Last post I was pretty disappointed in the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense for taking so long to “study” how they would pay veterans the money already due them.

Well I’m not totally an pessimist and as a government annuitant I certainly am grateful for the benefits I do receive. So lest everyone think I’m just a reactionary, here’s a VA benefit I just found out about that can really help in veterans, veteran’s spouses and widows. Not only is it good news, it’s another factor that needs to be considered when valuing a couple’s assets prior to divorce.

The full article is here: A short synopsis:

All wartime veterans otherwise qualified for benefits (generally this means honorably discharged or discharged with a general discharge under honorable conditions) are eligible for this benefit if they need assisted living or nursing home care.

To qualify, veterans must:

• Have served in wartime, though they didn’t have to see combat.
• Have no more than $80,000 in assets, not counting the family home, car and personal possessions.
• Prove financial need, usually by demonstrating expenses exceed their income.
• Show they need someone to help them with basic activities of living, such as bathing, grooming or eating.

The monthly benefit pays up to:

• $1,470 to a veteran.
• $945 to a surviving spouse.
• $1,743 to a couple.

Now in today’s world of health care costs these amounts, like many VA benefits are less than what’s probably needed, as as my old compadre, Freddy Furple of the friendly Furple family of Floria, Florida used to say, “They are a heck of a lot better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.”

So if you’re a vet, the spouse or widow of a vet or a family member helping to shoulder the cost of caring for a vet, check this out.

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… The ad by Government Benefits Analysts Inc. headlined with a large attention banner, explains that many veterans or widows of veterans are eligible for benefits of “up to $20,924 a year tax-free!” The ad then asks veterans to call a local phone number, where a recording asks the caller to leave a message.

The ad was placed in The Daily News by Charles Whitehurst Jr., a Jacksonville insurance agent who works for Blue Water Insurance in Wilmington….

What Whitehurst is doing is legal. But Amelia Grissett, Onslow County’s veteran services director, said veterans with questions about benefits are better off coming to her office… Full Article Here:

An interesting news item. I’ve been studying VA benefits for years now, since I’ve been eligible for some VA benefits for nearly 40 years. I’ve never heard of the benefit highlighted. Does this tell you something about the state of the average vet’s knowledge? I think so.

It also seems to say a lot about the ability of the services and the VA to actually inform veterans of program which are available. In my opinion, based on personal experience, the VA is one of the worst government agencies for educating the citizens they are chartered and funded to serve. Sad.

In my own experience the VA actively cheated me out of a portion of my educational benefits due to an error on their part which they readily admitted (after I researched and pointed out to them) but refused to make good on the unpaid allowance. I’ve seen incidents like this thousands of times with fellow vets.

Contrast, for example, with the much maligned Internal Revenue Service. Twice in recent memory I made errors on my tax forms which resulted in overpayment of taxes. The IRS checked the forms, sent me a letter to point out the errors and even corrected the error and sent me a refund of the excess. What a difference in performance between two similar agencies.

The thrust of the highlighted news article is the debate over a commercial insurance company using the lure of possible pension benefits to draw in potential clients who may or may not also become customers for the company’s commercial offerings. I can see the potential for abuse, but even though I don’t know the efficiency of the county VA assistance officers who are complaining I hesitate in criticizing the insurance company for making the effort. In general the sate of education of our veterans (and, be default the state of education of divorcing veterans and non-veteran spouses and their attorneys) is woeful.

So why is this article here today?

• If you are a potential retiree (most of us are), make a special effort to learn what all your possible VA benefits may be. Don’t take the perfunctory briefings you may have received upon separation from the service as the whole truth.
• If you’re the attorney for a veteran, or a veteran’s spouse, make darn sure you do your due diligence. You wouldn’t want to come back to court someday when the other side claims you missed a $20K per year pension in doing the property division validation, would you?
• Strongly consider joining and actively participating in a veteran’s organization such as the American legion or the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Sad to say the US government (especially after nearly 16 years of draft dodger’s in the White House) is doing all they can to see that past and current veterans get nothing unless they can dig through the mass of laws and fend for themselves.

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I’ve written about “Catch 62″ several time here already, but judging by the search engine traffic it seems to still be a very popular subject.  (See here and here for some previous information)

Based on some recent conversations with military/civil service retirees the subject still seems to be widely misunderstood, so perhaps it’s time for a short primer.  There are a few other legal issues floating around out there that also have “62″ in their names so let me be specific.  This primer is referring to the “Catch-62″ provisions of Public Law 97-253.(9-82).

In essence these provisions may apply to any person who has served in the active components of the US military and who has also been employed in the US civil service, so the number of folks possibly impacted is a lot larger then the knowledge base on this subject seems to be.

In particular, personal conversations and perusal of lawyer’s web sites gives me the feeling that a lot of lawyers out there who may otherwise be very expert in divorce procedures also don’t have a comprehensive understanding of this legal speed bump.  I’ll write more at a later date date on some of the finer points of valuation and division of marital assets and Catch 62, in this article I’ll just cover the basics of how it affects most potential retirees … even though you almost certainly need competent legal assistance for a divorce, you need a basic understanding of the points that your attorney has to consider, at the least.

In simplest terms the Catch 62 (I’m sure this term was adapted from Heller’s “Catch 22″ novel, especially since the novel, in some cases, makes more sense than the law) attempts to give employees with combined military and federal civil service time a way to get credit for all their years of government service, while at the same time insuring that their time in the military (which counts toward any potential military retirement benefit) is ‘paid for’ in the applicable retirement system (CSRS or FERS) that the civil servant retires under. 

There are major differences in how Catch 62 applies to CSRS and FERS employees.  I’ll cover the FERS system first, since the rules seem to be the simplest there and the potential pitfalls for the employee don’t seem as fearsome.

Catch 62 and FERS:  For those employees hired under the FERS (Federal Employees Retirement System) the required contribution is 3% of the base pay received during their active military service.  The employee must pay the contribution in order to receive any credit for their military time.  Thus, the vast majority of FERS employees will have already paid the contribution.  In spite of some (in my opinion) nonsensical claptrap advice an employee will always be ahead of the game by paying this contribution.  It seems smart to pay it during the first three years of employment when their is no interest penalty, but even when an employee has delayed payment and interest has begun accruing I can’t see any circumstance where the decision to pay would be wrong … unless the employee plans to die early.  if an employee still decides not to pay there is no pitfall awaiting him or here.  The employee will simply retire with a smaller annuity than s/he would have been entitled to had the contribution been made, and life goes on.

Catch 62 and CSRS:  Now, as Shakespeare is alleged to have written, here’s the rub.  For military time served before 1956 the employee is ‘home free”.  The time is added to the employee’s total service time, his or her annuity is calculated and … life goes on.

For military time accrued after 1982, the same rule as the FERS program applies.  The employee must make a contribution (7% in this case) and if s/he chooses not to, the military time disappears for purposes of annuity calculation.

Those CSRS employees with military time between 1956 and 1982 (which includes a great many CSRS employees coming up for retirement) are the ones that the “goofiness” of the law puts most at risk.  The employee gets credit for the military time as if it were “good” civil service time.  If he or she retires before age 62 the annuity will be calculated using the “real” civil service years and the military years. If the employee failed to consider Catch 62, however, a time bomb is ticking … the employee’s 62nd birthday.  Since a person eligible for Social Security retirement may choose to begin collecting their retirement benefit at age 62 the law assumes that they will … regardless of the amount of money involved and regardless of the advisability of taking “early” Social Security retirement.  An ignorant or careless employee will find their Civil Service annuity pay reduced … recalculated to exclude the unpaid years of military service.  This can be a significant cut in pay … reductions of $1,000 a month or more are common.  At the same time, employees eligible for Social Security not only find that their reduced age 62 benefit doesn’t match the amount they have lost from their civil service annuity, but that the Social Security benefit they are entitled to may be further reduced by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) which many of us subject to the provision are convinced should be referred to as the WEPT.  Basically, for a federal retiree who had service for which Social Security Tax was not deducted is determined to have received a ‘windfall” by being eligible for both CSRS annuity and a Social Security annuity and the Social Security benefit is reduced … by hundreds of dollars per month in many cases to eliminate this so-called “windfall”. 

Bottom line?  Every federal civil service employee had better learn about the Catch 62 rules before retirement and CSRS employees in particular must make some very important decisions as early as possible.  Unless you think a surprise reduction of a thou or so per month won’t affect you.  And if you’re a potential divorce candidate looking for an attorney and the prospective attorney gives you a blank look when you mention Catch 62 … run, don’t walk to find a different lawyer.  You’re playing around with huge sums of money over a lifetime and decisions that once made can be irrevocable … don’t take a chance, know before you light the fuse.

Disclaimer

As always remember that this site, although written by a retiree with substantial experience in the school of hard knocks, it is for personal, lay opinions and informational purposes only. If you have a legal question you should seek help from a legal professional. If you have questions involving current or future values of pensions you need an actuary or competent pension valuation expert. If your questions are tax-related, seek a competent tax advisor. In other cases, I recommend the base chaplain.

If you really need an accurate reading on a case involving these issues, I’d suggest you call Bill — 719-475-7529

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Some may have noticed there have been no posts here for along time.  I’m not apologizing, I was busy with a big move … Colorado to Marilao in the province of Bulacan, just north of Manila, Republic of the Philippines.  Some of course might ask why and my answer is family reasons, personal desire (I’ve lived in Asia many years) and last, but not least, the fact that my retirement dollar is going to go a long way here.  I suppose this means, after many years, that I am completely retired … except for blogging that is.

How many years?  Well according to one yardstick I retired with over 20 good years from the USAF Reserve in 1992.  But even in the Philippines the pension I drew then wouldn’t have covered my living expenses … it was zero.  How do you retire and have no pension at all?  Welcome to the “gray Area” of the US Reserve Component.

“When a Guardsman or Reservist has completed at least 20 “good years”, that is years when s/he has earned enough retirement points, the Reserve Component member may request transfer to the Retired Reserve.  The catch is, Congress, although it seems to think nothing of sending Reservists to Iraq year after year and keeping them on active duty as long as it pleases, hasn’t thought enough of “Citizen Soldiers” to afford them any retirement pay until they reach age 60 …if they reach age 60.  Thus, from an average age of say 40 to 45 the member enters a state of limbo.  They are entitled to pay and full retirement benefits at age 60 but they don’t draw a nickel until that magic birthday.  Since the term ‘limbo’ has religious connotations the practice over the years has been to call these neither fish nor fowl service members ‘Gray Area’ reservists.

If a couple gets divorced before or during the ‘Gray Area’ there are a number of considerations that must be taken into account regarding the equitable division of assets.

• Retired Pay:   Obviously if a retiree is in the ‘Gray Area’ s/he can’t be immediately ordered to divide his/her retired pay with  a spouse who has earned a share.  But the asset certainly becomes ‘real’ at the 60th birthday so it can be used in many different ways to fill in amounts due in the future. 
• Reserve Component Survivor’s Benefit Plan:  A gray area retiree can provide for his family’s future income during this time by enrolling in the Reserve Component Survivor’s Benefit Program.  This costs money, of course, but Congress has allowed the program to be funded in arrears … that is reservists under the program get the protection of survivor’s pay for their dependents for free … and if and when they reach age 60 they get to pay double.  That is their retired pay is ‘taxed’ for the standard cost of the regular retiree Survivor’s Benefit program and also a fee to cover the ‘free’ converge they had from the time of their transfer to the retired rolls until they reached age 60.  In round numbers, this will work out to approximately 10% of the gross retirement benefit.  Since the Defense Accounting And Finance Service (the agency who will issue the paychecks) will not divide the cost for survivor’s benefits … they are deducted from the gross available retired pay before it is divided, this cost must usually be apportioned by awarding a larger or smaller percentage to a spouse’s share after the proper division percentage is established.
• Commissary and Exchange Privileges:   In some cases a separating spouse may be entitled to a continuation of military shopping and base recreational privileges.  The scope is narrow and too complex for this article, but if a spouse can qualify it may make a difference, at least in terms of non-financial negotiations.

Anyway, there’s a brief summary of the Gray Area to give folks a few thoughts about plans they might need to make or actions to take.  Please feel free to comment or ask questions on points I may not have covered as well as you wished.

Disclaimer

As always remember that this site, although written by a retiree with substantial experience in the school of hard knocks, it is for personal, lay opinions and informational purposes only. If you have a legal question you should seek help from a legal professional. If you have questions involving current or future values of pensions you need an actuary or competent pension valuation expert. If your questions are tax-related, seek a competent tax advisor. In other cases, I recommend the base chaplain.

If you really need an accurate reading on a case involving these issues, I’d suggest you call Bill — 719-475-7529

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When I mentioned the possibility of substituting TRICARE for commercial or Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) I thought it was amore cut and dry proposition.  But comments and questions I’ve received indicates to me that a lot of military and retired military who out to know and TRICARE, one of their major benefits, don’t.  And of course if they are involved in something requiring an attorney, they can’t possibly give their attorney enough information to form a good legal strategy.

So here’s the skinny (and some of my opinions) on the commonly available TRICARE plans:

TRICARE Standard Coverage

No enrollment: TRICARE Standard is the basic TRICARE health care program, offering comprehensive health care coverage, for people not enrolled in TRICARE Prime. (Active duty service members (ADSM) must take action to enroll in Prime, and many other beneficiaries choose to enroll in Prime also.) Standard does not require enrollment.

This is perhaps one of the most overlooked areas I’ve seen, so far.  When I speak to retirees about their TRICARE benefits they often respond with, “I didn’t sign up for that plan and now I have nothing.  Well, if they retired from the US military, either active duty or reserve component (reservist drawing retired pay) then they almost assuredly are covered and the plan needs to be factored into all retirement planning and in particular, divorce settlements where health insurance is an issue.

Fee-for-service flexibility: Standard is a fee-for-service plan that gives beneficiaries the option to see any TRICARE-certified/authorized provider (doctor, nurse-practitioner, lab, clinic, etc.). Standard offers the greatest flexibility in choosing a provider, but it will also involve greater out-of-pocket expenses for you, the patient. You also may be required to file your own claims.

Apparently the “file your own claims” issue is a very big negative factor.  None of us likes to fill out forms.  However many health care professionals will file TRICARE reimbursement forms, and if the member has to do it on his/her own the process is not complicated at all.  Just because TRICARE Standard may require some minor effort on a member or former spouses part one shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Costs: Standard requires that you satisfy a yearly deductible before TRICARE cost sharing begins, and you will be required to pay co-payments or cost shares for outpatient care, medications, and inpatient care.

The most important feature of TRICARE Standard is that there is no subscription cost.  It’s hard to find a plan that costs less than zero.  To user any provider a plan participant simply goes to the provider of choice, pay for the services received and TRICARE reimburses 80% of the allowable costs after an annual $150 per person/$300 per family deductible.  Of course the issues comes up that even 20% of the costs can add up to a lot over the course of a year.  TRICARE Standard has a catastrophic cap provision that limits a member’s costs to not more than $3000 per year.  So the most a person could owe, regardless of the medical condition/treatment needs is $3,000 or let’s look at it as $250 a month.  I know of a lot of commercial health plans that cover much less that cost a lot more than $250 per month … and if you don’t need the medical care, you won’t have to pay even that much.  Worth a look.

Program details: For more information about the Standard benefit, see the TRICARE Handbook.

Disclaimer

As always remember that this site, although written by a retiree with substantial experience in the school of hard knocks, it is for personal, lay opinions and informational purposes only. If you have a legal question you should seek help from a legal professional. If you have questions involving current or future values of pensions you need an actuary or competent pension valuation expert. If your questions are tax-related, seek a competent tax advisor. In other cases, I recommend the base chaplain.

If you really need an accurate reading on a case involving these issues, I’d suggest you call Bill — 719-475-7529

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Several days ago I wrote about the possibility of military retirees using the DoD TRICARE program to take care of their own medical insurance needs as well as the coverage they might be required to provide ex-spouses.  We should look at this idea in a little more detail since it won’t be the best for everyone and there are some who can’t even use the program.  here’s at thumbnail description of the various levels of TRICARE and how they might fit into your plans.  I urge all who haven’t yet to go to the primary TRICARE site, www.tricare.osd.mil and study the easy to use TRICARE Handbook and TRICARE Fact Sheets there.  The guide can be used on line or downloaded.

TRICARE Background: Prior to the 1980s, there were basically two ways for military personnel, retirees, and family members to receive military health care. Military members received treatment at military medical facilities, and retirees and family members received free treatment (space available) at military medical facilities, or could use a program known as CHAMPUS (Civilian Health and Medical Program Uniformed Services) to receive government-subsidized medical care from civilian providers… Read a good military medicine/TRICARE history here

TRICARE Eligibility: These are the general qualifications. For specific eligibility see here:

• Active Duty Military members, their spouses and unmarried children.
• Reservist and their spouses when called to active duty
• Retired Military members and families
• Retired reservists and families when the reservist is in retired pay status (typically at age 60 and after)
• Former spouses who meet the criteria specified in the link above … in most cases, married at least 20 years while the spouse was on duty.

TRICARE Plans: There are a number of TRICARE plans available.  Her is a synopsis of a few.

• TRICARE Standard.  All eligible TRICARE recipients under age 65 are covered by this plan if they are not covered by another.  TRICARE Standard operates as a fee for service plan in the standard medical insurance world.
• TRICARE Prime.  This is the plan that all active duty service members must be covered by.  It operates in a fashion similar to a civilian HMO plan with member’s health care being overseen by a Health Care Manager.
• TRICARE For Life.  This is essentially the TRICARE Standard program modified for enrollees who are eligible for medicare.

There are a number of other plans, most of which are modifications to the manner in which the plans work for active duty members.  Since the thrust of our discussion will be on retirees, we won’t attempt to cover them all here.  See the complete explanation of all plans on the TRICARE main page.

Next time I’ll cover the plans in more detail, including things to consider when deciding if TRICARE is a better deal for a military retiree and/or his/her former spouse.

Disclaimer

As always remember that this site, although written by a retiree with substantial experience in the school of hard knocks, it is for personal, lay opinions and informational purposes only. If you have a legal question you should seek help from a legal professional. If you have questions involving current or future values of pensions you need an actuary or competent pension valuation expert. If your questions are tax-related, seek a competent tax advisor. In other cases, I recommend the base chaplain.

If you really need an accurate reading on a case involving these issues, I’d suggest you call Bill — 719-475-7529

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I’ve been meaning to get around to this post for some time now.  At first glance one might winder why I am delving down into the ‘weeds’ of general entitlements when I originally intended to stick with the finer points of valuation, net present values, divorce and dissolution.  Well the truth is, judging by real-world problems, the basics are where a lot of folks need help.

Not long ago a lawyer friend called me to ask advice about a client of his.  The client was a retired Air Force officer who had gone into government civilian service after hanging up his uniform.  Later in life, as will sometimes happen, this officer/civil servant and his wife of many years parted company.  As part of the settlement the ex-officer was required to provide his ex-wife with health insurance.  The client also decided to retie from Civil Service and as a matter of course kept his Federal Employee heath benefits (FEHB) insurance … because, well, everybody does, don’t they?

The issue my friend was looking for other opinions on was the fact that his client, paying for the ex-wife’s retained FEHB insurance (as an ex-spouse she can carry it but the cost is much higher) and his own FEHB policy, was paying somewhere around $700 a month in health insurance bills.  My first thought was TRICARE, and it turns out neither of them have really given it any consideration.

What is TRICARE?  It’s the program that the military provides for active duty and retired service personnel, their eligible family members and survivors’ healthcare,  Active Duty, Reservists, Retirees and former spouses all have some potential benefits.  The program itself is well documented Here:

There’s an excellent user-level handbook available:  I highly recommend all those who don’t know and those who think they know TRIOCARE take a look … I can virtually guarantee you’ll learn something.  I’m going to spend the next few days going through the eligibility criteria, basic programs and overseas programs that TRICARE provides.

But what about my retired officer friend … we’ve left him hanging.  Turns out he was able to enroll in TRICARE Prime for a total of something under $500 a year rather than more than that per month, and cover his ex-spouse as well.  He also chose to buy a supplementary commercial policy for about $50 a month that insured against any ‘gaps’ between what TRICARE paid and actual costs.  So he went from about $700 per month to about $90 a month on an annual basis and he actually had better coverage for both himself and his ex.  Also, and I think this is a big reason a lot of retirees aren’t making good use of TRICARE, he did not “give up” his or his ex-wife’s FEHB.  The Office of Personnel Management )OPM) allows those covered by TRICARE and some other government benefit programs to “suspend” their FRHB coverage and keep it in the background at no cost.  Should our friend or his ex-wife ever decide than FEHB coverage is the better deal they can re-instate their coverage during any FEHB Open Season.   Thinking back over this situation I’m wondering why I didn’t get a cut … think what TRICARE meant to this fellow’s bottom line?  Tomorrow …Eligibility.

Disclaimer

As always remember that this site, although written by a retiree with substantial experience in the school of hard knocks, it is for personal, lay opinions and informational purposes only. If you have a legal question you should seek help from a legal professional. If you have questions involving current or future values of pensions you need an actuary or competent pension valuation expert. If your questions are tax-related, seek a competent tax advisor. In other cases, I recommend the base chaplain.

If you really need an accurate reading on a case involving these issues, I’d suggest you call Bill — 719-475-7529

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You can read the CNN story here:

A 63 year-old man was sick of the minimum wage jobs and age discrimination in Ohio … gee, we don’t any such thing as age discrimination here in the US, now do we asks your innocent 61 year-old scribe … and was not eligible for Social Security benefits until age 66, three years from now, so he devised a novel “bridge plan”.

he walked into a bank, demanded money from a teller, how gave him a whole $80 and tripped the silent alarm.  The man then handed the money to a bank security guard and sat down to wait for police.

It must have been really comical at his trail to hear the prosecutors debating with the judge about not giving him a jail term, because they were just that PO’d that the man feared a destitute life sleeping on the side walk more than getting three squares a day, a warm bunk and all the TV and law library he could stand in what constitutes most American prison.  He’ll probably come out qualified as a paralegal and push back his Social Security.

The judge in the case did, finally, “grant” the man his wish of three years in jail, stating that she didn’t agree with his choice.  Of course she didn’t, she has a guaranteed income for life and has probably never been poor a day in her life.

Because many of my readers are on line and thus by general demographic are young, let me give you this little tip … you better plan now as to how you are going to spend your retirement.  And you had better not plan on Social Security and not plan on a fat pension from a big company, because those old standbys may well be gone by the time you get in striking range. 

Either that or watch lots of bank robbery movies so that you get more than $80.

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Many folks who drop by to read this site are retirees thinking of their “Golden Years” and how they will eke out a little extra and not interfere with their Social Security or military or Civil Service annuities. Here’s something many may not have thought of … The Peace Corps. Nope, the Peace Corps didn’t dry up and blow away as many might have thought. Our last few administrations, Republican or Democrat seem to have completely abandoned the idea of service to others that is the foundation of the Peace Corps, but in the background it still soldiers on. You’ll never see a Clinton or a Bush surname there but not all of us are elitists who feel we are the ruling class and exempt … some still have the urge to serve.

No one will get rich in the Peace Corps, but they do take people for 18 to 86 (or even older), pay for training, pay for transportation and living expenses on the job, pay a small stipend, take care of medical expenses and pay a small stipend when the assignment is over. Worth a look for some folks. They take better care of you than most states do in prison, and you don’t need to commit a crime!

http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=learn.ho…

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Especially with the new prescription drug benefits for Medicare the majority of us Americans have no clue what we might be entitled to with Medicare now, what we can expect in retirement and what, if any, we’ll have to pay.  Well suppose someone would sit down with you, for free, and do a comprehensive spreadsheet of you entitlements, benefits and costs … perhaps like this one:

Interested?  I know I am.  Here’s the deal … no you don’t have to send money or even give me your email address … don’t you hate those guys who dangle something free in front of your eyes and then put one of those pages where you have to sign up in the way?  In the Internet bilking ooops I meant marketing trade they call those annoyance “squeeze pages”, meaning they “squeeze” your address out of you.  You’ll never see that here … you’re already paying for the free service, but so many don’t seem to know the service is there.Just go here: and “point and click your way to the answers you need. 

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