It looks like DoD is taking a page out of the Air Force playbook: What is the first thing built on a new Air Force Base? The Golf Course. What is the last thing built on a new Air Force Base? The runway. The reason for that is money. If you run out of money and you don’t have the golf course built, you won’t get one. If you run out and you have not finished the runway, they will always get extra funding for the runway.
DoD’s FY 2015 budget appears to be taking that same approach. They are cutting funding for personnel on the bet that when push comes to shove, Congress will find money to fix the personnel issues on pay, end strength, and benefits. That was proven after the Murray-Ryan backroom deal in December of 2013 where they tried to cut 1% by fixing a COLA cap. That was fixed in February, 2014 by a large majority. So now, it appears that it is time to use the troops as pawns again in the political game. Here are the highlights:
Military Pay
- For the second consecutive year the administration seeks a pay cap at 1 percent.
- This is 0.8 percent below private sector wage growth.
- The last three raises averaged less than 1.4 percent.
- The FY 2014 pay raise was the smallest in 50 years.
- DoD has capped pay before but it undermined both retention and readiness.
- Previous cuts required a “fix” to the defense budget over the past decade to reverse those effects, which is also being mischaracterized by the Pentagon today.
Tricare Fees and Increased Co-Pays
New Cost Shares – New cost shares will depend on beneficiary category (excluding active duty) and care venue and are designed to “minimize overutilization” of costly care venues, such as emergency departments. Cost shares would be the lowest in MTFs, higher in the network, and highest out of network. The new cost shares for in-network care will range from $0 for a clinical preventive care visit to $75 for a trip to the emergency room.
No word yet on exactly how the fees will affect Tricare Reserve Select, however, one has to be ready for an increase there based on the “(excluding active duty)” statement above. All Tricare Fee increases will hit at once in Janyary of 2016.
BAH rates are going down
This is going to affect us while on Annual Training and those on AGR. Bottom Line Up Front – DoD leaders are looking for military families to be paying 6% of their housing costs out of pocket and they are going to do that by slowing the growth or reducing the the rate over “several years” time. It is difficult to tell the size of the reductions for 2015, but they look like a very small and gradual increase to out of pocket expenses to the troops.
Don’t stand on the sidelines and watch what happens. Get involved and make an effort to protect your benefits and the benefits of those around you. Join your Enlisted Association today.
