From: “Robert Burke” To: “Jerry K. Loeb” “Bill Gavitt”Cc: “LARRY STUMPF” “Robert Ramirez” “Bill Bryan” “Ed Hollingsworth” “‘Orin G. Pruner’” “Carolyne Mitchell”"Gloria”
Subject: Re: The Dis-Information as to Funding TFL — Making the Rounds in Order to Ramp Up Fight
Date: Tue, 3 May 2005
Greetings All - Thanks Jerry for calling attention not only to this very important area of concern but also the cal-moaa,org thread relating. I particularly like Adm Ryan’s much earlier media published response and his most recent at a Mt Rainer MOAA Chapter Meeting (which is on forementioned thread). Both are low keyed but very much on the mark with facts. I’m afraid at this stage a letter to the Editor by me or others would only result in numerous responses of uncomplimentary “Opinions” due mainly to a broad lack of understanding by those that haven’t been there done that. The major thing here is that all of us are “Happy Campers” with our TriCare for Life and the goal of all is or at least should be and that is - to keep that contract in place. Very sincerely, Robert E. Burke.
P.S. Jerry unless I hear otherwise from you I will be posting your message and its attachment on the cal-moaa site. Later either I or Webmaster Gloria will transfer the whole thread to the site blog area so that it becomes a category and all our members can participate, REB

Date: Tue, 03 May 2005
From: “Jerry K. Loeb”
Subject: The Dis-Information as to Funding TFL — Making the Rounds in Order
to Ramp Up Fight
To: “Bill Gavitt” Cc: “Robert Ramirez” “Bill Bryan” , “Ed Hollingsworth” “‘Orin G. Pruner’” , “Bob Burke” ,”Carolyne Mitchell”
Greetings All Fellow MOAA Members:
Please check out the Attachment re: TFL and the dis-information being used against MOAA, TMC and the military at large. This TFL dis-information campaign is gaining momentum. This article is only one among dozens that are snaking their way into the political and public consciousness. I respectfully remind all of us that the funding for current and future TFL costs have already been addressed to resolution by 2004-2005 Congressional Act. It is this Administration (read Dr. Chu and the DoD itself) who has a whole different message to deliver. Unfortunately.

Instead of just snarling and reacting to this assault and TFL dis-information and negative propaganda campaign, why don’t all MOAA Chapters and MOAA National go on the offense and get into an all-out but positive campaign? Here are but two sorry examples: Senator Diane Feinstein’s (D-CA) response letter to me re: TFL funding, demonstrated that she (staff) did not remember that the TFL funding issue had already been resolved on Capitol Hill. And she voted Yay! Along comes Representative Mary Bono’s (R-CA) response two days ago, and she (staff) too did not know how to “cure” the TFL funding problem. She, too, forgot that the TFL funding issue had already been resolved on Capitol Hill back inside the 2004-2005 Defense Authorization Act et al. And she voted Yay!
Worse, the DoD’s JCS crew, when queried by some lonesome-polecat-of-a-reporter, could not “remember” that the TFL funding issue had already been resolved by Congressional Act — and — that Congress had legally directed the Administration to fully enact the TFL et al funding provisions. The Administration has refused to do so and selected another course of action to deflect the truth. Moreover, when the lonesome-polecat-of-a-reporter asked the Chairman, JCS, he admitted that he “really didn’t have all the facts”. Strange, he had a responsibility —- along with SecDef —- to sign off on the Defense Authorization package (including the TFL funding issue et al) before it went to the Hill for the final vote process.
On the CAL-MOAA website, Brigadier Clemens, USAF (Ret.) has posted some very interesting aspects of this growing TFL funding issue. He smartly lays out the who, when, where and why of this vital issue. I respectfully urge you all to avail yourselves of the site and review what the General has posted. Is all of his posting the True Gospel According to St. SecDef? I do not know. But the General lays out a rather powerful scenario of events and timelines in the TFL et al battle.
And I do know this truth after trudging up the Hill for over 17 years: If MOAA Chapters and MOAA National do not soon come up with a highly coordinated and hard-hitting, effective (standing) MOAA Truth Command for TV, radio, print media —- and — the Golden Keys (read each Senator and each Representative — State and Federal), we will all soon be checking six and wondering how we got flamed. We don’t have to get flamed. This is another strong reason we can recruit more active duty MOAA members and more retired officers into MOAA. One Strong Voice, that’s what The Man said. TMC, MOAA and the other military organizations collectively have a 5.5 million member One Strong Voice. This isn’t choir practice and a few guest soloists. This is serious major league, in the big stadium let’s-go-for-it-time!
Letters to the Editor (read NY Times), taking swipes at the news media, and a MOAA postcards to the politicians in this TFL funding battle, ain’t gonna cut it. It’s a genuine but polite start. Whining to one another ain’t gonna cut it. This campaign to keep the retirement benefits we have earned (not won), has to be just as dogged and determined as any battle that we older Warriors have waged — and won — in the past. The envisioned MOAA campaign, along with TMC, has be done with a plan, purpose and executed with precision. There are some solid politicians on the Hill who are struggling to correct the wrongs and the dis-information swirling around TFL et al issues. We must consolidate and combine MOAA/TMC wills and strengths along with these good men and women on the Hill. They want to help, but first we must help ourselves.
Here is a start. We need to educate our elected State and Federal officials during their Summer recess period. This is the time they are most receptive and open to getting up to speed. With precision. Sustaining that is another chore. But first, every MOAA member must fully understand the issues at risk, in the light of real facts and the truth, fully participate and provide responsible solutions before we venture forward. Congress has already decided the issues. We need to ensure that every elected official remembers that fact — and — they need to ensure their Congressional will is done. That is the task we have to reinforce.
And there is a much larger picture looming here. Should we (MOAA and TMC) allow ourselves (roll over) to get thoroughly toasted and flamed on the hotly contested TFL funding issue and prescription drugs et al: Then comes the next political and succesful assault on active duty pay, benefits — and — all military retirees’ earned retirement income and remaining earned retirement benefits. Please remember that Job One for some politicians is: “Get Elected and Stay Elected”. Everything else is collateral duty or collateral damage, depending on one’s own political and social viewpoints.
Thanx for taking the time to read this e-mail. You might not agree with my points of view, and that is healthy, but I sincerely trust that you do agree that we all in MOAA need to get crackin’ here. We don’t have to be stupid-aggressive on the TFL funding et al issues. However, we can get a sustained and progressive MOAA/TMC campaign well underway that will win the day. For now. And beyond.
Respectfully yours,
Jerry K. Loeb
CDR, USN (Ret.)
MOAA Member Number 01713205
Author/ANTHEM (2004)
B&N, Borders and www.amazon.com
—–Original Message—–
The following article appeared in the Washington Post 04/22/05

Keep an eye on the best med program we could ever hope to have……things
are out of control!
Rising Medical Costs Worry Pentagon, Hill

By Ceci Connolly

Confronting medical costs that have doubled in four years, military
officials and congressional leaders said yesterday that the Pentagon needs
to rethink the generous coverage it provides or risk making sacrifices in
other areas of the Defense Department budget.

A rich benefits package, coupled with expanded retiree coverage, have
thrust the Pentagon into the same financial predicament that is threatening
the profitability of such major companies as General Motors Corp.,
administration officials told the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on
personnel.

The cost of covering 9 million active-duty members, retired personnel and
their families rose from $18 billion in 2001 to $36 billion this year, said
William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs.
By 2010, that figure will likely reach $50 billion, he said, with 70 percent
devoted to retiree coverage.

“Looking to the medium to longer term, quite candidly, we are concerned,”
Winkenwerder and David S.C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and
readiness, said in written testimony. The total defense budget is about $419
billion.

One of the main culprits is Tricare for Life, the program enacted in 2001
that guarantees comprehensive coverage for retirees. It was created in
response to a public outcry from veterans as they moved from military
coverage into the less-generous Medicare program at age 65. This year, the
retiree program will cost $11 billion, Winkenwerder said, although a portion
is being invested in a long-term trust fund.

“We’re going to have to look to redesign that promise in the future” or the
budget challenge “will continually get out of hand,” said Sen. Lindsey O.
Graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the subcommittee.

The military’s health care crunch is both common and unique. Like private
employers, the Pentagon is grappling with an aging population, skyrocketing
prescription bills and a technological explosion that has produced a buffet
of pricey new tests and treatments. But unlike the corporate world, Tricare
and Tricare for Life have been adding benefits even as they steadfastly
refused to increase beneficiary fees.

“The military is now venturing into joining the problems the rest of our
health care system is experiencing,” said David Blumenthal, director of the
Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
“You’re in for a long struggle.”

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), rattling off the enormous sums spent on medical
care in the United States, said the problem is not the military but the
entire health system.

“It’s broken for our military; it’s broken for everyone else,” he said.

The armed services are “increasingly out of step with private-employer
plans,” Winkenwerder said. Over the past decade, military personnel,
retirees and their families have experienced virtually no increase in
co-payments, while federal civilian workers have seen out-of-pocket costs
increase between 57 percent and 87 percent, he told the panel.

At a time when the average American worker pays $2,600 a year in health
insurance premiums, most people enrolled in Tricare pay less than $500, said
S.D. Hosek, co-director of the Center for Military Health Policy Research at
the nonprofit Rand Corp. And while most medications cost less than $10 under
Tricare, private plans charge $10 to $40.

“Tricare today is a more attractive option than employer health plans,” so
even military retirees who could purchase coverage through another job or a
spouse are increasingly opting to stay in the military’s plan, she said. On
the other hand, the military has kept administrative costs well below 10
percent at a time when private insurers spend between 12 percent and 14
percent.

“Co-payments are not an instant solution,” Blumenthal cautioned. Although
the Medicare health program for seniors has raised its fees, its total
budget has soared largely because so many elderly people suffer from
multiple chronic conditions, such as heart disease, arthritis and diabetes,
he said.

Blumenthal noted that Medicare patients with five chronic conditions cost
15 times as much as other Medicare recipients.

Mon, 16 May 2005 13:45:24
From: “Robert Ramirez”
Subject: Fw: Facts as to the Funding of TFL and Related Programs — Active Duty and Retired Military Members/Survivors
To: “TOM JOHNSON” “Fred Nowak”, “Fred Grigsby” , “Dick Ritz”, “Brenie O’Prey” , “Bob Kern” , “Bob Burke”, “Bill Gavitt”, “LARRY STUMPF” , “jere Wolf” , “Jack Duffy”

—– Original Message —–
From: Jerry K. Loeb
To: legis@moaa.org
Cc: Robert Ramirez ; Carolyne Mitchell ; Bill Bryan ; ‘Orin G. Pruner’ ; Dick and Maralyn Stocker
Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 11:34 AM
Subject: Facts as to the Funding of TFL and Related Programs — Active Duty and Retired Military Members/Survivors

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen of MOAA National’s Legislative Affairs:
Greetings from Palm Desert, CA.

Most recently, I have received a legislative (TFL) response from both Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Representative Mary Bono (R-CA); regarding the growing controversy surrounding the cost and the funding for TFL and related military benefits/retirement programs.

Although their respective Congressional responses were standard boiler-plate (staff) letters, it is very obvious that neither they nor staff have the real TFL funding facts in hand. I respectfully suggest that if MOAA National took a Capitol Hill “headcount”; most U.S. Senators and Representatives do not know — or understand — exactly how TFL and other related military benefit/retirement programs are — in fact — funded. Even though both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House voted the subject TFL et al funding processes into law, there might be a steady and progressive TFL et al re-education program needed for these busy folks.
But first, there are some positive and cost effective things that MOAA National can provide in order to get our membership and elected officials up to speed on this vital issue — and — sustain that level of involvement and retention. They are as follows:

Suggested Step One: As a coordinated and effective re-education start, it would be extremely beneficial for MOAA National to dedicate a major but simple, concise “TFL Funding Flow Chart” in a near-future Military Office magazine article. Factual introduction (or re-introduction of the facts for some of us) of TFL funding et al, would go a long way toward all of our MOAA members understanding where the hard and soft political spots really are.

Suggested Step Two: Once our MOAA membership is up to speed on the TFL funding issue and processes, a MOAA Chapters’ grassroots initiative can be intelligently moved forward during the Congressional summer recess period. This recess period is an excellent time for all of us to progressively move our factual MOAA messages to our elected officials.

Suggested Step Three: A coordinated Fall and Winter 2005-2006 “follow-up” grassroots MOAA Chapters’ campaign, concurrent with a MOAA National storm-the-hill campaign.
Suggested Step Four: Keep the MOAA Chapters’ political grassroots organized components up to speed and intact for deployment — prior to — every DoD and Congressional FY Budget Process.

There are most likely, a number of quiet MOAA National initiatives going on. Including, among many other MOAA/TMC issues, the mission to keep TFL and other related military benefit/retirement programs from getting politically skewered. With over 383,000 MOAA members and growing daily, we most certainly are “One Powerful Voice”. Let us progressively get — and — stay involved with the TFL funding et al issues.

The growing and constant attacks against TFL et al will not go away. We are in for the long political haul. So, let’s get to it!

Best regards,
Jerry K. Loeb
CDR, USN-Ret
MOAA Chapter Palm Springs, CA

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