South Central Florida ChapterHeartlander

September 2016South Central Florida Chapter of MOAA

P.O. Box 7841Sebring, FL 33872

Our Web Site: www.scfcmoaa.orgChapter Officers

President: Mike Borders, tel. (h)863-402-8292;(c)703-795-8776Vice President: Ron Buckley, tel. 863-314-9716Treasurer, John Harbaugh, tel. 863-658-1192Secretary: Malcolm Johnson, tel. 863-242-9215Recruiting/Retention: Ed Gadbois, tel. 808-280-7773Legislative Affairs: Tom Nunnallee, tel. 863-446-0055Newsletter: Bob Brooks, tel. 863-471-6318Past President: Roy Whitton

Our next dinner/social with spouses/better halves/significant others: Date is 6 September 2016, 6:30 p.m. Venue is the Island View restaurant at the Sun N’ Lake clubhouse, 5223 Sun N’ Lake Blvd, Sebring. Our speaker will be Dr. Guilda Saint-Fleur. The topic will focus on Senior Health Issues.

October Meeting: 5 October 2016. Board Meeting: 1730 (5:30 PM) Business Meeting, 1900hrs (7:00 PM). Venue: Note: The October Meeting will be at the Sea Services Museum, 1402 Roseland Ave., Sebring, FL 33870, (corner of Kenilworth and Roseland, about a mile east of Sebring High School).

President’s Message: We are pleased to announce that our chapter was recognized by MOAA National with the 5-Star Level of Excellence award for 2015. As you know, our chapter was brought back to life with a little kick-off activity in November of 2014, and

we had our first formal activity in January of 2015. So in our first year, our accomplishments warranted the highest award level that MOAA has to offer. We can be justly proud of this accomplishment. It is a direct reflection of the membership and all it did to make the chapter a success. Whether participating in Veterans Day parades, doing guest speaker gigs, donating toys to the Salvation Army, donating money to the scholarship fund, helping support JROTC activities, or recruiting new members, all of the members had something to do with this. Congratulations to you all.We are also pleased to announce that we finally received approval from the IRS for our 501(c)(19) tax exempt status. This was truly a homework project to put together and submit, along with the check for $400. While the IRS cashed the check as soon as they received it, and while they required us to file a tax return before we were even approved, and while it took some eight months to get the approval, it is finally in the books. This was the last real “administrivia” item we had to take care of as a chapter so we are happy with the positive outcome. Thanks to those who attended Tom Mitchell’s funeral service. We were represented well and did our duty to a fine guy and (Cont.)

President’s Message: (Cont.)good soldier. Tom’s family expressed their gratitude for our support and presence at the services. Tom will be missed by all.Finally, we look forward to seeing you all at the 6 September dinner/social at the Sun N’ Lake Island View restaurant in north Sebring. Our guest speaker this month is Dr Guilda Saint-Fleur from Highlands Medical Group. She will talk to us about health care issues of concern to the “senior set.” Don’t miss it.

MOAA’s Top 10 Goals for 2016

• Ensure any TRICARE reform sustains top-quality care• Prevent disproportional TRICARE fee hikes• Sustain military pay compatibility with the private sector• Block erosion of compensation and commissary benefits• Protect military retirement/COLAs• Sustain wounded warrior programs/expand caregiver

support• End disabled/survivor financial penalties• Credit Guard/Reserve call-ups for retirement purposes• Improve spouse and family support• Assure timely access to VA and eliminate claims backlog

TAKE ACTION!!www.moaa.org

Be Sure to Visit:Our Web Site: www.scfcmoaa.org

Did You Know?The local YMCA located on Hammock Road in Sebring has free memberships for veterans and reduced rates for family members/members of households. For the veteran, they will require some kind of proof, such as a DD-214, retired ID card, etc. This is as good as it gets. You can use all of their facilities. It is really quite an impressive place. They have a great indoor pool, new gym equipment, and all sorts of other goodies. Stop by the Y for details and to sign up.

Salvation Army Christmas Toy Drive. Please bring a new, unwrapped toy in the $10-$15 range to upcoming meetings. We will donate the toys to the local Salvation Army in early December. Chapter VP Ron Buckley is POC for this program. Thanks for making Christmas a little brighter for local kids.

MOAA Scholarship Drive. As we did last year, we will be supporting the MOAA scholarship program. Please make a contribution to this worthy cause. We gave over $1000 last year. Let’s do it again. Please make your donation by check (to the SCFC of MOAA) or by cash to John Harbaugh. You can mail checks to our mailing address on the front page of the newsletter.

Did You Know 3? Five years ago, the VA launched the Million Veteran Program (MVP). This epic research initiative partners with our nation’s veterans to learn more about how genes affect health.  Veterans enrolled in MVP donate their health information to help the VA better understand diseases like diabetes and cancer in order to improve the health care of all veterans.  This national research program is building one of the world’s largest medical databases by collecting blood samples and looking at genetics, military exposure, lifestyle, and health information. The goal is to be able to answer questions like:   

• Why does a treatment work well for some veterans but not for others?

• Why are some veterans at a greater risk for developing an illness? and

• How can we prevent certain illnesses in the first place?Antonio Tancredi, an Air Force veteran who served in operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and New Dawn said, "As a fellow veteran, I believe it is important to give back to the veteran community in ways (like MVP) that will provide additional resources and awareness... Thus, enhance meeting the needs of our nation's former and current service men and women."  The VA needs more veterans in the program and you can help. If you are enrolled in the VA health care system, you can be a part of this program by scheduling an appointment by phone at: 1-866-441-6075, or as a walk-in at a local participating MVP clinic.  

Did You Know 2? The IRS will NOT call you and tell you that you owe money, that they need additional information such as your SSN, your bank account numbers, debit card numbers, etc. Several of us have received these calls recently, including me, my mother-in-law, and several chapter members. I have heard people talking about it in the line at the grocery store and at the post office. These calls are a scam. So far, depending on the media reports, these thieves have taken somewhere between $5 and $25 million dollars from unsuspecting folks. If you get one of these phone calls, don’t give them any information. If by chance you know that you owe taxes, or even think you might, you can always call the IRS yourself. They have a toll free number: 1-800-829-1040. If you know you don’t owe tax money or have no reason to think you do (for example, you have received no bill from the IRS and get these bogus phone calls), call 1-800-366-4484 to report the malicious phone calls. In addition to NOT receiving phone calls from the IRS, they will NOT send you e-mail nor will they send texts to your cell phone. You can Google “IRS phone scam” and get much more info than I put here if so desired.

Did You Know 5? Newly Released VA Phone Apps Did you know the VA has a number of mobile apps to help you stay healthy and happy?  That’s right, 31 apps to be precise, and only a click away at the VA’s App Store. The store provides easy access to a wide range of apps to meet the individual needs of veterans and their health care professionals.  Here’s just a few of the more recent apps we thought MOAA members might be interested in checking out:  

• My VA Health - allows you to access your official VA medical record and enter information about your health.

• Ask a Pharmacist - enables My HealtheVet account veterans to safely and easily access information about VA pharmacies and medications.

• MOVE!® Coach - is a weight loss app for veterans, servicemembers, their families, and others who want to lose weight.

• Stay Quit Coach - is designed to help veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) quit smoking.

• Mindfulness Coach - is designed to help veterans, servicemembers, and others learn how to practice the technique of mindfulness.

• PTSD Coach - is for servicemembers and veterans who have, or may have, PTSD. The app provides readily available tools to manage PTSD-related symptoms and stress, including self-assessments, symptom-tracking capabilities, educational materials, and coping skills to address and monitor

Welcome to Our Newest Member: Jack R. Reeves

July Birthdays: Richard Miller—12 September Delbert Smith—15 September

Editor’s Note: If your birthday is not recognized, it is because you did not include it on your application form. Please contact the Secretary, Malcolm Johnson at 863-242-9215, and provide the same.

Did You Know 4? Not to be outdone by the IRS scammers mentioned above, there is also a scam out there from some yo-yos claiming to represent the Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH). This legitimate organization is having its name used by some crooks requesting donations for the upcoming presidential election. The callers (frequently using telephone number 315-516-2512) say they are doing so on behalf of the MOPH and even mention the name of the group’s national commander, Robert Puskar. These calls are a hoax. MOPH, like our own MOAA, is apolitical and does not support, contribute, or otherwise assist any party or candidate.

On 16 September the Sarasota chapter hosts a "regional" lunch.  It is their regular chapter luncheon, but to this one they invite the chapter leadership in the 7 chapters of the Southwest area (I am the Area VP).  This is a very nice affair in a very nice restaurant called Michael's on East.  Time is 1130.  Marc Oliveri, the State Council President will attend and speak.  Price is $27/person.  Dress is jacket (tie optional).  Menu is set and served to the tables.  As I said, this is a nice affair--I have attended twice, Ed once.  A good chance to meet other chapter leaders. If you wish to attend, please let me know soonest.  We have to get a reservation in and send a check to the POC. If you do decide to go, give yourself about two hours for travel time. We can carpool if so desired.

Did You Know 6? (submitted by Tom Nunnallee)

The Uncomfortable Tie Between Military Widows and DrugsJul 21, 2016 By: Col. Steve Strobridge, USAF (Ret)Director, Government There is, in fact, a link between the two, and it involves abuse.But it’s abuse of the widows, not the drugs.We’ve talked before about the military “widows tax” — the unfair situation in which military survivors whose sponsors died from a service-related cause are made to forfeit up to $1,000 a month or more because current law requires deduction of VA Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) from the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) coverage purchased by most military members retiring from a service career.Congress acknowledged the unfairness of the situation in 2007 and authorized a partial rebate called the Special Survivor Indemnity Allowance (SSIA), which started out at only $50 a month but has been increased to $270 a month for this year and will rise to $310 a month as of Oct. 1. The intent expressed by the House Armed Services Committee at the time was to continue raising the SSIA until the widows tax was erased.  But funding was a problem back then, as it is now. To keep the cost down, the SSIA law was set to expire Oct. 1, 2018 — in the full expectation future Congresses would find additional funds to keep increasing it.As expected, both the House and Senate have acted in the FY 2017 defense bill to prevent the SSIA from expiring. But they didn’t increase the $310 monthly amount.The House approved a one-year extension at the same level, buying another year to come up with a funding offset and funding the extra year in a way that doesn’t force any benefit tradeoffs.The Senate change would make the SSIA permanent at the $310 monthly amount, and they funded the permanent extension by proposing to roughly double TRICARE pharmacy copayments over the next nine years, including raising the copayment for mail-order generic medications from the current zero to $11 per prescription, starting in 2020.At present, those are the two choices.  While we’re grateful neither chamber let the SSIA expire, we’re not thrilled with either choice.We recognize it’s difficult for the Armed Services committees to fund SSIA increases because of congressional rules that require them to find offsets by making other cuts in personnel benefit programs.So MOAA and The Military Coalition are asking the top Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate to help identify offsets outside the Armed Services committees’ purview so the SSIA can continue to be increased in coming years.The goal is to continue reducing the widows tax, not just continue it at the current level.Making the SSIA permanent at $310 a month actually would remove any strong incentive for Congress to take further action to ease the SBP/DIC offset. After all, the only reason Congress acted this year was because they didn’t want to take the heat for letting the SSIA expire and having military survivors lose another $3,700 a year.And permanently extending the $310 allowance would come at the price of making the entire military community pay for it through higher pharmacy copayments. (Cont.)

PURPOSES OF THE MILITARY OFFICERSASSOCIATION OF AMERICA

The Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) is a not-for-profit corporation that is operated exclusively to further the interests of the nation and its uniformed services personnel, their family members, and survivors.From the preamble to the Bylaws of The Military Officers Association of America

• To inculcate and stimulate love of country and flag;• To defend the honor, integrity, and supremacy of our

National• Government and the Constitution of the United States;• To advocate military forces adequate to the defense of

our country;• To foster the integrity and prestige of uniformed service;• To foster fraternal relations between all branches of the

various• Services from which our members are drawn;• To further the education of children of Service personnel;• To aid personnel of the Services from which our members

are• drawn, and their family members and survivors, in every

proper and• legitimate manner; and• To present their rights and interests when Service matters

are under considerationWe unite to form THE MILITARY OFFICERS

ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA

Did You Know 6? (Cont.)MOAA believes strongly it’s the government’s responsibility — not military beneficiaries’ — to fund the needed compensation for survivors whose sponsors died from military service.Our mothers told us, “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” Many of those mothers are among today’s SBP/DIC widows.  Making all military beneficiaries pay higher pharmacy copayments to freeze the widows tax at the current level doesn’t make anything right. It adds a second wrong to the existing one.Given the choice between the two options currently on the table, MOAA prefers the one-year extension rather than a permanent SSIA freeze plus high pharmacy copayments.Our message to House and Senate leaders is this: “Please help the Armed Services committees with added funding to raise the SSIA amount (not just freeze it), without shifting the cost to military beneficiaries.”- See more at: http://www.moaa.org/Content/Take-Action/As-I-See-It/The-Uncomfortable-Tie-Between-Military-Widows-and-Drugs.aspx - sthash.9Si6lZbk.dpuf

Florida Council of Chapters 2017 Convention at Sea

The Florida Council of Chapters of MOAA will hold their 23-30 April, 2017 convention as a Family and Friends cruise.  Ports of call include Cozumel, Jamaica, and Haiti.  The cruise is on the Oasis of the Seas, one of the largest ships at sea.  This promises to be a great cruise.  For more information, see the following link:http://www.moaafl.org/Events.aspx?EventID=72

MOAA Membership is FREE!! Basic membership doesn’t cost a penny and can be done on line at www.moaa.org. Of course there are increased benefits and privileges with Regular or Life membership, and it is strongly encouraged.

The Heartlander is published monthly by members of the South Central Florida Chapter of Military Officers Association of America, P.O. Box 7841, Sebring, FL 33872. The Chapter is an apolitical and not-partisan, non-profit organization affiliated with National MOAA and the Florida Council of Chapters, MOAA, not associated with the Department of Defense. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of MOAA, the Florida Council of Chapters, the Chapter or DOD.

Del Smith, chapter member and August guest speaker standing in front of a picture of the USS Hornet, the ship he flew off of in the Pacific during the war

Mike presents Del Smith with a "Liberty" travel mug