National MOAA has given us another recruiting target for the coming year. MOAA announced a special recruiting initiative to get more national MOAA members into chapters as part of the "Year of the Chapter" efforts. This first-ever effort is unique because national MOAA will "push" new members toward chapters while chapter leaders' work to "pull" new members into their chapters with their own recruiting efforts. You will see this announced in the October issue of Military Office magazine. The program will target more than 290,000 non-chapter MOAA members through a special magazine cover wrap. The cover wrap will thank you and all current chapter members for your important contributions to our association and our communities, and will contain a compelling message directed at non-chapter MOAA members who will be offered a complimentary one-year membership in their local chapter.

Also included in the cover wrap will be a tear-out postcard that contains the member's name and the name of their nearest chapter. Interested members will mail that postcard to MOAA where they will be sorted by chapter, and new member lists will be prepared for each chapter. We will put the new members on our chapter rolls, send them a welcome letter, and invite them to their next chapter meeting. After completing these steps, we will notify MOAA and they will send us a $15 rebate for each new member processed. I know there have been a number of efforts to work with National MOAA and recruit national members into the chapter. What is different this time is that this will not involve "cold calling" prospective members, but responding to those who have already made a positive step.

I look forward to another great year doing good things together.

See you at the annual BBQ at the Donnelly's on Saturday, September 13th.

Rod Williams
President

Also, on the table again is the huge TRICARE and pharmacy fee increase proposed by DOD. Senate Bill S. 3001 opposes these increases and in the House of Representatives, House Resolution HR. 5658 would bar any increases before Sep 30, 2009. Congress needs to fix this once and for all and quit kicking the can down the road one year at a time. If it is tough to do now, it will be increasingly tougher each year they delay to implement a solution (as we saw with Medicare cuts) as more and more unfinished business will need to be dealt with. Can you imagine running your business like this? Encourage your representatives to take a firm stand now and stop this unfair increase once and for all.

Of course, there are many other provisions in the FY 2009 Def Auth Bill such as correcting the unfair SBP/DIC offset. The current law penalizes widows of active duty and retired service members with SBP who die from a service connected disability. Instead of getting both SBP and DIC (which is $1091 per month), the widow receives only SBP minus DIC (or DIC, whichever is greater). The widow should receive both, as one (SBP) is paid for years of service and DIC is for service connected death. Even the Veterans Disability Benefits Commission chartered by Congress stated: "It should be permissible to receive both sets of benefits concurrently." Their logic is that "...SBP is based on years of service, and DIC is intended to compensate for death attributable to military service."

Whatever your position is on these issues, your elected representatives deserve to know your viewpoint so they can properly represent and serve their constituents. Please share your views with them. The easiest way is to call the MOAA toll free hot line at 1-866-272-6622. Remember, your representative does not know your position on the issue unless you tell them. Call today.

Dave Casteel
Legislative Affairs