Obama floats new concurrent receipt plan - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Obama floats new concurrent receipt plan

As part of his fiscal 2011 budget request, President Obama again is asking to expand the number of disabled military retirees who are eligible for concurrent receipt of full veterans disability benefits and military retired pay.

The proposal, outlined in an Office of Management and Budget document, would make all “medically retired” service members eligible for concurrent receipt by 2015.

At issue is an ongoing effort launched by Congress in 2004 to gradually repeal a law dating to the late 19th century that required disabled military retirees to forfeit a dollar of military retired pay for every dollar received in veterans disability compensation.

The OMB budget document does not provide further detail on the new proposal. But it appears to be a scaled-down reprise of a plan to expand concurrent receipt that the White House floated last year and that Congress did not approve.

The first three years of that plan would have applied to service members who were given medical retirement short of the 20 years of service normally required to qualify for military retirement benefits. That group had not been included in previous concurrent receipt expansions.

The last two years would have covered all veterans with disability ratings of less than 50 percent, no matter how many years they had served. Under current law, retirees with service-connected disabilities must have disability ratings of 50 percent or more to be eligible for concurrent receipt.

The new proposal in the 2011 budget makes no specific mention of expanding concurrent receipt to veterans with disability ratings of less than 50 percent.