Concurrent Receipt Lawsuit

[David]

sfc_darrel

Registered to :Jan 19, 2002
Messages :128
From :
Posted 09-02-2002 at 10:27
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Posted at
http://www.militarylifestyle.com/hom...3A1546,00.html

Concurrent Receipt Lawsuit

The federal government has until Feb. 20 to respond to a lawsuit filed by career
military retirees who seek to overturn a century-old law that requires their retired pay to be offset, dollar-for-dollar, by VA compensation for service-connected
disabilities. Readers can visit the plaintiffs' website at:
http://unitedvets.tripod.com/


You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once.
Robert Heinlein


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Profile Qoute
sfc_darrel

Registered to :Jan 19, 2002
Messages :128
From :
Posted 23-02-2002 at 01:46
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As the concurrent receipt issue gathers steam, CRS has been swamped with requests from congressional staffs for information and guidance on this complex issue. The latest CRS "issue brief" on military retirement topics gives a lot of space to concurrent receipt, now an "object of intense congressional interest," it says.

Here are the "major arguments" that CRS gathered for lawmakers to either support or to oppose lifting the ban on concurrent receipt:

REASONS TO SUPPORT

1.Military retired pay was earned for length of service; VA disability compensation for injuries or illnesses. They are two different programs so paying both to a retiree would not constitute a duplication of benefits.
2.If cost is the big issue, allowing limited concurrent receipt could make sense, perhaps targeting the most severely disabled, or retirees with combat disabilities or retirees living on the edge of poverty. Lifting the ban only for 100 percent combat-disabled retirees would cost just $50 million a year.
3.VA disability pay recipients are entitled to other federal benefits, why not military retired pay?
4.Persons drawing VA disability pay can receive full pensions from a wide variety of other sources, including federal civilian careers, without suffering an offset. Why target military retirees for an offset?

REASONS TO OPPOSE

1.The cost of full, or nearly full, concurrent receipt "would be enormous," almost $3 billion this year, $40 billion over 10 years.
2.Ending or easing the offset "would be sticking the camel's nose into the tent," that is, setting a precedent for reduction
or elimination of all kinds of similar offsets of one or more federal payments, perhaps costing billions of dollars more.
3.Although some federal programs do not require an offset for receipt of VA disability compensation, none of these programs
involves both "disability and retirement pay from the same job and agency where the disability occurred."
4.VA disability pay is authorized on "much more liberal grounds" than other disability plans, and a disability can be certified many years after a person leaves service. As a result, concurrent receipt could lead to "windfall" payments for persons whose disabilities "have tenuous connection to their
military service."
5.Concurrent receipt "was never promised to those asking for it."
http://www.militarylifestyle.com/hom...1:1576,00.html

My response to #5
Give us everything we've been promised then.
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You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once. Robert Heinlein

I read in the Vet press here in Sacramento, CA that a senator, (sorry can't remember his name) has a proposed bill that military retirees who are rated 100% disabaled by the VA should receive full concurrent recipt, and not have to wait the 10 years for the raises in concurent receipt. However, I don't know the status of that bill.

[Jerry D]

Well, I finally made it to the VA rep here in SE Georgia and filled out my DD form 2860 and filed for CRSC . If you are 10% or more disabled (rated by the VA) for combat/hazardous duty you are eligible for CRSC. So, all of you'ins that are rated for disabilities relateing to War time service and Retired Military, please go to the DAV or VA rep and get your paperwork started.

[darrels joy]

http://www.crsc.army.mil/

The Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) program was enacted by Congress on 2 December 2002. In accordance with specific guidance the CRSC program provides compensation for certain Uniformed Service Retirees with combat-related disabilities.

The original CRSC program (CRSC I) began 1 June 2003. The CRSC II program was created 1 January 2004 to offer compensation for a larger group of combat-disabled retirees.

The application process remains the same for both programs. The key differences between CRSC I and CRSC II are in eligibility requirements and retroactive payment dates. For more information see CRSC Eligibility Requirements.