TESTIMONY OF

 

THE RETIRED ENLISTED ASSOCIATION

 

BEFORE THE

 

THE SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON DEFENSE

 

UNITED STATES SENATE

 

MAY 23, 2001

 

PRESENTED BY

 

MARK H. OLANOFF, Command Chief Master Sergeant, USAF (Ret)

NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR

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 of the Association’s activities and services are accomplished completely free of any federal building.

 

BIOGRAPHY OF COMMAND CHIEF MASTER SERGEANT MARK H. OLANOFF, TREA NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR

 

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 National Legislative Director for The Retired Enlisted Association on December 16, 1996.  He serves as Co-Chair of the Retirement and Veterans Affairs Committees for The Military Coalition (TMC).  He also serves as a member of the Guard and Reserve Committee of TMC, as a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee for the National Military Veterans Alliance (NMVA), and as a member of the Legislative Affairs Committee for the Alexandria, Virginia Chamber of Commerce.  Further, he serves as Chair of the Federal Subcommittee, Government Relations and Public Affairs Council for the Greater Washington Society of Association Executives (GWSAE).

 

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).

 

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 and the Southwest Asia Service Medal with one service star.  Chief Olanoff has been awarded the Master Personnel Badge.

The Retired Enlisted Association (TREA) would like to thank the chairman and distinguished members of the Senate Defense Appropriations subcommittee for the opportunity to come before you to discuss funding issues as it relates to our members needs.  TREA commends the Chairman for his help with the funding of the Defense Health Program and the new provisions of TRICARE for Life.  We are sure that the chairman remembers the discussion of last year and his challenge to us in working with the Armed Services Committee to determine the promises of healthcare for military retirees.  Again, we salute you for the fine effort.

 

 

HEALTHCARE

 

TRICARE

In order to ensure the viability of TRICARE for all eligible beneficiaries to the program, it is necessary that TRICARE funding reflect the number of beneficiaries eligible for military health benefits, not just the ever-declining number of people able to use the military system the previous year.

TRICARE Standard (CHAMPUS) reimbursement levels are still much too low to attract quality health care providers. There are also unreasonable delays in reimbursement for TRICARE Standard (CHAMPUS) claims. Members have reported that in the more rural areas, and even some urban areas, where providers do not depend on a military patient base, health care providers have become increasingly unwilling to accept TRICARE Standard (CHAMPUS) patients at all. TREA feels that de-linking the CMAC (CHAMPUS maximum allowable charge) from the Medicare Schedule and authorizing higher payments to providers as necessary will improve access to quality care for our beneficiaries. The FY 00 Defense Authorization Act gave the Secretary of Defense the authority to go over the current CMAC rates to bring in providers into TRICARE networks, but TREA still sees this being implemented.

The current claims processing system for TRICARE needs to be revamped in order to reduce the hassles of claims payment for physicians and beneficiaries. The beneficiaries end up getting caught in the middle when they receive collection notices from their creditors, even after they were told the TRICARE subcontractor would pay the claim. The FY 00 Defense Authorization Act moved to allow TRICARE contractors to use electronic processing for claims and streamlining the information flow, this being two pieces of the claims puzzle to be fixed. DoD has the authority to bring the claims system to "the best industry standard", and TREA understands that DoD is currently working to implement improvements effective October 2002.  As stated in a December 11, 2000 TriCare press release, “the TriCare Management Activity (TMA), DoD’s designee for evaluating the new rule, has formed a group of experts from its staff and uniformed services into an Integrated Program Team (IPT).  The IPT is currently studying how best to apply these standards to the eight administrative transactions used routinely in health care administration, including claims processing.”  TREA appreciates this effort and requests that this committee continues to stay abreast to this work in progress.

As we review the TRICARE program, the issues of low reimbursement rates and claims processing continue to be a disincentive for providers to sign up with a Prime network or to be a provider to accept TRICARE Standard. We will continue to work with this committee to address these issues, as well as the shortfalls in the overall TRICARE program too.

 

TRICARE FOR LIFE (TFL)

TRICARE for Life is part of the FY 2001 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to be effective October 1, 2001.  We applaud the President and the Congress (Budget Resolution) for including the additional 3.9 billion dollars needed to fund TFL for FY 2002 and we now ask that this subcommittee appropriate the money.

 

TRICARE STANDARD IMPROVEMENTS

TRICARE Standard, the fee-for-service option, needs improvement to at least equal the quality and standard of care as provided under the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) standard fee-for-service by:

·     Eliminating the need for Non-availability statements (NAS) from military treatment facilities and clinics and completely eliminate the requirement for pre-authorization.

·     Eliminating the 115% billing limit when TRICARE Standard is second payer to other health insurance.

 

 

LOWERED CATASTROPHIC CAPS FUNDING

Additional funding is required to cover the lowered catastrophic caps for TriCare users.  FY 2001 DoD Defense Authorization Act lowered the cap from $7,500 to $3,000 but there is currently no funding to pay for it.  DoD’s request that TriCare participants keep the documentation, ask their carriers to wait until DoD pays them is unfortunate.  The lowered cap is law and TREA requests that it be funded.

 

           

MEDICARE PART B WAIVER FOR MILITARY RETIREE 65+

 

The recently passed TFL requires the participant to be on Medicare Part B. Most retirees who settled near a military treatment facility (MTF) were counseled by MTF advisors not to enroll in Part "B" because the MTF would provide their free health care. These retirees should not be punished with late enrollment fees due to the fact that the local MTF has closed. TREA is requesting that this committee will work with your colleagues to help authorize and then appropriate the waiver of the penalty for not enrolling in Medicare Part "B" for Medicare-eligible military retirees

TREA believes that this small investment will enable retirees to enroll in health care programs, which require Medicare Part B for eligibility such as, and most importantly, TriCare-for-Life, as well as TriCare Senior Prime, and the Fee-for-Service Option plans in FEHBP. Currently, we have military retirees that either are paying a high penalty for Medicare Part B, or just cannot enroll because it is too costly.  We realize that the authorizing committee must provide legislative relief, however, we ask for this committee to support this effort.

 

 

 

 

Other Personnel issues:

 

 

SURVIVOR BENEFITS

 

            TREA members as well as all military retirees who have invested in the Department of Defense sponsored Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP), are frustrated by the offset faced by survivors of military retirees once they reach the age of 62.  Currently, a survivor of a military retiree would receive 55% of a military retirees retirement pay per month, if the retiree opted for full SBP.  However, that amount will be reduced to 35% once the survivor becomes eligible for Social Security, regardless of whether or not they have earned Social Security from their own work experience or not.  With the average enlisted retiree earning $16,000 per year, a Social Security-eligible survivor is left with only $6,600 in income from their spouses’ military service. 

 

            TREA, along with several other military retiree organizations, has worked closely with several members of Congress recently to eliminate this offset.  Last year, the Senate included legislation, outlined in S 145 sponsored by Senator Thurmond, which would increase the amount a survivor receives from the current 35% to 45% over a five-year period.  TREA strongly endorsed this language and was very disappointed when it was not included in the FY 2001 National Defense Authorization Act Conference Report.

 

            We are currently working with members of both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees to include legislation eliminating the Social Security off-set, as defined in S 305 by Senator Smith of New Hampshire.  It is our hope that, finally, it will be included in the Conference Report of the National Defense Authorization Act.  We request that this committee appropriate the resources to implement it.

 

            Another issue of concern regarding SBP is the implementation of the paid-up SBP program.  Slated to begin in 2008, this program will allow those retirees who have been paying into SBP for 30 years and have reached the age of 70 to cease making payments but still keep their spouses covered.  While we applaud this program, it is TREA’s desire to move the start date up to 2002, as was called for in the original bill.  As the program is currently set up, those retirees who enrolled in SBP when the program started in 1972 will pay far more than 30 years.  We are currently working with members of Congress to have the paid-up program begin as early as possible.  However, this committee would again have to appropriate the necessary dollars to implement it.

 

CONCURRENT RECEIPT

 

            TREA would like to thank the members of this Committee who appropriated the necessary funding last year to expand the special pay program for the most severely disabled military retirees This payment, which provides certain military retirees rated 70% disabled or higher by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) with a special pay ranging from $100 - $300, will be of great assistance to these disabled veterans.

 

            TREA is grateful for this small step in addressing the fact that military retirees are the only class of federal retirees who have their retirement pay reduced when they receive VA disability compensation.  The legislation passed last year only addresses a fraction of disabled retirees whose income is reduced because of their disability.  We look forward to working with the members of this committee, as well as of the Armed Services Committee, to expand the number of retirees who can receive this special pay.  Currently, disabled retirees who have served twenty years and those retirees who retired under early retirement legislation at the 15-year point are not eligible for this payment.  Certainly, their inclusion is a matter of fairness and we look forward to quickly addressing this inequity.

 

            The ultimate goal in this issue, as defined in S 170, sponsored by Senator Reid, is complete concurrent receipt of military retirement pay and VA disability compensation.

 

            Mr. Chairman, 56 of your colleagues in the U.S. Senate are now co-sponsors of S 170 including 10 on this subcommittee and a total of 16 on the full Appropriations Committee which also includes your ranking member, Sen. Inouye and we ask for your consideration in this matter.