(We thought this email from VADM Ryan warranted repeating for all members!)
Visit Your Legislators in August!
Dear Council/Chapter Presidents/Legislative Chairs/Legislative Liaisons,
We don't have to tell you that Congress is about to consider an array of major deficit-reduction initiatives. What you may not know is that they include options to:
· Freeze military pay raises and/or reduce military manpower levels, despite the terrible wartime strains already imposed on currently serving troops and families
· Dramatically reduce the military retirement package for future service entrants and perhaps even for many currently serving
· Significantly increase out of pocket healthcare expenses by up to $2,000 or more per year for retired military families under 65, and up to $6,000 for retired couples over 65 with Medicare supplements (including TRICARE For Life)
Further, Congress still must act before the end of the year to stop a 30% cut in Medicare and TRICARE payments to doctors now scheduled for January 1, 2012 under current law. Such a huge cut raises risks that many more doctors will stop seeing military and elder patients.
With all of these major challenges arising at once, it's imperative that we let our legislators know how we feel about them.
During the month of August, most elected officials will be in their home states/districts meeting with constituents. This is a great opportunity for you as council/chapter leaders and legislative chairs/liaisons to visit your legislators' local offices and advise them of your and MOAA's concerns on these matters.
A key point is that these aren't just "defending our rice bowl" issues; they're matters of sustaining retention and readiness – the core of our national defense – over the long term.
To assist you in preparing for these meetings, we've developed fact sheets and talking points on three key issues – covering all of the issues listed above.
Please don't feel like you have to be an expert on every issue. That's why we designed the packages as we have – to include a "key points" summary to talk from, along with one-page fact sheets on each issue that you can print and leave with the legislators and/or their staffs.
One of the reasons MOAA has been successful on Capitol Hill is that we have members who are willing to contact their legislators and express their views on issues that are important to them. Leaders who can say "We represent _____ MOAA members in our state" help convey that they're speaking for a substantial group of constituents.
And the grassroots support of our Council and Chapter leaders has never been as important as it is now.
You can use MOAA's website to locate legislators' state/district offices.
One-Page Fact Sheets for Three Key Issues
1) Protect Our Troops and Families from Budget-Driven Cutbacks
The deficit reduction pressures should not punish the troops and families by reducing pay raises or reducing the sizes of the Army and Marine Corps.
Fact Sheet on Currently Serving Issues
2) Resist Undermining Crucial Military Career Incentives
In ongoing negotiations to slash federal spending, top defense, administration and congressional leaders are seriously considering major military retirement cutbacks and shifting thousands of dollars a year to TRICARE beneficiaries.
Fact Sheet on Protecting These Core Career Retention Programs
3) Stop the 30% Cut in Medicare/TRICARE Payments to Doctors
Declining participation of providers due to low reimbursements is the most serious healthcare problem facing Medicare-eligible and military beneficiaries of all ages. A 30% cut in Medicare/TRICARE physical payments to doctors schedule for Jan 2012 will only worsen this situation.
Fact Sheet on Stopping the Medicare/TRICARE Cut
Use this one-page "elevator speech" to summarize the main points of the three issues.
Use this statistical summary to highlight the number of people affected in your state.
If you have any questions, please contact Matt Murphy (mattm@moaa.org ext. 113) or Bret Shea (brets@moaa.org ext 807).
Many thanks in advance for your support of this important effort.
Sincerely,
VADM Norb Ryan, USN (Ret)
President
|