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SBC and DIC Offset Article

Chairman Webb, Ranking Member Graham, and members of this committee, I am pleased submit testimony on behalf of Gold Star Wives on legislative issues pertinent to our nation’s military widows and widowers. My name is Vivianne Wersel, Chair of the Gold Star Wives’ Government Relations Committee. I am the widow of Lt. Col. Richard Wersel, Jr., USMC, who died suddenly on February 4, 2005, one week after returning
from his second tour of duty in Iraq.
Gold Star Wives of America, Incorporated (GSW), founded in 1945, is a
Congressionally Chartered organization of widows and widowers of military members who died while serving on active duty or as a result of a service-connected disability.
GSW is an all-volunteer organization encompassing approximately 10,000 members.
Our primary mission is to support gold star wives after the death of their loved one and a place to connect with other widows. We also provide information about military survivor benefits and assist widows experiencing difficulties accessing their benefits.
We strive to raise the awareness of Congress, the public, the military community and Gold Star Wives to the many inequities existing in our survivor programs and benefits.
Many of our members volunteer in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals and clinics and also visit service members hospitalized at Department of Defense (DoD) medical treatment facilities.
GSW’s current members are widows and widowers of military members who served during World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the conflicts in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and every period in between. For this written testimony, we will refer to all of members as widows.
I am honored to submit testimony for the record today, but am very saddened my testimony will show no changes since last year. None of our issues passed the last Congressional session. GSW’s most important legislative issues that pertain to this committee are as follows:
I. Elimination of the Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) Offset To the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP)
GSW strongly supports the complete elimination of the SBP/DIC offset. We are grateful for the support of many Members of Congress, including most of you here, as this issue has been brought before Congress for 11 years. We are also grateful to Senator Bill Nelson his sponsorship of S. 260 to remove the SBP/DIC offset. We respectfully request Congress eliminate the SBP/DIC offset immediately.
Two Survivor Programs
Congress created two programs for survivors of our military members. In 1956, Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) was established by the Servicemen’s and Veteran’s Survivor Benefit Act. The purpose of DIC is an indemnity payable to survivors when a military member dies as a result of a service-connected cause.
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In 1972, Congress created the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP). The purpose of SBP is to insure that a portion of the military member’s retirement will be provided to the widow after the military member’s death.
Two different plans, two very different purposes, one paid by retiree premiums or an active duty military member’s life and the other paid by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
GSW Membership and SBP/DIC OFFSET
GSW encompasses approximately 10,000 DIC recipients. Some of our members are eligible for and receive SBP. For those surviving spouses who receive SBP, either their retired military service member chose to purchase SBP at their retirement or their military member died while on active duty.
When a widow is eligible for both SBP and DIC, the widow becomes subject to the “widow’s tax” -- a dollar-for-dollar reduction in the SBP by the amount of DIC received Military members who died on active duty did not pay premiums. (Prior to 9/11, a service member who died on active duty had to be retirement eligible for his survivor to receive SBP without payment of premiums.) Their widows became eligible for SBP on
the date of their active duty death. Retired military members chose to purchase SBP and pay premiums with hard-earned retirement. Until 2005 and the implementation of concurrent receipt, some disabled retirees received no retirement pay with which to pay premiums. Many were forced to pay from disability compensation.

The offset, never mentioned to the military member, only becomes visible to their widow once the military member has died. Including GSW members, approximately 54,000 surviving spouses are eligible for both SBP and DIC.
Widows who are impacted by the offset are quite often shocked to learn they are subject to an offset. Completely unaware of the offset and how it would affect them financially forces them to make many hard adjustments in their day-to-day lives to accommodate the offset’s effects.
Band-Aid Fixes
Congress has chosen not to eliminate the offset for eleven years for the small group of widows impacted by the offset. Instead, Congress further divided and subdivided this small group with Band-Aid fixes for the offset. Three of the Band-Aid fixes, also called options, create even more confusion about benefits and who is eligible and often do little to eliminate the financial distress initially. Even reporting these options and their
consequences to Congressional members is difficult as they do not understand the impact, ramifications and end-result these options caused. The options are below.
First, the reassignment of a spouse’s SBP to her children. In 2003, a new law passed, P.L. 108-136, authorizing active duty widows to assign the SBP annuity to their children,
if any, permanently forfeiting any right the widow had to SBP. This reassignment allows full receipt of SBP by the child(ren) without offset until they reach the age of majority,
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when the benefit terminates. The widow is forced to make this decision very soon after notification of her spouse’s death and her decision then becomes irrevocable.
Complications from this new law often require that the widow be granted guardianship of her own child(ren) by a court of law. A widow whose husband died in retirement is not eligible for this option.
Second, remarriage. In August 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals in the matter of Sharp, et.al. v. The United States, 82 Fed. Cl. 222 (2008), ruled that DIC payments may not be deducted from SBP annuities if a person entitled to both benefits has remarried after age 57. It does not make sense to have two separate standards in the law, one that  allows payment of full SBP and DIC for widows who remarry after age 57 and another
forcing a dollar-for-dollar offset between the SBP and DIC for all others. GSW is concerned that the Federal government now requires a remarriage in order for an annuity to be paid in full.
Third, Special Survivor Indemnity Allowance (SSIA). The NDAA FY2008 established a Special Survivor Indemnity Allowance for widows who are the beneficiary of the SBP annuity and their SBP annuity is partially or fully offset by the DIC. The SSIA also applies to the widows of members who died on active duty whose SBP annuity is partially or fully offset by their DIC. SSIA began at $50 per month and increases each
fiscal year until 2017, when the SSIA terminates.
A GSW member inquired recently whether the SBP/DIC offset would be removed within her lifetime. She is quite elderly and she stated that the odds of her remarrying are not favorable. She knows there are band-aid fixes, but stated she was from the old culture and married once for a lifetime. For her, the thought of dating or remarrying at the age
of 94 is completely out of the question. The only response we could give her is to have faith and hope Congress will eliminate this offset soon.
VDBC and Concurrent Receipt The Veterans Disability Benefits Commission, created by Congress in 2004 to review the benefits provided to the disabled and their surviving spouses, recommended the elimination of the DIC offset to SBP as one of their top priorities for Congress -- and
they referred to this issue as “survivor concurrent receipt.“ Six years ago, concurrent receipt was applied to military members who are 100% disabled, enabling them to receive both VA compensation and military retirement pay in full. Logically, this should have applied to the surviving spouse at the same time -- death should have been included in the 100% disabled category for survivor concurrent receipt as well.
GSW understands that Congress does not permit the private sector or other Federal benefit programs to reduce or terminate retired annuities because the survivor is also eligible for DIC. So it begs to question, how can the full receipt of SBP and DIC be considered double dipping when in 2004 it was determined by Congress that the 100% disabled would receive their full retirement and disability compensation payments?
Survivor compensation is provided to widows based on the military member who is rated at 100% disabled. There is no greater disability than death.
SBP/DIC Offset Conclusion
Senator Bill Nelson stated simply for the record before the Senate Armed Services Committee Subcommittee on Personnel Hearing on March 10, 2010, “To truly honor our service members, we all agree that the U.S. Government must take care of our veterans, their widows and orphans. In keeping with that moral principle, we must repeal the unjust offset that denies widows and orphans the annuity their deceased loved ones have earned on active duty or purchased for them…Our efforts have been
important steps in the right direction, but they are not enough. We must meet our obligation to the widow and orphan with this same sense of honor as was the service their loved one had rendered. We must completely eliminate the SBP-DIC offset.”
GSW is heartened by all the support and legislation introduced to fix the “widow’s tax” over the past 11 years; however, we are perplexed that none of it has led to the necessary change -- the complete elimination of the SBP/DIC offset. Even the Veterans Disability Benefits Commission, chartered by Congress, recommended the elimination of the offset in its top six priorities for Congress. Military widows have done all that is
asked of them over the years and have worked tirelessly to educate the government, the public and military communities and new members to our own membership. They followed all the advice provided by Congress to get the word out to the public, garner support within Congress and have had numerous champions sponsor legislation to end this offset but to no avail. Our champions retire, widows die and the offset still remains.
We watch as other programs are easily funded that do not impact the quality of life for their recipients. We wait and wait. It is time to do the right thing, eliminate the DIC offset to the SBP this session.
Gold Star Wives would like to thank Senator Bill Nelson for introducing S. 260 and the thirty plus cosponsors supporting this effort to eliminate the SBP-DIC Offset.
II. Education
GSW is greatly encouraged by the Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship Program and request this program be included in the Yellow Ribbon Education Program. The Yellow Ribbon Education Program does not currently apply to children of the fallen, yet it would help ensure these children have a brighter future. We believe this was an oversight when the Fry Scholarship was created with the intention of matching education benefits to mirror the New GI Bill.
III. TRICARE DENTAL PLAN for Children of Active Duty Fallen
GSW is thankful for this needed piece of legislation for active duty children to continue to receive dental care but we are perplexed and concerned at the length of time which has passed without implementation. Time is of the essence for many of these children who are at an age when dental is pertinent for their optimal well-being. Eighteen
months is more than sufficient and should have been implemented but has not.
IV. OTHER ISSUES
Caregiver/Family Support Services: While the TMC supports caregiver services, the surviving spouses who provided care for their husbands 8 or more years have this "caregiver" allowance incorrectly included in the DIC check and therefore additionally offset from their SBP.
TRICARE Premiums: Approximately, 33, 000 Surviving Spouses of Active Duty and Service Connected deaths receive NO RETIRED SBP due to the offset with which to pay any TRICARE Premiums.
V. RECOGNIZING GOLD STAR WIVES
Gold Star Wives thanks Senator Burr, NC, for sponsoring legislation for a Gold Star Wives Day in April 5, 2011 and 2012. The recognition of widows’ service to our Nation was truly appreciated. These same widows and widowers served beside their military member silently, determined and unwavering despite hazardous duty, multiple deployments, numerous family moves, serving as both parents to their children, and through the loss of longevity in their own chosen careers. Many widows and widowers
were full-time caregivers for their military members. Often back-breaking work and enduring financial hardships, these caregivers saved the government untold hundreds of thousands of dollars in nursing and hospital care, usually to the detriment of their own health. It is a shame these same selfless widows and widowers rarely receive accolades or honorable mentions in speeches or written statements made by our
political or military leaders. We ask that you include survivors in your speeches, written statements and honorable mentions today and into the future.
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This testimony began with one of GSW’s most critical issues – the elimination of the SBP/DIC offset. Included are several other priority issues for GSW that are not unfamiliar to Congress. We request your support in caring for our widows and widowers as they look to GSW as their support and their voice in Congress. We are the vanguards for changing the inequities in military survivor benefits, educating the public
and military communities, as well as, educating Congress on the needs of our members.
Our husbands would be appalled at the lack of action taken by Congress to care for their widows and children. They would be shocked to learn their wives and children had to walk the halls of Congress and beg for the benefits they had worked so hard for on the battlefield. No other group of widows and children are forced to be paraded for all to see.

These families should be heralded as heroes themselves for surviving the life of a military family. I believe that you who serve on this committee feel similarly. Let us work to make this statement one of action and not just rhetoric.
I appreciate the opportunity to submit testimony for the record. Thank you.
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Vivianne Cisneros Wersel, Au.D. is the widow of Lt. Colonel Richard
Wersel, Jr., U.S. Marine Corps, who served in Operation Iraq Freedom I and II. He died on active duty at Camp Lejeune 2005 one week after his return from Iraq. Shortly after her husband’s death, she discovered she was not eligible for the new enhanced survivor benefits and was instrumental in changing the SGLI and Death Gratuity (SA
1376) so all active duty widows are eligible for enhanced benefits.
Appointed as Chair of the Government Relations Committee of Gold Star Wives of America, Inc. (GSW), her mission is to help correct the inequities in survivors’ benefits
and to optimize services provided to survivors. Dr. Wersel leads the group’s efforts to raise awareness of the unique challenges faced by survivors, including issues such as the elimination of the SBP/DIC offset, increasing the DIC benefit, and increasing educational opportunities and health benefits for spouses and children of the fallen.
In addition to serving as Chair of the GSW Government Relations Committee, she sits on the Advisory Board for Got Your Back Network. Dr. Wersel is the founder of Surviving Spouses Support Group II MEF, Camp Lejeune, NC, and serves on the DOD/VA Survivors Forum. She was a local representative for the National Military Family Association (NMFA), and volunteered in various capacities with the Tragedy Assistance
Program for Survivors (TAPS).
A Clinical Audiologist, she holds a Doctorate of Audiology from Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) School of Audiology-Salus University and also has a Masters and a Bachelor’s Degree in Communicative Disorders (Audiology) from San Diego State University, CA. She is a graduate of the Defense Language Institute (DLI), Monterey, CA and holds a language certificate in Spanish.
Her family is a third generation Marine Corps family. She hails from Emerald Isle, NC.