Gray Area Mil Rets

[Berta]

Received from Colonel Dan:

"LEGISLATIVE ALERT #08-13

September 16, 2008

_____

The Issue: TRICARE FOR GRAY AREA RETIREES

Immediate Action Required: Contact your Senators and urge them to

support

SA 5281 sponsored by Sen. Nelson (D-NE) which is being offered this

week as

a floor amendment to the Fiscal Year 2009 National Defense

Authorization

Bill (S. 3001)

_____

SA 5281 is co-sponsored by Sens. Clinton (D-NY), Smith (R-OR),

Sessions

(R-AL), and Graham (R-SC). It would authorize all Gray Area Retirees

(Reserve Component retirees who have not attained the age of 60) and

their

families, now only eligible to receive Reserve Retirement Pay and

TRICARE at

age 60, to purchase TRICARE Standard coverage at a premium equal to

the full

cost of coverage to the Department of Defense as determined by the

Secretary

of Defense on an actuarial basis. This coverage is to be made

available no

later than October 1, 2009. The Senate Armed Services Committee has

included

this as a managers' amendment to S. 3001 which gives it an excellent

chance

of being included in the Senate NDAA that will be sent to a Joint

Conference

with the House NDAA.

TAKE THE FOLLOWING ACTION:

By using the "Write to Congress" you can IMMEDIATELY e-mail your

elected

representatives. A sample letter is included in our "Write to

Congress"

feature on our Web site. You can e-mail the pre-written message or

edit the

sample letter as you desire. This is the quickest and most effective

method

of expressing your views to Congress. Also, contact your friends and

family

and urge them to "Write to Congress" as well. For more in-depth

information

and background visit our web site at www.ngaus.org.

Please direct any questions concerning this issue to Pete Duffy, NGAUS

Deputy Legislative Director at 202-454-5307 or email: pete.duffy@..."