal civil servant) from Feb 10, 1992 until May 22, 1993.
On April 1, 1992, Chief Olanoff assumed the position as the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Commander of the 512th Airlift Wing, Dover AFB, DE. In this position, Chief Olanoff served as the Commander’s representative on all enlisted issues. During his tenure in this position, Chief Olanoff was TDY to the Persian Gulf. He served in this position until his retirement from the Air Force Reserve on June 10, 1996.
On April 1, 1996, Chief Olanoff assumed the position of Veterans Service Officer for the State of Delaware assisting veterans with Veterans Affairs (VA) claims and representing the Commission of Veterans’ Affairs at many meetings and functions. He was appointed to the VA Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 4 Management Advisory Committee, which includes the areas of Pennsylvania, Delaware, parts of South New Jersey and parts of West Virginia.
Chief Olanoff assumed his current position as Executive Director, Washington Office on October 25, 2004 after previously serving as TREA’s National Legislative Director from December 1996 until March 2002. He then served as The American Legion’s Assistant Legislative Director and Deputy Legislative Director from April 2002 until October 2004. He served as Co-Director of the National Military Veterans Alliance, representing 31 military and veterans’ organizations. He also served as Co-Chair of the Retirement and Veterans Affairs Committees for The Military Coalition (TMC). He also served as a member of the Guard and Reserve Committee of TMC, and as a member of the Legislative Affairs Committee for the Alexandria, Virginia Chamber of Commerce. Further, he served as Vice Chair of the Government Relations and Public Affairs Council for the Greater Washington Society of Association Executives (GWSAE) and previously served as Chair of the Federal Subcommittee of the council and served on a task for to create GWSAE-PAC. Also served as a member of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Health eVet Steering Committee, which worked on a computerized medical record for veterans’. He currently serves on TMC’s Awards Committee, Retirement Committee and the American Society for Association Executives Greater Washington Public Policy Committee.
He holds an Associate in Applied Science from the Community College of the Air Force in Human Resource Management (April 1980) and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Stockton State College, Pomona, New Jersey (May 1986). He has completed 9 semester hours at the Graduate level in Legislative Affairs from George Washington University.
Chief Olanoff is a graduate of the 8th Air Force Leadership School at Barksdale AFB, LA and a distinguished graduate of the Air National Guard NCO Academy at the Professional Military Educational Center in Knoxville, Tennessee. Chief Olanoff’s military awards include the Meritorious Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster, the Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the Air Force Achievement Medal with one oak leaf cluster, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the National Defense Service Medal with one service star, the Southwest Asia Service Medal with one service star, the Korea Defense Medal and the Kuwait Liberation Medal. Chief Olanoff has been awarded the Master Personnel Badge.
Chief Olanoff is married to the former Dorothy Venanzi and lives in Reisterstown, Maryland.
DISCLOSURE OF FEDERAL GRANTS OR CONTRACTS
The Retired Enlisted Association does not currently receive, has not received during the current fiscal year or either of the two previous years any federal money for grants or contracts. All the Association’s activities and services are accomplished completely free of any federal funding.
Mr. Chairman: It is an honor for The Retired Enlisted Association to submit a Statement for the Record about our concerns for American veterans’ before your Committee.
The Retired Enlisted Association is a Veterans’ Service Organization founded 42 years ago to represent the needs and points of view of enlisted men and women who have dedicated their careers to serving in all the branches of the United States Armed Services active duty, National Guard and Reserves, as well as the members who are doing so today.
We are here today while hundreds of thousand of enlisted men and women are serving in war zones all across the world. We all share an admiration and loyalty for these dedicated and brave men and women and a duty to protect and serve them. What we all can do is join together to make sure that when they return to their home, America, they obtain the best health care and other benefits that they have been promised. And for those who we have lost we must provide for the love ones they have left behind.
VA HEALTH CARE
It is of course well known to all of you that VA health care is not adequately funded. Furthermore this figure includes $2.6 billion that is proposed to come from third party insurance payments and increased co-pays from veterans. The Administration proposes both a $250 yearly enrollment fees for veterans enrolled in Categories 7 and 8 and an increase from $7 to $15 for these same veterans for their prescription co-pays. TREA strongly opposes both proposals. These increases are burdensome and unwise.
We oppose the enrollment fees for two reasons. First, there is no guarantee of health care for those in Categories 7 and 8. To charge veterans an enrollment fee but with no guarantee that they will receive health care is simply wrong. Veterans deserve better treatment than that. It amounts to nothing more than trying to balance the VA budget on the backs of those who have served their country in uniform.
Second, it is our strong belief that veterans who already pay premiums or enrollment fees for a health care plan should not be charged a fee to enroll in VA health care. By definition, veterans in Categories 7 and 8 have their own health insurance, for which they pay a monthly premium, already enrolled in TRICARE, or they pay the Medicare Part B premium. Either way, they have already paid for health care. The Department of Veterans Affairs currently collects from third party insurance as payment for the services they provided to veterans with private health insurance. It is our position that VA should also have the right to collect from Medicare as the third party insurer for those veterans who are enrolled in Medicare.
We recognize this committee does not have primary jurisdiction over this issue, but nonetheless, we strongly advocate for Medicare reimbursement to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
With regard to the increase in prescription drug co-pays, while an increase of $8 a prescription may seem small at first glance but most of these beneficiaries do not take a single pill a day -- they take 5 or 10. This increase alone can mean an increase of $80 to $100 a month for a veteran. We know that the cost of drugs is worrisome issue for retirees and seniors throughout our nation. We are grateful that the President is proposing to end all co-payments for former POW’s and those in hospice care. We should not fail to mention how pleased we are that the President’s proposal includes allowing the VA to pay for emergency and urgent care for enrolled veterans in non VA facilities. Both proposals will facilitate obtaining care at crucial and difficult times in a Veteran’s life. Additional money is also needed to provide the promised 2 year VA medical care to all veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. We don’t know what that benefit will end up costing (because we don’t know how it will work and how many returning Vets will take advantage of it). But we do know that it is crucial at this time in our Nation’s history that we both keep all the promises that we make to veterans and that we are seen keeping the promises.
Effective and sufficient VA Health care is crucial to all Veterans including Military Retirees. In Categories 1-3 (service disability qualification) 30% of all enrollees are Military Retirees (as of September 30, 2003: 606,234 out of 2,030,111). In total 890,072 of the approximately 7,000,000 present VA enrollees are Military Retirees. It is a very important benefit for our members. Retirees especially need to take advantage of the areas of expertise that the VA has developed. Approximately 2/3 of the Retiree enrollees are service connected disabled.
The Retired Enlisted Association believes that all military retirees without service-connected disabilities, as well as those disability classifications lower than Category 3, should be put in Category 3 with other special veterans, such as Purple Heart recipients and ex-POWs. Along with veterans with service-connected disabilities and indigent veterans, military retirees were promised a health care benefit for the rest of their lives. If a military retiree lives in an area where there is no access to the DoD health care system, that retiree should have access to VA health care that is guaranteed. Such is not the case for those now enrolled in Categories 7 or 8.
In addition, we advocate that those veterans who have a service-connected disability rating of 0 percent also be put in Category 3. Currently, those veterans cannot enroll in the VA health care system if they are not already enrolled. However, those with a rating of 0 percent are classified as disabled veterans. Under the proposed legislation, those not currently enrolled would be forced to pay an enrollment fee for something to which they are entitled.
The problem of inadequate funding is a structural problem that must be corrected in a systematic way. While adequate funding for this year is crucial we are well aware that you are the Authorization Committee not the Appropriation Committee. But this problem of insufficient funding is not going to go away in a year. This Committee can move forward to systematically correct this problem by making the funding for VA Health Care guaranteed. For the last several years the problem has been the same. It is not any individual year’s budget that is the problem; it is method of funding itself. What is really necessary is guaranteed funding. That is something that only Congress can do.
TREA urges Congress to reject the proposed increases in drug co-pays and the proposed $250 yearly user fee for Categories 7 and 8 enrollees. TREA also urges Congress to adopt guaranteed funding for all enrolled VA beneficiaries.
VETERANS EDUCATION BENEFITS
Health care and educational benefits are the two VA benefits that all returning Veterans are expecting and relying upon. TREA’S goal (along with the other members of the Partnership for Veterans Education Taskforce) has been to have the Montgomery GI Bill cover the average costs of a four year public University education. Thanks to the Committee, Montgomery GI Bill’s benefits have moved substantially higher. On October 1, 2003 the benefits rose to $985 a month. When the increases were planned this amount would have covered 68% of the average costs of a Public University’s four year degree. However, in the last year there have huge increases in tuition and fees in many states across the country. $985 a month, while a terrific improvement from just a few years ago will not come close to even the 68% of the average education costs it was expected to cover. For newly returned veterans this is the benefit that can help him or her move back successfully into the civilian world. It is vital that the MGIB rate reflect what it really costs to get a college degree. We reiterate that the monthly benefits should be determined by the costs of a 4 year public university degree. If the monthly benefit was statutorily determined in this method then Congress would not be repeatedly forced to play catch up when the dramatically rising costs of higher education gut the benefit Congress means the service members to have. Having this guarantee would reassure the service member that his or her benefit will not lose its value while he or she continues to serve. It should make them feel more comfortable about reenlisting. And of course it is crucial that we do everything possible to encourage recruitment and retention during this critical time.
TREA also hopes that Congress will consider changing the National Guard and Reserve’s benefit package. The new burdens that are being placed on the Guard and Reserve at this time and for the foreseeable future affect their civilian careers as well as the rest of their lives. It is no longer 2 days a month and 2 weeks in the summer. Now a Guard member or Reservist can expect to be called up for at least 1 year in every 5. And many Reservists will be called up much more often. This will clearly affect their future civilian careers. They should have an educational benefit that will help them adapt to a changing employment world. It is only fair. When the Reserve Montgomery GI Bill was created it was intended to provide 47% of the Active Duty Montgomery GI Bill. But the Reserve Bill has not kept up. Since the last increase in the MGIB took effect on October 1, 2003, the Reserve’s MGIB is only 27% of Active Duty’s MGIB. ($276 a month compared to $985 a month) This has happened at a time when the Guard and Reserve is being asked to do more and more. Last Congress, Senator Zell Miller of Georgia introduced 2 bills that would greatly improve the present situation. S 2100 would return the Reserves’ educational payments to 47% of the Active Duty rates in four steps going through fiscal year 2007. The Senator’s second bill, S2099 would modify the eligibility benefits of the Montgomery GI Bill to allow those who serve at least 2 active duty years in a continuous period of 5 years to qualify for the program. At the present time a Service Member needs to serve 2 continuous years of Active Duty to qualify for this benefit. These changes correspond to the changes in the National Guard’s and Reserves’ duties and obligations. It should be a real help towards retaining Reservists for the future.
TREA would like to suggest one additional improvement in the National Guard and Reserve educational benefit. There should be a change in the delimiting period. At the present time a member has 14 years to use his or her benefit. But the time starts to run as soon as the member enters the Guard and Reserve. Therefore while the member is working at his or her civilian career, and is being called up at the present rate he or she must find the time to go to college or lose the benefit forever. It would be far better if the period would start to run after the member leaves the Guard or Reserve.
TREA suggests that the Active Duty Montgomery G.I Plan’s payments be pegged to the cost of a 4 year Public University Degree. TREA further recommends that both SelRes MGIB payments be raised to return to the original 47% of the Active Duty MGIB payment and that members of the Guard and Reserve be allowed to qualify for Active Duty MGIB if they serve an aggregate of at least 24 months in five years.
VA CLAIMS BACKLOG
For years the delays in adjudication of VA claims have been crippling. Often claimants had to wait for years to get an initial decision and then there are further long delays if an appeal is appropriate. Secretary Principi pledged to work on reducing this backlog and indeed the VA has made substantial progress. We should take notice when things are getting better. And this is much better. However, the job is still not done. The VA needs to continue to hire the most talented professionals that are available and to provide them with sophisticated continuing professional training.
TREA hopes that Congress will continue to monitor the improvement in Claims adjudication.
CAPITAL ASSET REALIGNMENT FOR ENHANCED SERVICES (CARES)
When there is a massive plan to close or realign numerous hospitals and facilities that are depended upon by our members we would always be very concerned. TREA is well aware that the goal of the CARES Program is to make the VA more efficient and modern- an unassailable stated goal. However, even in the best of any circumstances such a plan would cause great dislocations and difficulties. Today CARES implementation will cause huge difficulties. In the present proposal TREA is particularly concerned that the CARES Commission did not analysis the VA’s future needs in light of its Mental Health and long term health care requirements. The VA is required to provide long term health care (nursing home care) for Veterans with a 70% and over disability or for a veteran whose VA disability is the reason he or she requires nursing home care. With the demographics of today it is clear that this will be a growing focus and job for the VA. They will need the plants and equipment for this new mission. They also need adequate plant, properly placed around the country to deal with residential mental health treatment capabilities. This is again a crucial area that the CARES Commission did not take into account when making its plans. Residential mental health treatment is a critically necessary service for some of our veterans. It is both expensive and difficult to find in the civilian system. The VA can additionally bring the expertise necessary to treat problems for military veterans that most psychiatric hospitals and practitioners do not have. It is a service that should not be shortchanged. By moving ahead with the CARES Commission’s recommendations before considering these two areas would be foolhardy. It should be done right the first time.
TREA urges that no additional steps in the CARES process occurs until a full study on the future needs of the VA for long term health care and mental health facilities are studies and incorporated into any future plans.
DOD-VA COLLABORATION
It has been a long term goal of TREA’s to have real and seamless medical transition from DOD to the VA. The need of this has become painfully apparent in the last year when combat injured service members are coming home and being transferred from DOD to VA facilities all across the country without adequate preparation and follow up services. DOD and all the services are working to try and improve the handoff to the VA. The continued work on IT integration is part of the answer. Collaboration among DOD, the VA and VSO’s is also crucial. Everyone accepts more work is needed. The situation will become even more complicated if the CARES realignments and closings move forward.
TREA hopes your Committees will continue to monitor the progress in this crucial area.
SURVIVORS BENEFITS
TREA knows that the United States as a nation has thousands of new survivors. It is important that we keep our promise to their lost loved one. One thing we can easily do is to attach Survivors’ Education Benefits to Title 10 active duty MGIB payments. The widows or widowers and the children of those who have died on our battlefields should have the opportunity to get a four year bachelor degree. If Title 38 benefits were linked to Title 10 benefits this goal could be reached in the future.
TREA is very grateful to the Committees and most especially to Representative Bilirakis for the passage of HR 2297 including the “Give Romance a Chance” provisions. Now a DIC recipient can remarry after reaching the age of 57 without losing his or her DIC payments. This is a huge step forward. But we hope in the near future that Congress will be able to move that provision back to age 55 so it can match CHAMPVA and other federal survivor programs.
TREA urges these Committees to make Title 38 education benefits for survivors’ equivalent to Title 10 MGIB benefits and that DIC retention after remarriage will be moved back to age 55.
CONCLUSION
TREA is very grateful for this opportunity to tell you of our members concerns for the future. We are also very aware of the time, energy and dedication all of you expend on Veterans healthcare, education and other benefits. We know that you do not forget those who served. You always remember their sacrifices and needs and those of their families and survivors. And more importantly you act on them. We know what real allies and patriots you are. The members of The Retired Enlisted Association are very grateful.