thedrifter
01-04-06, 11:29 AM
January 09, 2006
Your ’06 pay & bennies
• 3.1% pay raise kicks in for everyone
• Tricare coverage for drilling reservists
• More income for mobilized reservists
By Rick Maze
Times staff writer
Along with a 3.1 percent pay raise and many increases in bonuses and special pays intended to help recruiting and retention, the 2006 defense authorization bill includes two groundbreaking benefits.
One is an income-replacement program for mobilized National Guard and reserve members that will provide up to $3,000 a month in extra pay for those whose military pay is less than they make in their civilian jobs.
The second opens the military’s Tricare insurance program to all drilling members of reserve components, not just those who are or have been mobilized.
In both cases, there are concerns about how active-duty members will react as the overall package of reserve benefits improves. Those are not idle concerns, although severe limits on the new benefits could ease worries about negative fallout in the active-duty force.
Income replacement, which results in the federal government paying more to reserve members than to active-duty troops of the same rank and duties, applies only to National Guard and reserve members involuntarily mobilized for 18 months or more or who face frequent call-ups.
Similarly, Congress has extended Tricare health insurance to all members of the Selected Reserve, but the premiums may be too high to attract many people.
Someone who has no civilian job or whose civilian employer does not offer health benefits would pay about $144 a month for individual coverage and $452 a month for family coverage.
Those who have civilian health coverage available but instead decide to buy into Tricare would pay $246 a month for individual coverage or $768 for their family.
Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Armed Services military personnel subcommittee, who helped shape the benefits package, said its main purpose is to provide “maximum assistance to the brave men and women who are fighting the global war on terror.”
The final bill “addresses many problems and concerns that have been brought to our attention by the troops themselves,” McHugh said. “It will also help relieve the tremendous pressures placed upon our military services — active, Guard and reserve alike.”
Some major benefits that had been in play this year are missing from the final package, notably two Senate-passed initiatives that had been near the top of the priority list for military associations.
One would have lowered the age at which reservists can begin drawing retirement pay, now set at age 60. This has long been a sore spot for reservists because federal civilians can start drawing retired pay at age 55 and active-duty members who have completed 20 years of service can receive retired pay as young as age 38.
A second benefit that in the end was rejected would have allowed survivors of deceased service members to receive full survivor benefits from both the Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs, eliminating an offset required in current law.
In both cases, Pentagon opposition and a lack of funding led negotiators to drop the proposals from the final authorization bill.
But as McHugh noted, there are many new compensation provisions in the bill that will benefit a variety of people in uniform.
Here are details about what troops and their families can expect to receive in fiscal 2006:
Basic pay
What: Active-duty and reserve members get a 3.1 percent pay raise because Congress left intact a formula established in 1999 to slowly close the perceived gap between military and private-sector wages.
The increase, which applies to basic pay and drill pay, reduces the so-called pay gap to 4.6 percent, down from 13.5 percent in 1999.
The formula that set military raises at 0.5 percentage point more than private-sector raises expires with this increase, leaving questions about what will happen in 2007 and beyond.
Who: All active-duty members and drilling reservists.
When: Effective Jan. 1.
Re-enlistment bonuses
What: The maximum Selective Re-enlistment Bonus, or SRB, rises by 50 percent to $90,000 for active-duty members. Also, enlisted members with 16 to 20 years of service would become eligible for bonuses, which had not previously been allowed.
For drilling reservists, the bill authorizes up to $100,000 over a career in critical-skills retention bonuses, and special pay for reservists in high-priority units increases to $50 per drill, up from the previous $10 per drill.
Who: About 95,000 people — 65,000 active-duty members and 30,000 reservists — could be offered bonuses in 2006.
When: The bonus caps are effective when the bill is signed.
However, each service and reserve component would have to set its own bonus policies.
Retroactive danger pay
What: Retroactive payment of imminent-danger pay or hostile-fire pay are allowed as long as the Defense Department follows procedures for designating a geographic area or duties as dangerous.
Who: Mostly aimed at special operations forces.
When: Effective immediately, but no one gets paid without a determination of retroactive eligibility by the defense secretary.
Thrift savings
What: All services are allowed — and the Army is ordered — to create a pilot program in which first-term enlistees who enroll in the Thrift Savings Plan would have the government match part of their contribution.
While the Army program is mandatory, the service has some discretion about how much to contribute. The program will include extra financial counseling about why saving is beneficial.
Who: Only new recruits with enlistments of two years or more.
When: Effective when the bill is signed, but the Army would have to create the program.
Referral bonus
What: A test program authorizes a $1,000 referral bonus to a service member who gets someone else to enlist. To get paid, service members would have to send a person who is neither a member of his immediate family nor has prior military service to a recruiter. That person would have to meet military standards and complete boot camp and individual advanced training for the bonus to be paid.
Who: The test is limited to Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve members.
When: Effective when the bill is signed, but regulations governing the program would have to be issued before anyone is paid.
Hardship-duty pay
What: Monthly hardship-duty pay, previously capped at $300, increases to $750.
Who: Payments go to people in areas with arduous conditions, with rates set by defense and service officials.
When: Effective when the bill is signed, but increases are not automatic.
Army incentives
What: In what congressional aides describe as an effort to give the Army a recruiting edge, authority is granted for the Army to develop and implement four recruiting incentive programs after providing 45 days of advance notice. This is an opening for such ideas as an Army proposal to provide recruits with a savings account that could be used as a down payment on the purchase of a home.
Who: Army recruits in 2006.
When: No program could be launched before mid-February at the earliest.
Enlistment bonuses
What: The maximum enlistment bonus doubles, to $40,000 for active-duty troops and $20,000 for reservists. The reserve bonus could apply both to new recruits and prior-service personnel who join the Selected Reserve.
Who: About 200,000 people will enlist in 2006.
When: Effective when the bill is signed, but the services have wide discretion about when to offer bonuses and to whom.
Transfer bonus
What: A bonus of up to $2,500 could be paid to active-duty and reserve members who transfer from one service to another. Transfers between the active-duty and reserve components of a single service would not qualify for this payment, although other bonuses could be available.
Who: Eligibility is expected to be limited to people with skills critically needed by another service. The bonus is aimed mostly at getting Air Force and Navy members to join the Army.
When: Effective immediately, but nobody gets the bonus until military officials determine if, when and to whom they might offer it.
Assignment incentive pay
What: Two changes are made in assignment incentive pay: The maximum monthly amount doubles to $3,000, and troops will have the option of lump-sum, rather than monthly, payments.
Who: Used mostly by the Navy to encourage people to take specific assignments for a specific length of time.
When: Effective when the bill is signed, but each service would set its own policy.
Foreign language bonus
What: A new bonus of up to $12,000 a year is approved to replace monthly special pay for service members with foreign language skills. Also, reservists are eligible for the same payment as active-duty members; reservists previously received reduced amounts prorated to their number of monthly drills.
Who: Military officials hope the lump-sum option encourages more people with language skills to join or remain in the military.
When: Authorized when the bill is signed, but implementing regulations are needed before anyone is offered the money.
Temporary lodging rules
What: Service members who are authorized lodging expenses while on temporary duty may continue to receive lodging payments during any authorized absence, an expansion of current law that allows payments only during authorized leave. The change allows payments when a commander grants time off that is not counted as leave.
Who: Aimed mostly at mobilized reservists assigned to stateside bases who travel home on weekends.
When: Effective when the bill is signed.
Rehabilitation pay
What: Service members recovering from combat-related injuries or illnesses would receive $430 a month in extra pay for as long as they remain hospitalized while on active duty.
Also, lawmakers have made permanent a prohibition against charges for hospital meals for anyone undergoing treatment or therapy, including outpatient care, in a military treatment facility for injuries, illness or disease incurred in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom or any other operation designated by the defense secretary.
Who: Only those currently hospitalized or recovering from wounds would be covered. Retroactive payments are not authorized.
When: Applies for any month in recovery after the bill is signed. Those in treatment for prior injuries or illnesses also qualify.
Income replacement
What: Involuntarily mobilized National Guard and reserve members who make less money in uniform than in their civilian jobs could be eligible for up to $3,000 a month in extra pay.
There are several conditions for the pay, which is available only if a reservist’s income is at least $50 less per month than his civilian wages. Reservists can be eligible if mobilized for at least 18 months of continuous active duty, for 24 cumulative months in a 60-month period or for a second time within six months of a previous call-up.
If they meet eligibility rules, they can get a monthly payment of up to $3,000 to replace the difference between their military pay and allowances, including special and incentive pays, and the average monthly income they received from their civilian job over the 12 months preceding mobilization. Average monthly payments for those who qualify are expected to be about $900.
Who: About 13,000 reservists are expected to be eligible. Most reservists will not get payments because the military has tried to keep involuntary call-ups to less than 18 months, and those who volunteer for active duty for two years or more are not eligible.
When: Effective 180 days after the bill is signed.
Insurance allowance
What: Service members deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom will receive a monthly allowance to reimburse the cost of $150,000 of coverage under the Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance program, a total of $9.75 per month at current premium rates.
The allowance is aimed at encouraging service members to carry at least minimum SGLI coverage, although no one could be forced to do so. The provision also authorizes, but does not require, the Defense Department to increase the insurance allowance to cover the cost of the maximum $400,000 in SGLI available to service members, a total of $26 a month.
Who: The roughly 160,000 people in combat zones would qualify.
When: Effective when the bill is signed, although it could take a while for eligible troops to see the money.
Reserve housing allowance
What: Housing allowances for mobilized reservists would rise by an average of $430 a month for those mobilized for more than 30 but fewer than 140 days.
Previously, reservists received a reduced allowance during this period, known as Basic Allowance for Housing Type II.
Who: Most mobilized reservists would qualify.
When: Effective when the bill is signed.
Adoption leave
What: A new leave benefit is created for service members who adopt, granting them up to 21 days off with pay in addition to their normal leave. If the adoption is done by a dual-military couple, only one member can take the adoption leave.
Who: About 2,500 service members a year are expected to qualify.
When: Effective for adoptions occurring on or after Jan. 1, but requires regulations to be issued before anyone could take the leave.
Disaster housing assistance
What: Changes in two housing allowances would help service members displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
First, a temporary increase of up to 20 percent in the Basic Allowance for Housing would be permitted in areas hit by a major disaster. The increase also would be available for locations that have had a sudden increase in personnel.
Second, the temporary lodging expense, a $180 daily payment allowed for up to 12 days, would be extended to 20 days for areas high by major disasters.
Both programs would expire Dec. 31, 2008.
Who: Every service had bases around the Gulf Coast that were damaged by the hurricanes.
When: Temporary lodging expense payments could apply retroactively to Sept. 1, 2005. BAH increases could happen only after the bill is enacted.
Supplemental Subsistence Allowance
What: A $500 monthly allowance created to keep low-income service members with families off the food stamp rolls becomes permanent. The allowance, created in 2001, is paid to service members who are eligible for food stamps, in hopes that the extra money is enough to keep them from qualifying.
Who: About 1,400 people get SSA, mostly junior enlisted troops with large families.
When: Extends a current program.
Professional licenses
What: Service members can get two forms of help from the government in paying for professional and state licenses.
Active-duty members may receive reimbursement as long as the credentials or state or professional licenses are not needed as a prerequisite for entering the military. Reservists eligible for the Montgomery GI Bill can use their education benefits for licensing and certification tests, something already available for people using the active-duty GI Bill. Up to $2,000 could be paid under the education benefits program, with the amount deducted from remaining benefits.
Who: Any number of service members for whom licensing and testing are important ways to transfer a military-learned skill into a civilian occupation.
When: Effective when the bill is signed, but regulations would have to be issued before anyone is paid.
Overseas COLA
What: A military family that stays overseas when a service member is reassigned to the United States may continue to receive an overseas cost-of-living allowance.
However, payment is not automatic. A determination would have to be made that continuing the allowance is in the best interests of the family, the military and the taxpayers.
Who: The change is aimed at instances in which a member assigned overseas returns to the States for training while en route to a new stateside assignment.
When: Authorized when the bill is signed, but would not take effect until each service sets circumstances for payment.
Death gratuity
What: The death gratuity will become equal for combat and non-combat deaths, in two phases.
First, a $100,000 payment to families upon the death of an active-duty member would be made retroactive to Oct. 7, 2001.
This changes previous policy, under which $100,000 was paid for combat-related deaths and $12,420 for non-combat deaths.
Second, equal treatment of death benefits will extend to retroactive payments of Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance, removing a disparity in benefits for deaths that occurred from Oct. 7, 2001, to May 11, 2005, when SGLI payments increased by $150,000 to the new maximum of $400,000.
Back payments under this provision could total as much as $238,000.
Who: About 1,200 families will get retroactive payments, with the money going to the beneficiary of the original payment.
When: The new policy applies to all deaths on active duty, including mobilized reservists, on or after Oct. 7, 2001.
Payments are authorized as soon as the bill is signed, but regulations must be changed before the money is paid.
Household goods weight limits
What: Weight limits for the senior enlisted paygrades rise by 500 to 1,000 pounds, both for single members and those with families.
Who: The E-7, E-8 and E-9 paygrades.
When: Effective for movement orders issued on or after Jan. 1.
Survivor housing benefits
What: Dependents of members who die on active duty will be allowed to stay in military family housing or receive housing allowance for up to one year after the death.
This benefit, previously available only under temporary authority, becomes law.
Surviving family members also will have up to three years, rather than the previous one year, to select a permanent residence to which their personal and household items are moved at government expense.
Who: Families with school-aged children are the most likely to benefit from staying put for a year after an active-duty death.
When: Extends an existing temporary housing program. The new three-year rule for the final move applies to moves made after the bill becomes law.
Tricare for surviving children
What: Dependent children of deceased service members will receive Tricare Prime medical coverage at no cost. Coverage will continue until age 21, or age 23 if he is enrolled as a full-time college student. This is a major benefit expansion; previously, free coverage was limited to three years, with a premium being charged for any further coverage.
Who: About 10,000 children are expected to qualify.
When: Effective immediately.
Reserve Tricare
What: Tricare health coverage would be available to all drilling reservists and their families, although the cost might prevent some from signing up.
There would be three levels of coverage.
First, Tricare Reserve Select continues for those who have been mobilized. For every 90 days of mobilization, a reservist would be eligible for one year of Tricare coverage, with the government paying 72 percent of the costs.
Second, those who are unemployed, self-employed or whose employers do not offer health coverage could have Tricare, with the cost split 50-50 with the government, even if they have not recently been mobilized.
Third, any drilling reservists could have coverage if they pay 85 percent of the cost.
Who: All drilling members of the National Guard and reserve could receive coverage, although those who haven’t been mobilized could be covered only as long as they remain in the reserves.
When: Must be effective by Oct. 1.
Nurse accession bonus
What: Nursing students enrolled in the ROTC could receive an accession bonus of up to $5,000 after completing their second year if they sign an agreement to enter the Nurse Corps.
Who: Would be open only to those who enter the Army.
When: Effective when the bill is signed.
Concurrent receipt
What: Totally disabled military retirees with 20 or more years of service whose disability is based on their unemployability and whose disability is not directly related to combat or combat training would see a shortening of their waiting time for the complete phase-in of a plan to allow them to draw their full military retired pay and veterans’ disability compensation.
Instead of waiting until 2014, the date set in previous law, they now will get both full payments by Sept. 30, 2009.
Who: About 30,000 disabled retirees.
When: No change in payments until 2009.
Ellie
Your ’06 pay & bennies
• 3.1% pay raise kicks in for everyone
• Tricare coverage for drilling reservists
• More income for mobilized reservists
By Rick Maze
Times staff writer
Along with a 3.1 percent pay raise and many increases in bonuses and special pays intended to help recruiting and retention, the 2006 defense authorization bill includes two groundbreaking benefits.
One is an income-replacement program for mobilized National Guard and reserve members that will provide up to $3,000 a month in extra pay for those whose military pay is less than they make in their civilian jobs.
The second opens the military’s Tricare insurance program to all drilling members of reserve components, not just those who are or have been mobilized.
In both cases, there are concerns about how active-duty members will react as the overall package of reserve benefits improves. Those are not idle concerns, although severe limits on the new benefits could ease worries about negative fallout in the active-duty force.
Income replacement, which results in the federal government paying more to reserve members than to active-duty troops of the same rank and duties, applies only to National Guard and reserve members involuntarily mobilized for 18 months or more or who face frequent call-ups.
Similarly, Congress has extended Tricare health insurance to all members of the Selected Reserve, but the premiums may be too high to attract many people.
Someone who has no civilian job or whose civilian employer does not offer health benefits would pay about $144 a month for individual coverage and $452 a month for family coverage.
Those who have civilian health coverage available but instead decide to buy into Tricare would pay $246 a month for individual coverage or $768 for their family.
Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Armed Services military personnel subcommittee, who helped shape the benefits package, said its main purpose is to provide “maximum assistance to the brave men and women who are fighting the global war on terror.”
The final bill “addresses many problems and concerns that have been brought to our attention by the troops themselves,” McHugh said. “It will also help relieve the tremendous pressures placed upon our military services — active, Guard and reserve alike.”
Some major benefits that had been in play this year are missing from the final package, notably two Senate-passed initiatives that had been near the top of the priority list for military associations.
One would have lowered the age at which reservists can begin drawing retirement pay, now set at age 60. This has long been a sore spot for reservists because federal civilians can start drawing retired pay at age 55 and active-duty members who have completed 20 years of service can receive retired pay as young as age 38.
A second benefit that in the end was rejected would have allowed survivors of deceased service members to receive full survivor benefits from both the Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs, eliminating an offset required in current law.
In both cases, Pentagon opposition and a lack of funding led negotiators to drop the proposals from the final authorization bill.
But as McHugh noted, there are many new compensation provisions in the bill that will benefit a variety of people in uniform.
Here are details about what troops and their families can expect to receive in fiscal 2006:
Basic pay
What: Active-duty and reserve members get a 3.1 percent pay raise because Congress left intact a formula established in 1999 to slowly close the perceived gap between military and private-sector wages.
The increase, which applies to basic pay and drill pay, reduces the so-called pay gap to 4.6 percent, down from 13.5 percent in 1999.
The formula that set military raises at 0.5 percentage point more than private-sector raises expires with this increase, leaving questions about what will happen in 2007 and beyond.
Who: All active-duty members and drilling reservists.
When: Effective Jan. 1.
Re-enlistment bonuses
What: The maximum Selective Re-enlistment Bonus, or SRB, rises by 50 percent to $90,000 for active-duty members. Also, enlisted members with 16 to 20 years of service would become eligible for bonuses, which had not previously been allowed.
For drilling reservists, the bill authorizes up to $100,000 over a career in critical-skills retention bonuses, and special pay for reservists in high-priority units increases to $50 per drill, up from the previous $10 per drill.
Who: About 95,000 people — 65,000 active-duty members and 30,000 reservists — could be offered bonuses in 2006.
When: The bonus caps are effective when the bill is signed.
However, each service and reserve component would have to set its own bonus policies.
Retroactive danger pay
What: Retroactive payment of imminent-danger pay or hostile-fire pay are allowed as long as the Defense Department follows procedures for designating a geographic area or duties as dangerous.
Who: Mostly aimed at special operations forces.
When: Effective immediately, but no one gets paid without a determination of retroactive eligibility by the defense secretary.
Thrift savings
What: All services are allowed — and the Army is ordered — to create a pilot program in which first-term enlistees who enroll in the Thrift Savings Plan would have the government match part of their contribution.
While the Army program is mandatory, the service has some discretion about how much to contribute. The program will include extra financial counseling about why saving is beneficial.
Who: Only new recruits with enlistments of two years or more.
When: Effective when the bill is signed, but the Army would have to create the program.
Referral bonus
What: A test program authorizes a $1,000 referral bonus to a service member who gets someone else to enlist. To get paid, service members would have to send a person who is neither a member of his immediate family nor has prior military service to a recruiter. That person would have to meet military standards and complete boot camp and individual advanced training for the bonus to be paid.
Who: The test is limited to Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve members.
When: Effective when the bill is signed, but regulations governing the program would have to be issued before anyone is paid.
Hardship-duty pay
What: Monthly hardship-duty pay, previously capped at $300, increases to $750.
Who: Payments go to people in areas with arduous conditions, with rates set by defense and service officials.
When: Effective when the bill is signed, but increases are not automatic.
Army incentives
What: In what congressional aides describe as an effort to give the Army a recruiting edge, authority is granted for the Army to develop and implement four recruiting incentive programs after providing 45 days of advance notice. This is an opening for such ideas as an Army proposal to provide recruits with a savings account that could be used as a down payment on the purchase of a home.
Who: Army recruits in 2006.
When: No program could be launched before mid-February at the earliest.
Enlistment bonuses
What: The maximum enlistment bonus doubles, to $40,000 for active-duty troops and $20,000 for reservists. The reserve bonus could apply both to new recruits and prior-service personnel who join the Selected Reserve.
Who: About 200,000 people will enlist in 2006.
When: Effective when the bill is signed, but the services have wide discretion about when to offer bonuses and to whom.
Transfer bonus
What: A bonus of up to $2,500 could be paid to active-duty and reserve members who transfer from one service to another. Transfers between the active-duty and reserve components of a single service would not qualify for this payment, although other bonuses could be available.
Who: Eligibility is expected to be limited to people with skills critically needed by another service. The bonus is aimed mostly at getting Air Force and Navy members to join the Army.
When: Effective immediately, but nobody gets the bonus until military officials determine if, when and to whom they might offer it.
Assignment incentive pay
What: Two changes are made in assignment incentive pay: The maximum monthly amount doubles to $3,000, and troops will have the option of lump-sum, rather than monthly, payments.
Who: Used mostly by the Navy to encourage people to take specific assignments for a specific length of time.
When: Effective when the bill is signed, but each service would set its own policy.
Foreign language bonus
What: A new bonus of up to $12,000 a year is approved to replace monthly special pay for service members with foreign language skills. Also, reservists are eligible for the same payment as active-duty members; reservists previously received reduced amounts prorated to their number of monthly drills.
Who: Military officials hope the lump-sum option encourages more people with language skills to join or remain in the military.
When: Authorized when the bill is signed, but implementing regulations are needed before anyone is offered the money.
Temporary lodging rules
What: Service members who are authorized lodging expenses while on temporary duty may continue to receive lodging payments during any authorized absence, an expansion of current law that allows payments only during authorized leave. The change allows payments when a commander grants time off that is not counted as leave.
Who: Aimed mostly at mobilized reservists assigned to stateside bases who travel home on weekends.
When: Effective when the bill is signed.
Rehabilitation pay
What: Service members recovering from combat-related injuries or illnesses would receive $430 a month in extra pay for as long as they remain hospitalized while on active duty.
Also, lawmakers have made permanent a prohibition against charges for hospital meals for anyone undergoing treatment or therapy, including outpatient care, in a military treatment facility for injuries, illness or disease incurred in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom or any other operation designated by the defense secretary.
Who: Only those currently hospitalized or recovering from wounds would be covered. Retroactive payments are not authorized.
When: Applies for any month in recovery after the bill is signed. Those in treatment for prior injuries or illnesses also qualify.
Income replacement
What: Involuntarily mobilized National Guard and reserve members who make less money in uniform than in their civilian jobs could be eligible for up to $3,000 a month in extra pay.
There are several conditions for the pay, which is available only if a reservist’s income is at least $50 less per month than his civilian wages. Reservists can be eligible if mobilized for at least 18 months of continuous active duty, for 24 cumulative months in a 60-month period or for a second time within six months of a previous call-up.
If they meet eligibility rules, they can get a monthly payment of up to $3,000 to replace the difference between their military pay and allowances, including special and incentive pays, and the average monthly income they received from their civilian job over the 12 months preceding mobilization. Average monthly payments for those who qualify are expected to be about $900.
Who: About 13,000 reservists are expected to be eligible. Most reservists will not get payments because the military has tried to keep involuntary call-ups to less than 18 months, and those who volunteer for active duty for two years or more are not eligible.
When: Effective 180 days after the bill is signed.
Insurance allowance
What: Service members deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom will receive a monthly allowance to reimburse the cost of $150,000 of coverage under the Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance program, a total of $9.75 per month at current premium rates.
The allowance is aimed at encouraging service members to carry at least minimum SGLI coverage, although no one could be forced to do so. The provision also authorizes, but does not require, the Defense Department to increase the insurance allowance to cover the cost of the maximum $400,000 in SGLI available to service members, a total of $26 a month.
Who: The roughly 160,000 people in combat zones would qualify.
When: Effective when the bill is signed, although it could take a while for eligible troops to see the money.
Reserve housing allowance
What: Housing allowances for mobilized reservists would rise by an average of $430 a month for those mobilized for more than 30 but fewer than 140 days.
Previously, reservists received a reduced allowance during this period, known as Basic Allowance for Housing Type II.
Who: Most mobilized reservists would qualify.
When: Effective when the bill is signed.
Adoption leave
What: A new leave benefit is created for service members who adopt, granting them up to 21 days off with pay in addition to their normal leave. If the adoption is done by a dual-military couple, only one member can take the adoption leave.
Who: About 2,500 service members a year are expected to qualify.
When: Effective for adoptions occurring on or after Jan. 1, but requires regulations to be issued before anyone could take the leave.
Disaster housing assistance
What: Changes in two housing allowances would help service members displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
First, a temporary increase of up to 20 percent in the Basic Allowance for Housing would be permitted in areas hit by a major disaster. The increase also would be available for locations that have had a sudden increase in personnel.
Second, the temporary lodging expense, a $180 daily payment allowed for up to 12 days, would be extended to 20 days for areas high by major disasters.
Both programs would expire Dec. 31, 2008.
Who: Every service had bases around the Gulf Coast that were damaged by the hurricanes.
When: Temporary lodging expense payments could apply retroactively to Sept. 1, 2005. BAH increases could happen only after the bill is enacted.
Supplemental Subsistence Allowance
What: A $500 monthly allowance created to keep low-income service members with families off the food stamp rolls becomes permanent. The allowance, created in 2001, is paid to service members who are eligible for food stamps, in hopes that the extra money is enough to keep them from qualifying.
Who: About 1,400 people get SSA, mostly junior enlisted troops with large families.
When: Extends a current program.
Professional licenses
What: Service members can get two forms of help from the government in paying for professional and state licenses.
Active-duty members may receive reimbursement as long as the credentials or state or professional licenses are not needed as a prerequisite for entering the military. Reservists eligible for the Montgomery GI Bill can use their education benefits for licensing and certification tests, something already available for people using the active-duty GI Bill. Up to $2,000 could be paid under the education benefits program, with the amount deducted from remaining benefits.
Who: Any number of service members for whom licensing and testing are important ways to transfer a military-learned skill into a civilian occupation.
When: Effective when the bill is signed, but regulations would have to be issued before anyone is paid.
Overseas COLA
What: A military family that stays overseas when a service member is reassigned to the United States may continue to receive an overseas cost-of-living allowance.
However, payment is not automatic. A determination would have to be made that continuing the allowance is in the best interests of the family, the military and the taxpayers.
Who: The change is aimed at instances in which a member assigned overseas returns to the States for training while en route to a new stateside assignment.
When: Authorized when the bill is signed, but would not take effect until each service sets circumstances for payment.
Death gratuity
What: The death gratuity will become equal for combat and non-combat deaths, in two phases.
First, a $100,000 payment to families upon the death of an active-duty member would be made retroactive to Oct. 7, 2001.
This changes previous policy, under which $100,000 was paid for combat-related deaths and $12,420 for non-combat deaths.
Second, equal treatment of death benefits will extend to retroactive payments of Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance, removing a disparity in benefits for deaths that occurred from Oct. 7, 2001, to May 11, 2005, when SGLI payments increased by $150,000 to the new maximum of $400,000.
Back payments under this provision could total as much as $238,000.
Who: About 1,200 families will get retroactive payments, with the money going to the beneficiary of the original payment.
When: The new policy applies to all deaths on active duty, including mobilized reservists, on or after Oct. 7, 2001.
Payments are authorized as soon as the bill is signed, but regulations must be changed before the money is paid.
Household goods weight limits
What: Weight limits for the senior enlisted paygrades rise by 500 to 1,000 pounds, both for single members and those with families.
Who: The E-7, E-8 and E-9 paygrades.
When: Effective for movement orders issued on or after Jan. 1.
Survivor housing benefits
What: Dependents of members who die on active duty will be allowed to stay in military family housing or receive housing allowance for up to one year after the death.
This benefit, previously available only under temporary authority, becomes law.
Surviving family members also will have up to three years, rather than the previous one year, to select a permanent residence to which their personal and household items are moved at government expense.
Who: Families with school-aged children are the most likely to benefit from staying put for a year after an active-duty death.
When: Extends an existing temporary housing program. The new three-year rule for the final move applies to moves made after the bill becomes law.
Tricare for surviving children
What: Dependent children of deceased service members will receive Tricare Prime medical coverage at no cost. Coverage will continue until age 21, or age 23 if he is enrolled as a full-time college student. This is a major benefit expansion; previously, free coverage was limited to three years, with a premium being charged for any further coverage.
Who: About 10,000 children are expected to qualify.
When: Effective immediately.
Reserve Tricare
What: Tricare health coverage would be available to all drilling reservists and their families, although the cost might prevent some from signing up.
There would be three levels of coverage.
First, Tricare Reserve Select continues for those who have been mobilized. For every 90 days of mobilization, a reservist would be eligible for one year of Tricare coverage, with the government paying 72 percent of the costs.
Second, those who are unemployed, self-employed or whose employers do not offer health coverage could have Tricare, with the cost split 50-50 with the government, even if they have not recently been mobilized.
Third, any drilling reservists could have coverage if they pay 85 percent of the cost.
Who: All drilling members of the National Guard and reserve could receive coverage, although those who haven’t been mobilized could be covered only as long as they remain in the reserves.
When: Must be effective by Oct. 1.
Nurse accession bonus
What: Nursing students enrolled in the ROTC could receive an accession bonus of up to $5,000 after completing their second year if they sign an agreement to enter the Nurse Corps.
Who: Would be open only to those who enter the Army.
When: Effective when the bill is signed.
Concurrent receipt
What: Totally disabled military retirees with 20 or more years of service whose disability is based on their unemployability and whose disability is not directly related to combat or combat training would see a shortening of their waiting time for the complete phase-in of a plan to allow them to draw their full military retired pay and veterans’ disability compensation.
Instead of waiting until 2014, the date set in previous law, they now will get both full payments by Sept. 30, 2009.
Who: About 30,000 disabled retirees.
When: No change in payments until 2009.
Ellie