Chris Singshinsuk/Shutterstock.com

Help for Vets, TRICARE Update, Pay Raise Prospects and More

A weekly roundup of pay and benefits news.

Once again, helping veterans appears to be high on Congress’ priority list this year. (These things were tried in 2014 without success—perhaps second time around is the charm.)

On Wednesday, a bi-partisan group of House lawmakers reintroduced H.R. 313, the 2015 Wounded Warriors Federal Leave Act, which would give federal employees who also are disabled veterans 104 hours of leave for medical treatment during their first year on the job.

“It is unacceptable that our Wounded Warrior federal employees who are just starting out in the federal workforce are often faced with the difficult choice of having to take unpaid leave to attend their VA appointments or miss their medical visits,” said Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, D-Mass., one of the sponsors.  

New feds begin their government careers with a zero sick leave balance, which makes it difficult for disabled veterans to keep medical appointments. The benefit would apply to those with a disability rating of 30 percent or greater. Senators John Tester, D-Mont., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., plan to introduce a companion bill in the Senate.

Earlier in the week, the House again passed the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act, named in honor of the late Iraq and Afghanistan veteran and veterans advocate Clay Hunt. The bill, which passed the chamber last year but was blocked in December in the Senate by retiring Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., would expand and improve mental health screening and suicide prevention programs at the Veterans Affairs and Defense departments. With Coburn’s departure from the Senate the bill appears headed for passage there as well. The legislation aims to eliminate some of the bureaucratic hurdles Hunt experienced when he was seeking care, before he took his own life. As House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., noted when he reintroduced the bill earlier this week,

“With an average of 22 veterans committing suicide each day, Clay was far from alone in his pain, and his family and friends are far from alone in their heartbreak over his loss. The last several years have seen significant increases in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ mental health and suicide prevention budget, staff, and programs; however, we have not seen a corresponding decrease in the number of our Nation’s heroes who take their own lives. What is more, for some groups of veterans, including female veterans and veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, suicide rates are actually getting worse.”

The bill alone won’t solve the problem of suicide among veterans, but Miller said it was the first of many steps Congress will take to improve access to mental health care.

Some news for TRICARE beneficiaries: You’ll no longer receive certificates of creditable coverage when you lose eligibility—instead, you’ll get a notice informing you your coverage is ending.

As the good folks at TRICARE explain:

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed by Congress in 2011 changes the law so that insurers cannot deny you coverage based on preexisting conditions. Before this law went into effect, when you switched health plans, you had to prove to your new plan that you had coverage before joining them; otherwise they might not cover you for prior illnesses or injuries you had. With this change in the law, you don’t need a certificate to prove you had coverage.

When beneficiaries are notified their coverage is ending, TRICARE will provide information about other options, such as the Transition Assistance Management Program, as well as ways to explore health exchanges under Obamacare.

There was some pay news this week as well. Lawmakers in both chambers introduced legislation that would give all feds a whopping 3.8 percent pay raise in 2016 (by the admittedly low standards of federal raises, that qualifies as whopping). As GovExec’s Eric Katz noted Tuesday, the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act is more generous than the 3.3 percent raise fed-friendly lawmakers pushed for last year, which, given the 1 percent raise feds actually got, may tell you something about its prospects this year. But as Katz observed, last year the lawmakers waited until after Obama had issued his 1 percent proposal before introducing their bills. Obama hasn’t yet proposed a raise for 2016, so perhaps he’ll take a cue from the lawmakers and up the ante.   

In other pay news, the Air Force may soon be offering substantial bonuses to drone pilots to stem what is becoming a serious shortage. Stars and Stripes reports that only 85 percent of drone operator positions are filled, and that number is dropping. Service officials are considering the same kind of retention bonuses they offer other pilots—up to $25,000 per year.

(Image via Chris Singshinsuk/Shutterstock.com)

NEXT STORY: VA Bonuses Targeted Again

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.