Tough issues

Spring is here; we moved the clocks forward; and the President’s budget for 2012 has been delivered. Since my last column, I have attended the ROA National Security Symposium and had the privilege to present the AUSN Legislative Award to Senator John McCain in his Washington office. It is always an honor to represent AUSN and our members and to witness first hand how much key leaders in the Navy, the Defense Department and Congress care.

The 2012 budget has raised a lot of interest as the Navy, the Department of Defense and the Congress weigh the many trade-offs among procurement, readiness, manpower and personnel programs. Their task is not easy and has raised a lot of debate on several issues that are important to our membership. At the forefront is the debate regarding increased TRICARE enrollment fees, deductibles or co-payments for retirees. Captain Ike Puzon is the point man for AUSN in this debate. Through his legislative updates, he has provided timely and accurate updates to our members. He has received many insightful messages from our members regarding TRICARE and other retiree benefits that have helped us shape AUSN’s position on these politically charged issues. I thank you for communicating your concerns to us and encourage you to continue doing so. I appreciate the tremendous dialogue that I have read and am impressed with the talent that we have in our ranks. Because of your inputs, AUSN has taken a strong position against any future open-indexing increases based on civilian health care indices in future years for any TRICARE program, including TRICARE Prime for retirees. AUSN also believes that DoD should pursue previously identified efficiencies in the delivery of health care to active, reserve and retired members and their dependents before passing additional costs over to veterans.

AUSN has a history of success in our initiatives to influence Congress because we have established tremendous credibility with them and with our principal sponsor, the Navy. We owe it to our membership to advocate aggressively for benefits that they have earned through a life of sacrifice to secure the freedoms that we all enjoy. At the same time, we owe it our membership to maintain our credibility with the Navy and with Congress. These two statements are normally in total synch with each other; but, at times, we are going to find ourselves in a position where they are not. The TRICARE debate is one of those times. In the 2012 budget, the Navy and DoD have asked for annual increases to TRICARE enrollment fees. A one-time increase in TRICARE enrollment fees may be appropriate when you consider that TRICARE enrollment fees have not seen an increase in more than a decade and retired pay has grown with COLA increases during the same period. However, the indexing of future increases to an uncertain standard is unacceptable because it places your hard-earned benefits at uncertain risk.

Several important AUSN events are on the horizon. The first is the AUSN Navy Now Forum on the 27th of April where Admiral Greenert, Vice Chief of Naval Operations, will provide an update on the Navy strategy to preserve the force structure needed for a viable future. The other is the annual AUSN Golf Tournament on the 26th of May at Andrews Air Force Base. Both provide opportunities to be better informed and to dialogue with friends and colleagues. Another event to put on your calendar is the AUSN National Conference which is scheduled for 13 to 16 July in New Orleans. You can register for all of these events on the AUSN Web site at http://www.ausn.org. Please sign up, join us, and bring a friend to introduce them to AUSN! I hope to see you at one or all of these events.