On Wednesday, March 25, 2015, Scott Bousum, Legislative Director, testified before the House Armed Services Committee’s Military Personnel Subcommittee. Mr. Scott Bousum provided EANGUS’s viewpoints regarding the recently released Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission’s (MCRMC) fifteen recommendations. If interested, you can access an archived video of the “Stakeholder’s Views on the Military Compensation Retirement Modernization Commission” Hearing by clicking here. Through interviews, field hearings, communication with EANGUS staff and other MSO/VSO staff, the Commissioners found, during their two-year study, that the Services, “require flexible, modern, and relevant compensation tools to continue to recruit and retain the high-quality men and women needed to protect and defend our Nation into the future.” The report found that millennials would like flexible healthcare options and would prefer access to a Thrift Savings Plan -style retirement system, similar to that afforded to Federal Employees. The Commission found that TRICARE is broken and that federal funds should not be spent trying to fix TRICARE. They also found that over 80 percent of servicemembers do not benefit from the current, 20-year retirement system. If the Commission’s recommendations are adopted in their entirety, those taking advantage of the current 20-year retirement system or are planning to retire after 20 years will not be affected. Those utilizing TRICARE will be affected as members would need to move to private health insurance. The Commission found that retiree cost sharing is necessary, working age retirees would pay more. EANGUS staff understand that there is current Congressional interest to reform the retirement portions of the MCRMC report. However, Congress is not expected to move forward with the suggested healthcare reform portions in 2015. In its testimony, EANGUS suggested that the healthcare aspects of the MCRMC report need additional study prior to Congressional action.
