Even with all the great events she scheduled these past months, Marguerite Felt has special programs for you in 2004, starting with our January8, 2004, "Surprise Birthday Party and Surprise Entertainer!"

February 12 will be our Sweetheart Luncheon at the Cavalier Golf and Yacht Club, and then our spring, yes, spring! Fashion Show at Grand Affairs will be on March 11, 2004. April sees us at Atlantic Shores and then May is our Annual Installation Luncheon.

Looking back, I have to say that 2003 has been a great year!

Mark your calendars for this ROWS luncheon meeting: 

February, Sweetheart Luncheon at Cavalier Golf and Yacht Club.

The lucky winner of our November Fifty-Fifty Gobbler Raffle was Mary Lee Lawe.   She skipped away with the forty dollar prize. 

Balance Brought Forward October 1, 2003			$8,279.54
Receipts
Membership	10/02	$60.00
Cookbook (1)	10/03	$10.00
Raffle	10/09	$68.00
Luncheon	10/10	$2,096.00
Total Deposits			$2,234.00
Working Balance			$10,513.54
Disbursements
Newsletter	10/02	$225.27
Luncheon	10/09	$1,451.04
M. Felt Tip for Waiter	10/09	$20.00
Memorial - H. LeBlanc	10/21	$15.00
B. Vose - Name Tags, Ink		$70.53
Total Disbursements			$1,781.84
Cash Balance Forward October 31, 2003			$8,731.70

Submitted by Ruth Geel, Treasurer

For the most current and up-to-date schedule of chapter events, click on Calendar of Events

Roses
     Phyllis Hostettler
     Patricia Perrenot

Get Well Cards
     Patricia Perrenot
     Jevonne Hedlund
     Vange DesJardins

Sympathy Cards
     Family of Helen Leblanc
     Gladys Jenkins, brother, November 3, 2003
     Camille Babcock, husband, CDR Robert E. Babcock, 
          USN Ret., November 11, 2003.
 

Memorials
     St. Nicholas Catholic Church, in memory of Helen Leblanc
     Kempsville Volunteer Fire & Rescue Squad, in memory of 
          CDR Robert E. Babcock, USN Ret.

Acknowledgements
     St. Nicholas Catholic Church, in re Helen Leblanc

Personal Notes of Thanks
     Betty Mayetta
     Jevonne Hedlund 
     Margareta MacGregor

A setback for the concurrent Receipt proposal for disabled retired veterans occurred when a Senate Veteran Affairs Committee Hearing on September 23, put a stake in the heart of a behind-the-scenes effort to pay for it by arbitrarily cutting back VA disability compensation eligibility criteria for future veterans.  MOAA strongly opposed this proposal.  Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi agreed, as did Committee Chairman Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA).  He said, “The witnesses have made an overwhelming case that this is a bad idea, and I’m with you.”  Specter said he had written a letter to Armed Services Committee Chairman Senator John Warner (R-VA) urging him and his committee to to reject the House leadership’s idea.

2. The House and Senate have passed varying versions of the Armed Forces Tax Fairness Act (H.R.1307).  They have yet to work out their relatively minor differences.  The Senate bill would offset the modest revenue loss by taxing part of the assets of wealthy expatriates who give up their citizenship.  House leaders object and seem to be putting a higher priority on preserving tax breaks for expatriates who drop their citizenship than on providing relief for military people fighting and dying for their country.  You may call your U.S. Representatives requesting them to vote on Senate-passed version of H.R. 1307 right away.  Toll Free 1-877-762-8762. 

3. Health Care – Health cost study uses misleading comparisons.  The Congressional Budget office (CBO) released a study of the growth in military health care pending over the past 15 years.  It states the military health care budget has grown from $14.6 billion in 1988 to $27.2 billion today.  CBO claims health spending per active duty servicemember has tripled from $6,600 to $19,600.  That is a bogus statistic that has been taken out of context in National news stories.  First, it attributes retiree health care costs to active duty members, which makes no sense.  Second, it’s skewed by changes in active duty and retiree demographics that have been driven by DOD’s own policy decision.  Members were enticed to stay for a career to enlarge the career force to meet national defense commitments by promising a lifetime of health care.  Over the past decade, the department has consciously shrunk the active duty force – way too much.   Third, the 2003 budget numbers are inflated by recent changes in government accounting methods introduced by the enactment of TRICARE for Life (TFL).  Although the newly required health care trust fund deposits appear in DOD’s budget, this isn’t a real expenditure – just an accounting mechanism to recognize health costs that will be incurred many decades in the future after current active duty members attain Medicare eligibility.  This flawed comparison hardly would be worth noting if CBO weren’t using it as an excuse to propose options to cut health care spending – almost all at the expense of the beneficiary.  One option would be to offer retiring servicemembers a cash payment in lieu of TFL.  Not a good option – Nobody knows what the future expenses might be because of life expectancy, etc.  This likely would bilk any naïve member who accepted it out of tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.

4. In late September the House Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) passed H.R. 1231 by voice vote.  The bill (also sponsored by Davis) would allow active and retired military servicemembers (and retired federal employees) to pay health care premiums in pre-tax dollars.  These savings could amount to several hundred dollars a year for eligible recipients.  The bill faces an uncertain future because it is a tax bill.  It must also go before the House Ways and Means Committee, where representatives are reportedly leery of the bills price tag.