Defense Authorization Bill Heads to the President


"The Conference Committee on the FY 03 Defense Authorization bill reported its findings November 12, 2002, and the House immediately voted on and passed the Report by voice vote the same night. The Senate passed the report on November 13, 2002, and the bill will now go to the President for his signature."

The following are the highlights of the bill as it pertains to personnel
issues:

**Special Compensation for the Combat Disabled (AKA "Concurrent
Receipt"): The conferees authorized new payments to be made to all
military retirees whose disability resulted from a combat injury or
wound for which they were awarded a Purple Heart. In addition, the
conferees authorized military retirees whose 60 percent or greater
disability resulted from combat-related activities (as determined by
criteria set by the Secretary of Defense). Such activities would
include, for example, injuries received in live fire training exercises.
The range payment DOD would be authorized to make could range from $103
to $2,160. In addition, the conferees continued payment of a special
stipend ranging from $50 to $300 per month to approximately 33,000
severely disabled military retirees with a VA rating of 60 percent or
higher.

**Basic Military Pay: The conferees authorized an across-the-board 4.1
percent pay increase for military personnel, the fourth largest increase
since 1982. In addition, the conferees authorized targeted increases of
up to 6.5 percent for mid-grade and senior noncommissioned officers.

**Housing Allowance: The conferees authorized the President's request to
reduce the average amount of housing expenses paid by service members
from the current 11.3 percent to 7.5 percent in fiscal year 2003, and to
eliminate the out-of-pocket expense completely by fiscal year 2005.

**Active Duty Special Pay and Bonuses: The conferees extended several
special pays and bonuses for active duty personnel through December 31,
2003, including:

  • enlistment and reenlistment bonuses;
  • aviation officer retention bonus;
  • special pay for nuclear qualified officers extending their period of
    active service;
  • nuclear career accession bonus;
  • nuclear career annual incentive bonus;
  • accession bonuses for dental officers and registered
    nurses;
  • incentive pay for nurse anesthetists;
  • nurse officer candidate accession program;
  • accession bonus for new officers in critical skills; and
  • retention bonus for members with critical skills (in addition, the
    conferees authorized eliminating caps on bonus amounts and extending
    years of eligibility for bonuses for health care providers).

**Assignment Incentive Pay: The conferees authorized the service
secretaries to award an incentive pay of up to $1,500 per month to
personnel serving in assignments involving difficult working conditions
or undesirable overseas locations.

**Health Care Professional Special Pays: The conferees increased the
maximum rates for certain special pays and bonuses for health care
professionals from:

  • $14,000 to $50,000 multi-year retention bonus for certain medical
    officers and dentists;
  • $15,000 to $50,000 special pay for nurse anesthetists;
  • $36,000 to $50,000 incentive special pay for medical
    officers;
  • $5,000 to $30,000 accession bonus for registered nurses;
  • $12,000 to $15,000 annual special pay for pharmacy officers; and
  • $6,000 to $15,000 retention special pay for optometrists.

**Promoting Volunteerism Through the Armed Services: In an effort to
encourage Americans to serve their nation, the conferees established a
National Service Plan with incentives to enlist in the armed forces.
Volunteers must serve 15 months on active duty, followed by either an
additional active duty period determined by the Secretary of Defense or
24 months in an active status in the Selected Reserve. If time still
remains of the individual's service obligation, he or she may serve on
active duty, in the Selected or Ready Reserve, in a national service
program such as the Peace Corps or Americorps, or in some combination of
these programs. Participants must meet all eligibility requirements for
military service and may choose one of the following incentives:

  • $5,000, payable after completing 15 months of active duty;
  • repayment of student loans up to $18,000;
  • an educational allowance at the Montgomery GI Bill monthly rate for one year;
  • or an educational allowance of one-half of the GI Bill monthly rate for three years.

**Reserve Forces Special Pay and Bonuses: The conferees extended certain
special pays and bonuses for reserve personnel through December 31, 2003
(except as noted), including:

 

  • special pay for health care professionals who serve in the selected
    reserve in critically short wartime specialties;
  • selected reserve enlistment and reenlistment bonuses;
  • special pay for selected reserve enlisted personnel who are assigned to certain high priority units;
  • ready reserve enlistment and reenlistment bonus;
  • selected reserve affiliation bonus;
  • prior service enlistment bonus, increased from: $5,000 to $8,000 for members who enlist for six years; $2,500 to $4,000 for members who enlist for three years; $2,000 to $3,500 for members who received prior bonuses for a three-year enlistment and
    enlist for an additional three years;
  • authority for repayment of educational loans for certain health professionals who serve in the
    selected reserve (extended to January 1, 2004); and
  • reduction for minimum service from eight to six years required before qualifying for
    retirement pay (made permanent).

**Subsistence Allowance: Military personnel based at remote locations or
at installations with inadequate or no dining facilities must buy their
food from the local economy. While officers and married enlisted
personnel receive a subsistence allowance to help with the cost of food
prepared in their residences, many single enlisted personnel stationed
at remote locations reside in government quarters with no food storage
or preparation facilities. Therefore, the conferees authorized doubling
the regular basic allowance for subsistence for single enlisted
personnel stationed in remote locations.

**Assistance for Families of Service Members. Capitalizing on lessons
learned during the Persian Gulf War, the conferees made permanent the
temporary authority to provide child care, education, and other youth
services assistance to the families of active duty personnel.

**Emergency Leave of Absence: There are times when service members need extended leave for family or personal hardships. In order to prevent service members in such situations from entering into unearned or excessive leave status, the conferees authorized the service secretaries
to grant a one-time leave of absence of up to 14 days to service members with qualifying emergencies.

**Health Care Sharing: The $40 billion that DOD and the Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA)will spend on health care in 2002 is not enough to
meet the needs of current and former servicemembers and their families.
Increased sharing of health care resources between DOD and VA can
maximize efficiency and reduce the costs of health care. As such, the
conferees included provisions to facilitate improved, mutually
beneficial health care sharing by requiring DOD and VA to:

 

  • enter into agreements to exchange health care resources, develop
    guidelines for the implementation of sharing recommendations, and
    establish and jointly fund a DOD-VA health executive committee and an
    incentives program to foster creative coordination and sharing
    initiatives at the facility, intraregional, and nationwide levels;
  • adopt an interoperable, real-time pharmacy data system that would
    enable DOD and VA to exchange outpatient medication information; and
  • conduct a health care resources sharing coordination project, at three
    sites or more, to test the health care sharing improvement programs.

**Improving the Montgomery GI Bill for the Reserves: Under current law,
members of the selected reserve may use Montgomery GI Bill benefits for
as many as ten years after becoming eligible. The conferees extended
this period to 14 years.

**Expanding TRICARE Prime Remote: Under current law, a dependent whose sponsor is assigned to a remote location (more than 50 miles or one hour's drive from the nearest medical facility) is entitled to TRICARE Prime Remote benefits only if they also reside with the service member.
However, this benefit does not apply to those dependents whose sponsors
are reassigned to an unaccompanied permanent duty station, such as
Korea. Therefore, the conferees extended TRICARE Prime Remote benefits
to dependents who remain in a remote location when they cannot accompany
their sponsor. In addition, the conferees extended TRICARE Prime Remote
benefits to dependents of remotely located reserve personnel when the
member is ordered to active duty for morethan 30 days.

**Reforming the Claims Process: In response to growing concerns about
the stability of TRICARE provider networks and the requirements of
TRICARE claims processing, the conferees required that TRICARE claims
requirements be substantially the same as Medicare claims requirements.

**TRICARE Provider Certification. Currently, certified Medicare
providers who treat TFL patients (over age 65) cannot treat TRICARE
patients (under age 65) unless they are further certified as TRICARE
providers. This administrative requirement deters some providers from
participating in the TRICARE program. As such, the conferees required
that medicare-approved health care providers be treated as approved
TRICARE providers for new and existing TRICARE contracts.

**Shipboard Hazard and Defense Program (SHAD) Disclosure: The SHAD
program, part of the Cold War-era Project 112, tested the effects of
chemical and biological attacks on U.S.military vessels, aircraft, and
thousands of American service members. Some veterans who participated in
the tests may not know that they may have been exposed to potentially
harmful substances, while many who are aware of the dangers believe that
their health has been affected. Every service member who was subjected
to SHAD tests should be notified of their participation in order to
evaluate their health. Therefore, the conferees required the Secretary
of Defense to develop a plan to review and declassify all medically
relevant information on Project 112 and SHAD within one year, and to
identify participants so that the Veterans Administration may notify
them and deliver proper benefits and care. In addition, the conferees
required that the Government Accounting Office review the Secretary's
plan.

**Travel and Transportation Benefit: In order to improve the travel and
transportation benefit available to service members, the conferees
authorized service members serving in a second consecutive overseas tour
to defer expenses-paid transportation and travel benefits until the
second tour is completed. If a service member cannot travel because of
participation in a contingency operation, benefits may be deferred for
one year after the contingency operation duty ends. In addition,
military personnel who extend an overseas tour currently receive travel
and transportation benefits only to and from the nearest port of entry.
The conferees authorized travel to the nearest port of entry within the
48 contiguous states, or an alternate location that does not exceed the
travel costs to the nearest port of entry.

**Use of Commissaries by National Guard: Under current law, the
thousands of National Guard members who are called to duty for national
emergencies, such as those serving in Operation Noble Eagle under
state-controlled status, are not eligible for commissary privileges.
Therefore, the conferees authorized commissary privileges to National
Guard members who are participating in federally declared national
emergencies.

As you can see, the concurrent receipt provision was MUCH less than
Congress promised. The Senate included in its original bill a provision
that would authorize concurrent receipt for all disabled military
retirees. The House included in its original bill a provision that
would elminate the offset over the next five years for disabled military
retirees with a disability rating of 60% or higher. The House even
passed a non-binding "Motion to Instruct Conferees" back in early
October letting the Conferees know that it supported the Senate's
provision. In the end, none of it mattered because the final result of
the negotiations was the provision quoted above.

STRENGTH IN UNITY

 

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