User talk:Jonicus

Concurrent Receipt

The proposed change to the Veterans benefits system that has generated the most recent legislative activity involves whether some or all military retirees should be allowed to receive both military retired pay and any VA disability compensation to which they are otherwise entitled; this is referred to as "concurrent receipt." Until 2004, the law provided that military retired pay had to be reduced by the amount of VA disability compensation. Some maintained this was inequitable and unfair; it was defended on grounds of cost and of the need to avoid setting a precedent for concurrent receipt of numerous other federal benefits.

Starting in 1999 (FY2000), provisions in each year's annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) authorized payments to comparatively small groups (in the tens of thousands) of military retirees in lieu of concurrent receipt. The program enacted in 2002, in the FY2003 NDAA (P.L. 107-314) , is known as "Combat Related Special Compensation" (CRSC), although it applies also to those people injured in military operations and training generally, as distinct from those whose injuries are unrelated to military service but incurred while in service. CRSC provides for payments that are the financial equivalent of concurrent receipt.

The FY2004 NDAA for the first time provided the concurrent receipt or its practical and financial equivalence to large numbers of military retirees. The law, effective January 1, 2004, (1) authorized the payment of CRSC to all otherwise eligible military retirees, regardless of their percentage of disability; (2) authorized a ten-year phase-in of concurrent receipt for all military retirees whose disability is 50% or greater, regardless of the origins of their disability; and (3) included (hitherto almost completely excluded) reserve retirees. The FY2005 NDAA (P.L. 108-375, October 28, 2004; 118 Stat. 1811) expanded concurrent receipt eligibility by authorizing the immediate (rather than a 10-year phase in) concurrent receipt for military retirees with a 100% service-connected disability.

The most significant military retirement issue Congress may have to deal with in 2005-2006 is the issue of whether military retirees with a 100% VA unemployability rating, but less than a 100% disability rating, should be entitled to full concurrent receipt as was provided to 100% disability retirees in 2004. The House version of the FY2006 NDAA would allow such retirees full concurrent receipt effective October 1, 2009, rather than the January 1, 2014 date currently in effect; the Senate Armed Services Committee version (the full Senate has not yet acted on the FY2006 NDAA) does not address the issue.

Source: Congressional Research Service, "Military Retirement: Major Legislative Issues" September 8th 2005 by Robert L. Goldich, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division