thedrifter
04-25-06, 11:38 AM
May 01, 2006
Corps issues new pay for wounded Marines
By John Hoellwarth
Times staff writer
The Corps has announced a new monthly pay for wounded Marines who’ve been evacuated from a war zone and face rehabilitation.
The $430 in monthly Combat-Related Injury Rehabilitation Pay is meant to offset the tax-free $430 Marines typically receive while deployed — a combination of per diem, hardship-duty and hazardous-duty/imminent-danger pay.
When a Marine is wounded on a patrol and wakes up in a state-side hospital with life-altering injuries, the last thing he needs to worry about is the substantial pay decrease that accompanied him home, said Marine Corps compensation chief Capt. Phillip Bonincontri.
Marines remain tax-exempt for the remainder of the month they return to the States, but their hardship-duty pay stops the same month taxes take hold again.
“[The pay is] supposed to cover the drop in compensation in between, so the guys don’t say, ‘I’m wounded, I got evacuated — and now my pay is going down?’” Bonincontri said.
A Marine’s per diem pay — $105 a month — is stopped the day after he is evacuated from theater. The hardship-duty pay — $100 — ends 30 days after that. The HD/ID pay — $225 — stops after 90 days of hospitalization.
As of March 23, the Corps has a plan for Day 91, a $430 subsidy that lasts as long as a wounded Marine is either “in an in-patient status or receiving extensive out-patient rehabilitation or other medical care in a military treatment facility while a resident in quarters affiliated with the military,” according to MarAdmin message 175/06.
The injury rehabilitation pay starts at the beginning of the first month following a Marine’s medevac, the message says.
Marines can’t get HD/ID pay and the new rehab pay at the same time, so until their eligibility for HD/ID pay runs out after 90 days, their rehab pay will be only enough to bring the sum of rehab pay and HD/ID pay to $430 per month. When the HD/ID pay runs out, the rehab pay will increase to the full $430 for however long the Marine is receiving in-patient or “extensive daily care,” Bonincontri said.
He said military health care professionals will determine whether a Marine’s out-patient care is extensive enough to entitle a Marine to the rehab pay.
Marines who are rehospitalized for their injuries are not entitled to the rehab pay a second time, according to the message. Also, the pay is a monthly entitlement and will not be pro-rated for hospital stays that last less than a month.
“This is not for the guy who is wounded and returns to the fight,” Bonincontri said. “This is for guys who get put in the medical treatment facilities and are going to be there for an extended amount of time.”
Marines who have suffered the loss of a limb or eye will likely be granted a “substantial” Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance benefit, which varies based on the extent of their injuries and compensates them well beyond the intent of the rehab pay, Bonincontri said.
Any injuries requiring extended hospitalization will kick-start the rehab pay, and for the most part will continue as long as that Marine stays in the hospital.
If a Marine’s injuries warrant SGLI payments as well, the rehab pay is stopped.
However, it doesn’t stop until 30 days after SGLI payments begin, allowing those entitled to both to double-dip for a month.
“We know that issue is there, but we’re not concerned about that,” Bonincontri said.
“The most important thing is that Marines are taken care of,” he said.
Ellie
Corps issues new pay for wounded Marines
By John Hoellwarth
Times staff writer
The Corps has announced a new monthly pay for wounded Marines who’ve been evacuated from a war zone and face rehabilitation.
The $430 in monthly Combat-Related Injury Rehabilitation Pay is meant to offset the tax-free $430 Marines typically receive while deployed — a combination of per diem, hardship-duty and hazardous-duty/imminent-danger pay.
When a Marine is wounded on a patrol and wakes up in a state-side hospital with life-altering injuries, the last thing he needs to worry about is the substantial pay decrease that accompanied him home, said Marine Corps compensation chief Capt. Phillip Bonincontri.
Marines remain tax-exempt for the remainder of the month they return to the States, but their hardship-duty pay stops the same month taxes take hold again.
“[The pay is] supposed to cover the drop in compensation in between, so the guys don’t say, ‘I’m wounded, I got evacuated — and now my pay is going down?’” Bonincontri said.
A Marine’s per diem pay — $105 a month — is stopped the day after he is evacuated from theater. The hardship-duty pay — $100 — ends 30 days after that. The HD/ID pay — $225 — stops after 90 days of hospitalization.
As of March 23, the Corps has a plan for Day 91, a $430 subsidy that lasts as long as a wounded Marine is either “in an in-patient status or receiving extensive out-patient rehabilitation or other medical care in a military treatment facility while a resident in quarters affiliated with the military,” according to MarAdmin message 175/06.
The injury rehabilitation pay starts at the beginning of the first month following a Marine’s medevac, the message says.
Marines can’t get HD/ID pay and the new rehab pay at the same time, so until their eligibility for HD/ID pay runs out after 90 days, their rehab pay will be only enough to bring the sum of rehab pay and HD/ID pay to $430 per month. When the HD/ID pay runs out, the rehab pay will increase to the full $430 for however long the Marine is receiving in-patient or “extensive daily care,” Bonincontri said.
He said military health care professionals will determine whether a Marine’s out-patient care is extensive enough to entitle a Marine to the rehab pay.
Marines who are rehospitalized for their injuries are not entitled to the rehab pay a second time, according to the message. Also, the pay is a monthly entitlement and will not be pro-rated for hospital stays that last less than a month.
“This is not for the guy who is wounded and returns to the fight,” Bonincontri said. “This is for guys who get put in the medical treatment facilities and are going to be there for an extended amount of time.”
Marines who have suffered the loss of a limb or eye will likely be granted a “substantial” Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance benefit, which varies based on the extent of their injuries and compensates them well beyond the intent of the rehab pay, Bonincontri said.
Any injuries requiring extended hospitalization will kick-start the rehab pay, and for the most part will continue as long as that Marine stays in the hospital.
If a Marine’s injuries warrant SGLI payments as well, the rehab pay is stopped.
However, it doesn’t stop until 30 days after SGLI payments begin, allowing those entitled to both to double-dip for a month.
“We know that issue is there, but we’re not concerned about that,” Bonincontri said.
“The most important thing is that Marines are taken care of,” he said.
Ellie