New ‘COLA fix’ creates have, have-not retiree protection

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/01/18/2999746/new-cola-fix-creates-have-have.html

New ‘COLA fix’ creates have, have-not retiree protection
By TOM PHILPOTT
Contributing Writer
January 18, 2014

Congress has rushed to protect the medically retired and survivor benefit recipients from the cap on annual cost-of-living adjustments it approved only a few weeks ago for all “working age” military retirees.

The lightning quick “COLA fix,” part of a massive omnibus funding bill for 12 federal departments, still leaves most military retirees under age 62 with future COLAs trimmed by 1 percent below the annual inflation rate, an erosion of retirement value set to begin in January 2016.

The fix also creates a disparity in COLA protection between separate groups of disabled retirees, critics contend. It won’t affect retirees with conditions diagnosed and rated in service, even if the rating is as low as 0 or 10 percent for those with 20 or more years served. Full COLAs are being restored for anyone medically retired, so-called Chapter 61 retirees.

The COLA cap remains for retirees under 62 whose service-connected disability ratings came later from the Department of Veterans Affairs. These VA-rated disabled retirees will continue to receive full COLAs on disability compensation, but COLAs would be on any military retired pay they draw. Only in the last decade did Congress phase out a longtime ban on “concurrent receipt” of both payments for many disabled retirees.