As promised last month, a couple of leftover items from the Defense Authorization Act (DAA), but I’ll save the look at the 111th Congress for next month when I’ll have more details. Instead, after the DAA items, I’ll try to pique your interest in MOAA’s latest legislative action alert. I mentioned in Nov. that the DAA included reductions in TRICARE co-pays and deductibles for many preventive health care services (colonoscopies, mammograms, immunizations, etc). Still true, but not to the extent we expected. Unfortunately, the legislative language required DOD to publish implementing regulations before the reductions can take effect—history says that can take a year or more. Beyond that, the law leaves it up to SECDEF to decide whether to reimburse Medicare-eligibles—that is “iffy” since current defense leaders already complain about TFL costs. Add in that the reimbursement option for Medicare-eligibles is only for FY09 and covers only co-pays, not deductibles, and we see a new benefit of dubious value for TFLers—MOAA promises to work to put more teeth in the preventive care provisions next year! On a related DAA item, news is much better—TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS) premiums will be reduced on 1 Jan 09 from $81 to $47.51/month for singles and $253 to $180.17/month for families. MOAA and others have long asserted that DOD was overcharging TRS beneficiaries by inappropriately basing premiums on federal civilian health insurance costs. Earlier this year, GAO confirmed the overcharge, noting that TRS premiums, by law, are supposed to cover only 28% of costs. Pushed by The Military Coalition, Congress agreed and included the reduction in the FY 09 DAA—another success story! Finally, are you, like me, amazed that we can afford almost $1 trillion in bailouts for firms whose financial troubles were caused largely by their own mismanagement/recklessness? How about those in the uniformed services community suffering grievous circumstances imposed on them by the government through no fault of their own? MOAA wonders about that as well and here are its eight nominees for those most deserving of a government bailout: 8—Currently uniformed services families; 7—Employers of Guard/Reserve personnel; 6—Guard/Reserve members deployed since 9/11; 5—Military families (again); 4—Severely disabled retirees with less than 20 years of service; 3—Military widows whose sponsors died of service-related causes; 2—Separated wounded warriors; and, 1—Caregivers for wounded warriors. Got your interest? Go to the Legislative Action section on the MOAA Web Page (www.moaa.org) to see rationale and send an email to our legislators supporting the truly needed bailout. Next month, the new Congress. Until then, go Blues and Air Force Falcons!