U.S. Military (Ret.): Budget-busting recession could affect retiree benefits - Military Retirement - Navy Times

U.S. Military (Ret.): Budget-busting recession could affect retiree benefits

I routinely hear from readers frustrated with the many problems facing our country as it weathers the worst economic landscape since the Great Depression.

One thing that differentiates the concerns of retirees from the concerns of other citizens is that the ongoing stability of military retirees’ lives depends so heavily, and so directly, on the whims of their government.

Just a few issues of pressing concern: ongoing changes in benefits programs; difficulty in how the Veterans Affairs Department administers its programs, especially the disability appeal process; and how states tax military retired pay.

“Though I found your series on the issues of concurrent receipt to be informative, there is a far larger issue that affects all military retirees,” retired Cmdr. Peter Gregory wrote to me in a recent e-mail.

“The nature of military retired anxiety is that earned benefits are still on the balance sheet of the government, not the individual — and that government balance sheet is under stress,” he wrote.

“Outside of military retired pay for 20-year veterans, which is governed by laws outside the Department of Defense, all other benefits are subject to change, interpretation, or manipulation.

“Health care, how much it costs and how much you will pay, survivor benefits and disability programs are open for change any given year. Even our cost-of-living allowance is subject to interpretation and modification.”

All valid points. In just the past year, we’ve seen how the whims of government can affect retiree benefits in the issue of continued expansion of concurrent receipt, which President Obama called for last year but Congress ultimately shot down. Obama has revived his proposal this year, but its odds of approval are already narrowing because of budgetary concerns.

This pervasive uncertainty may not ease anytime soon. This is the third month of a new year in which economic anxiety is still the order of the day for most Americans, with predictions that joblessness and slow growth will persist for at least several more years and could take a heavy toll on the retirement community, particularly working-age retirees.

Politicians surely will continue to make promises — that’s what politicians do. But our government appears to be incapable of prioritizing its funding obligations and correcting the national balance sheet.

In an imbalanced economy driven by a government that has wildly overspent for far too long, someone eventually will have to pay the piper.

If retirees remain passive and don’t speak up for themselves — loudly and consistently — then we know who those “someones” likely will include.

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Retired Command Master Chief Alex Keenan served 28 years in the Coast Guard. E-mail him at retired@atpco.com.