Since 04-04-06
mrgrg-ms-talk
- Digest Number 1125 - 10 messages in this issue
Since 04-04-06
From: mrgrg-ms-talk@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:mrgrg-ms-talk@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2006 2:39 AM
To: mrgrg-ms-talk@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [mrgrg-ms-talk] Digest Number 1125
There are 10 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Senatorial Response - S484
From: James Ret <alamostation@yahoo.com>
2. Re: Senatorial Response - S484
From: "jimw8869" <jimw8869@megagate.com>
3. Re: [VVB-Forum] Senatorial Response - S484
From: Charlie Revie NM-2 <redleg@zianet.com>
4. MOAA's capwiz at: http://capwiz.com/moaa/issues/
From: Floyd Sears <fsears@bellsouth.net>
5. FW: U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein responding to your message
From: "J. R. Santos" <saintjim@earthlink.net>
6. New Blood
From: <hkaribian@yahoo.com>
7. Addition
From: <hkaribian@yahoo.com>
8. Shock & Awe
From: <hkaribian@yahoo.com>
9. [Fwd: Jere Beery Challenges Fellow Veterans [FBN]]
From: Floyd Sears <fsears@bellsouth.net>
10. Re: [MRGRG-MS] MOAA's capwiz at: http://capwiz.com/moaa/issues/
From: Floyd Sears <fsears@bellsouth.net>
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Message: 1
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 16:20:02 -0700 (PDT)
From: James Ret <alamostation@yahoo.com>
Subject: Senatorial Response - S484
frank_lautenberg@lautenberg.senate.gov wrote:
From: frank_lautenberg@lautenberg.senate.gov
To: <alamostation@yahoo.com>
Subject: Responding to your message
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 16:03:34 -0400
April 3, 2006
Dear James:
Thank you for contacting me about S. 484, which was introduced by Senator John Warner (R-VA). I am pleased to inform you that I am a cosponsor of this legislation and I will vote yes if the Senate has a vote on it.
Federal Employee Health Benefit Program (FEHBP) and TRICARE beneficiaries who are currently in the Federal Government are able to have premiums for those program deducted from their pay on a pre-tax basis. When they retire, however, they suddenly lose that benefit, which is unfair. Retired federal employees have served their country well and should, therefore, enjoy the same benefits others enrolled in the same benefit programs do. This legislation will change this unjust practice so that FEHBP and TRICARE beneficiaries may continue to benefit from having premiums paid with pre-tax dollars.
Again, thank you for your comments.
The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any
war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how
they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated
by their nation. -- George Washington
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Message: 2
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 19:13:06 -0500
From: "jimw8869" <jimw8869@megagate.com>
Subject: Re: Senatorial Response - S484
Hello Jim:
Notice he says if it comes up in the Senate, he will vote yes.
They all say this to me. "if it should come up in the Senate--I will vote yes". I always send them this response.--Why don't you bring it up in the Senate?? It is all control by the Subcommittee and Committee chairman and the Party in Power, the Speaker of the House and The Senate Majority Leader determines what come up for vote.
How sad--but true.
Jim
"IF IT WEREN'T FOR THE U.S. MILITARY THERE WOULD NOT BE A UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" QUESTIONS?
Jim Whittington--MSGT--USAF--RET
SAVE 30-80% ON YOUR INKJET CARTRIDGES,TONERS, PHOTO PAPER
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----- Original Message -----
From: James Ret
To: Vets Voting Bloc ; MRGRG MS Talk
Sent: Monday, April 03, 2006 6:20 PM
Subject: [mrgrg-ms-talk] Senatorial Response - S484
frank_lautenberg@lautenberg.senate.gov wrote:
From: frank_lautenberg@lautenberg.senate.gov
To: <alamostation@yahoo.com>
Subject: Responding to your message
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 16:03:34 -0400
April 3, 2006
Dear James:
Thank you for contacting me about S. 484, which was introduced by Senator John Warner (R-VA). I am pleased to inform you that I am a cosponsor of this legislation and I will vote yes if the Senate has a vote on it.
Federal Employee Health Benefit Program (FEHBP) and TRICARE beneficiaries who are currently in the Federal Government are able to have premiums for those program deducted from their pay on a pre-tax basis. When they retire, however, they suddenly lose that benefit, which is unfair. Retired federal employees have served their country well and should, therefore, enjoy the same benefits others enrolled in the same benefit programs do. This legislation will change this unjust practice so that FEHBP and TRICARE beneficiaries may continue to benefit from having premiums paid with pre-tax dollars.
Again, thank you for your comments.
The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any
war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how
they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated
by their nation. -- George Washington
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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[This message contained attachments]
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Message: 3
Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2006 19:25:34 -0600
From: Charlie Revie NM-2 <redleg@zianet.com>
Subject: Re: [VVB-Forum] Senatorial Response - S484
Senator Lautenberg,
As a CSRS annuitant at age 59 and a retired reservist at age 60, I can
not speak for the for the pretax treatment of Tricare premiums but I can
address the pretax treatment of FEHBP premiums.
Your second paragraph is correct to a point. You might also include
that OPM, which has rule making authority for employees but not
annuitants, some time after my CSRS retirement in 2000, was able to
implement "premium conversion" for employees who opted for it. OPM was not able to implement "premium conversion" for annuitants because those procedures are defined by the appropriate title of US Code.
In my actual situation, because my wife was a Federal employee, we had
her pay for our family option premiums from her salary to take advantage
of premium conversion because as an annuitant I was not eligible for
premium conversion. For the two or three years before her retirement, I
estimate that we saved approximately $1000/year in Federal income
taxes. Now that she has also retired we, as retirees with reduced
income, again take it in the wallet because of the failur of S 484 type
legislation to pass.
While I have your attention I have another interesting observation for
you and that concerns the tax treatment of Part B premiums. In 2005, I
joined the Medicare generation. Having just recomputed my Federal taxes
for the third time from scratch, my taxes due jumped by $2000 over last
year's taxes ...
I attribute this significant jump to two things (1) we did not have as many health problems in 2005 as we had in 2004 and (2) medical insurance premiums are reportable as medical expenses on Schedule A while Medicare Part B premiums are not reportable as medical expenses on Schedule A.
Thus, my birthday present from the IRS was losing $200/month tax deductable health insurance premium and gaining $88/month non tax deductable Medicare Part B premium ... the net monthly shift is some $290/month ($3480/year) from tax deductable medical expense to non-tax deductable medical expense. Except for this little booby trap, the transition to Medicare+TFL at age 65 has been without the frustrations encountered on previous transitions. And this is the result AFTER I took my additional exemption for being 65 or older.
It would seem the older I become, the more taxes are due because the law
is stacked against older retirees because we lose the ability to deduct
various expenses. I would think that as a minimum, those of us paying
Medicare Part B premiums should be able to treat them as tax deductable
medical insurance premiums as we did with our commercial health
insurance premiums.
That opens another door, I am fully supporting my mother in law ... her
Adjusted Gross Income was $2000 in 2005 ... I am paying $550/month house
payment for her to live separate from us ... this is to our mutual peace
of mind, yet we (I can not claim her as a dependent because she does not
live in my primary residence. EXCUSE ME! If the three of us lived
under the same roof, one would likely be dead and the remaining one or
two of us would be in jail.
While I might not be your voting constituent, I am none-the-less your
constituent because you vote on matters that impact my quality of life
as a military retiree and a civil service annuitant.
Respectfully submitted,
Charles Revie
LTC, USAR, Retired
CSRS Retired
100% Service Connected Disabilty
720 Sundown Court, Las Cruces, NM 88011
phone 505-522-3317
James Ret wrote:
>
>
> frank_lautenberg@lautenberg.senate.gov wrote:
>
> From: frank_lautenberg@lautenberg.senate.gov
> To: <alamostation@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Responding to your message
> Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 16:03:34 -0400
>
> April 3, 2006
>
> Dear James:
>
> Thank you for contacting me about S. 484, which was introduced by
> Senator John Warner (R-VA). I am pleased to inform you that I am a
> cosponsor of this legislation and I will vote yes if the Senate
> has a vote on it.
>
> Federal Employee Health Benefit Program (FEHBP) and TRICARE
> beneficiaries who are currently in the Federal Government are able
> to have premiums for those program deducted from their pay on a
> pre-tax basis. When they retire, however, they suddenly lose that
> benefit, which is unfair. Retired federal employees have served
> their country well and should, therefore, enjoy the same benefits
> others enrolled in the same benefit programs do. This legislation
> will change this unjust practice so that FEHBP and TRICARE
> beneficiaries may continue to benefit from having premiums paid
> with pre-tax dollars.
>
> Again, thank you for your comments.
>
> The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any
> war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how
> they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated
> by their nation. -- George Washington
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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> PC-to-Phone calls for ridiculously low rates.
>
> =============================================================
> Remind your Representatives and Senators of the following
> failures of the 2006 National Defense Authorization Act
> -375,000 retirees with less than 50% disability denied CRDP
> -327,000 retirees age 70 & 30 years still paying SBP premiums
> -188,000 Chapter 61 with less than 20 years denied CRDP
> - 55,000 widows denied relief from SBP/DIC
> - 28,000 IU denied 100% benefit under CRDP
> - 17,000 POW who died in captivity denied the Purple Heart
> All of this legislation has bills held hostage in committee.
>
> Visit http://usdr.org
>
> "I LIED" tee-shirts $17 Bud Bessey <chiefsquarters@yahoo.com>
> $5 of each sale goes to the USDR (www.usdr.org) treasury.
> ======================= THANK YOU =========================
>
>
>
> * Visit your group "VVB-Forum
> < http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VVB-Forum >" on the web.
>
> * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
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Message: 4
Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2006 21:00:20 -0500
From: Floyd Sears <fsears@bellsouth.net>
Subject: MOAA's capwiz at: http://capwiz.com/moaa/issues/
%PDF-1.4
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Message: 5
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 19:49:55 -0700
From: "J. R. Santos" <saintjim@earthlink.net>
Subject: FW: U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein responding to your message
-----Original Message-----
From: senator@feinstein.senate.gov [mailto:senator@feinstein.senate.gov]
Sent: Monday, April 03, 2006 4:31 PM
To: saintjim@earthlink.net
Subject: U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein responding to your message
April 3, 2006
Mr. James Santos
XXX Saratoga Avenue, Apartment XY
Santa Clara, California XXXXX
Dear Mr. Santos:
Thank you for writing me about a possible blanket amnesty.
I appreciate hearing from you.
I do not support blanket amnesty for illegal immigrants. As
the daughter of a Russian immigrant, I understand the hope and the
optimism with which countless others view our country. I believe
America is rooted in a tradition of newcomers working hard and
building a better life for themselves and their families. We must
balance this tradition, however, with our ability to integrate new
immigrants into the American society that follow the proper
channels to legal immigration. Our ability to accept immigrants and
our immigration policy must support and strengthen families, create
economic opportunities, increase scientific and cultural resources,
and fulfill humanitarian commitments.
Again, thank you for writing to me. If you have any further
questions or comments on this or any other issue, please do not
hesitate to call my Washington, D.C. staff at (202) 224-3841.
Sincerely yours,
Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator
Further information about my position on issues of concern to California and the Nation are available at my website http://feinstein.senate.gov . You can also receive electronic e-mail updates by subscribing to my e-mail list at http://feinstein.senate.gov/issue.html.
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Message: 6
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 21:49:50 -0500
From: <hkaribian@yahoo.com>
Subject: New Blood
Two weeks of honest government from new blood is more than we will ever get from the present incumbents.
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Message: 7
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 21:52:17 -0500
From: <hkaribian@yahoo.com>
Subject: Addition
Please add to my last message: How many of the 22 Republicans on the House Budget Committee are up for reelection? With selective targeting of the few, we can get the attention of the "mob".
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Message: 8
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 21:54:28 -0500
From: <hkaribian@yahoo.com>
Subject: Shock & Awe
Remember the "Shock and Awe" when the Democratic minority leader was booted. Just imagine how much greater that shock and awe would be if we could nail the speakers of the House and Senate. I am willing to work towards that end, even though they are not from my state.
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Message: 9
Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2006 22:06:35 -0500
From: Floyd Sears <fsears@bellsouth.net>
Subject: [Fwd: Jere Beery Challenges Fellow Veterans [FBN]]
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Message: 10
Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2006 22:29:17 -0500
From: Floyd Sears <fsears@bellsouth.net>
Subject: Re: [MRGRG-MS] MOAA's capwiz at: http://capwiz.com/moaa/issues/
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