Readers of Tom Philpott’s Military Update column sound off.
 
Remarks Raise TRICARE Hopes Among for Vet Families

To the article about the White House planning to back lifetime TRICARE benefits for any veteran separated back to 2001 as unfit for duty because of a service-connected disability, I say: “Way to go.”

My husband is one of those soldiers found unfit to be retained due to post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. We are a young family with minor children. TRICARE is the only health insurance we have.

By May of 2008, if the military decides to remove my husband from the temporary disabled retirement list, we will lose a lot more than our health insurance. My husband is on three expensive medications that help to keep him functioning. Even on his best days he is not at the best he was pre-deployment. The VA found him 100-percent disabled, unable to be employed or re-trained at this time. The Army had found him only 30 percent disabled and denied he had TBI before that later was officially accepted.

The more people who write in to encourage this change, the better we all will be.

JEANNETTE MAYER
Via e-mail

This is awesome! My son was injured in basic training and medically discharged 35 months later with no training, no skills, nothing to help him get started all over. He had surgery on his injury but then was injured again in field training exercises and so he got the boot.

He has been fighting medical bills and must provide medical insurance for his daughter. He is barely staying above homelessness. I hope the White House follows through and the bill is passed.

ELAINE CAMARILLO
Via e-mail

Donna Shalala, co-chairman of the President's Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors, testified Sept. 19 that the White House would unveil in “10 days” a legislative packet that included a proposal for extending lifetime TRICARE benefits to disabled service members found medically unfit. That date came and went with no announcement. At least one source in contact with White House officials suggests Shalala likely misunderstood the briefing she got before her testimony. She did not return a phone call to her office, or answer an e-mail, seeking clarification. This source said White House officials are still deciding what the administration will propose but they are leaning toward endorsing lifetime TRICARE only for combat-related injuries.

The Dole-Shalala Commission in its July report said lifetime TRICARE benefits should be extended but only to separating veterans found medically unfit from combat-related injuries. – Tom Philpott

PAID-UP SBP AND LATE ENROLLEES

My husband retired from the Navy after 25 years in 2002 and at the time we did not sign up for the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP). However, when we read last September that open enrollment was going on because of Congress voting to phase out the so-called SBP Social Security offset at age 62, we sent in our enrollment packet before Sept. 30, 2006.

We did not hear anything for months and thought we had missed the deadline. Then, all of a sudden in March this year, we were notified that SBP had been put into effect, we owed about $10,000 and that my husband’s retirement check would be reduced by about $700 per month until September ’08 when our monthly payment would be $156.

We understand all that. What is not clear is when I will be entitled to benefits should (God forbid) something happen to my husband. They told us two years from the enrollment date. But, in our case, is that from September 06 when we signed up or from March ‘07 when we started paying premiums?

Also, retirees either make 360 total payments or pay until age 70. But what about retirees like us who start paying much later? Do we still make at least 360 payments or do our payments stop when my husband turns 70?

HELEEN BARRY
Via e-mail

Officials at the Defense Finance and Accounting Service said the SBP open enrollment program was so successful that there were delays in processing elections due to the volume.

The two-year waiting period for benefits eligibility runs from the effective date of coverage which for enrollment applications received in September 2006 was Oct. 1, 2006. This date would determine both your survival period requirement and the 24-month period for those hefty buy-in premiums.

On your second question, regarding the SBP paid-up rule, effective Oct. 1, 2008 any retiree who has paid 360 premium payments and who have reached age 70 will see their SBP premium obligation end. (The Senate version of the 2008 defense authorization bill would move the SBP paid up date up to Oct. 1, 2007. We will know later this fall whether the House will agree to the change which would be applied back to the start of this month.)

Retirees who enrolled in SBP during open season are considered to be
enrolled for the period covered by the buy-in premium, treating them the same as someone who elected SBP on the first date eligible.

For more information on Retired and Annuitant pay, including paid-up SBP, survivor benefits and the social security offset, visit: www.dfas.mil/retiredpay.html  -- Tom Philpott

HEADSTONES

I am attempting to get a headstone for a veteran, my cousin, who was murdered by his wife many years ago. He was killed in Arizona and his family was in Tennessee. The family brought him there for burial but somehow they never received the headstone.

Can you direct me as to how to apply for the headstone? I don't know where to start to help this family

PEGGY B.
Via e-mail

The Department of Veterans Affairs has the information you need posted on their website including eligibility and ordering information for headstones and markers. The link is: www.cem.va.gov/cem/hm_hm.asp -- T. P.

Letters may be edited for clarity or length.  Write to Military Forum, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA  20120-1111, send e-mail to militaryforum@aol.com or visit www.militaryupdate.com

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