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thedrifter
01-03-03, 08:06 PM
This is the new name for the TROA , (The Retired Officers Association).

Subject: MOAA's legislative update, 01_03_03
Date: Fri, 03 Jan 2003 11:33:16 -0800

This is MOAA's legislative update for Friday, January 3, 2003.

Issue 1: 108th Congress Convenes Next Week. Expect a flood of new bills this month.

Issue 2: More Medicare Payment Cuts Coming. Doctors will be getting 4.4% less from Medicare, effective March 1, unless Congress acts quickly to reverse the cuts. Please help tell your legislators that increasing Medicare and TRICARE payments is essential to get doctors to participate in those programs.

Issue 3: MOAA Meets with DoD/VA on Special Compensation Rules. Representatives of MOAA and several other associations met with Pentagon and VA officials in December to discuss development issues for the new special compensation for certain retirees with combat- or operations-related disabilities.

Issue 1: 108th Congress Convenes Next Week

The 108th Congress will officially begin legislative business next week, with a new party in control of the Senate, and a lot of business left over from last year. After a week of work, Congress is expected to recess until January 24.

The first few weeks of each Congress are taken up with getting organized - determining committee and subcommittee assignments and chairmanships, settling into new offices, reintroducing bills that didn't get enacted in 2002, etc.

As key MOAA-supported bills are introduced, we will be adding them to the "Bills of Interest" list on MOAA's Web site, so you can urge your own legislators to cosponsor them.

Issue 2: More Medicare Payment Cuts Coming

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS, the agency that administers Medicare) has announced that Medicare payments to health care providers will be reduced 4.4%, effective March 1, 2003.

This reduction is in addition to last year's 5.4% cutback. And if that weren't enough, more cuts will be coming over the next two years. All told, unless Congress acts to prevent these rate cuts, the decreases will total 18% over four years, even though doctors complain that the payments are already too low to cover their rising overhead costs.

CMS acknowledges the concerns expressed by MOAA and many others that the reduced rates will result in fewer doctors accepting Medicare patients, and even fewer willing to take on any new ones.

This obviously poses problems for Medicare-eligible TRICARE For Life beneficiaries. But it also affects any other military beneficiaries who receive care from civilian providers, since military TRICARE payment rates are tied to Medicare's. MOAA is very concerned about the health care access implications for TFL and TRICARE beneficiaries. We believe military beneficiaries deserve the nation's best health care, not the cheapest.

And the timing of the payment cuts couldn't be worse. The war on terrorism and the threat of conflict in Iraq are already straining the capacity of the military direct health care system, as large numbers--0-749414192-1041628909=:5139--


Sempers,

Roger