MOAA Reveals Budget’s Financial Impact on Military Families at Virtual Town Hall
Alexandria, VA (PRWEB) March 06, 2014 -- Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) hosted its first virtual town hall Thursday evening on MOAA’s Facebook page at http://bit.ly/moaabudgetbattle. MOAA experts shared information and answered questions along with IAVA; The Coalition to Save Our Military Benefits; #KeepYourPromise and Military.com. With charts on Facebook and through #BudgetBattle on Twitter, MOAA released its analysis of the financial impact on military families: http://www.moaa.org/budgetbattle/.
The proposed budget impacts pay and benefits in the following areas: base pay cap below private sector pay growth, increased out-of-pocket expense for housing, reduction in savings at the commissary and changes to health care fees for currently serving family members, retirees and their families. MOAA reported the total loss in purchasing power for an active duty E-5 family of four (Sergeant) would be $4,993 per year.
For an active duty O-3 (Army Captain) family, the total loss purchasing power would be $5,890.
“MOAA empathizes with defense leaders concerning budget cutbacks and understands they are in a difficult position,” MOAA President Vice Adm. Norb Ryan said. “However we think there are huge savings to be found in acquisition reform and a unified medical command. We are also extremely concerned the negative impact of these potential cuts on the purchasing power of military families is just too high. There are some who justify these cuts by saying military compensation is already generous, but that’s not true. Military compensation is fair, and carefully constructed to sustain the stability of the All-Volunteer Force.”
MOAA also reiterated the impact of DoD-proposed FY 2015 TRICARE Fees on retirees.
“For a retiree under age 65 with a family of three, the new system removes the opportunity for retirees to choose between a Standard and Prime health care plan,” Ryan said. “It requires people to take the Standard option with Prime enrollment fees, which means they will have to pay both a participation fee as well as co-pays. Also disturbing is the removal of access standards, which means there will be no guarantee that people will get an appointment they need at all.”
MOAA plans to continue communicating with its members and interested military families and key influencers to diminish the negative impact of proposed cuts on both morale and retention of America’s superb All-Volunteer Force.
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About MOAA:
Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) is the nation’s largest officers association with more than 380,000 members from every branch of service, including active duty, retired, National Guard, Reserve, and former officers and their families and survivors. MOAA is a nonprofit and politically nonpartisan organization and an influential force in promoting a strong national defense. MOAA represents the interests of service members and their families in every stage of their lives and careers, and for those who are not eligible to join MOAA, Voices for America’s Troops is a nonprofit MOAA affiliate that supports a strong national defense. For more information, visit http://www.moaa.org or http://www.voicesfortroops.org/.
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MOAA Public Relations, Military Officers Association of America, +1 703-838-0546, [email protected]
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