Second CBO Resport Estimates less funding necessary for 1500 retired VA nurses- reported October 2003
Estimate of funding necessary in 2003 was $4 million dollars, $2 million less than the previous CBO estimate.
Because there are fewer nurses alive each year thereafter to collect their pensions, and no new nurses to include, the funding should decrease annually until funding for this issue is no longer necessary. The majority of the nurses are now in the 70 and 80 year old age brackets.
First Congressional Budget Office estimate of the cost of our issue.
Retirement Annuities for Certain Retirees with Part-time Service.
S. 2043 would require retirement
annuities to be recalculated for federal retirees who performed
part-time service as registered nurses,
physician's assistants, and certain dental technicians at VA prior
to April 7, 1986. The Department of
Veterans Affairs Health Care Programs Enhancement Act of 2001
(Public Law 107-135), enacted on January
23, 2002, made changes to the way retirement benefits are determined
for those workers who retired on or
after the date that legislation was enacted. That legislation
treated pre-April 7, 1986, part-time service as
full-time service for the purpose of calculating retirement annuities.
S. 2043 would extend these changes
to the types of workers covered by Public Law 107-135, but who
retired between April 6, 1986, and January
23, 2002. Retirement benefits for these workers currently are
set according to a formula that prorates all
part-time service performed in these positions. For most other
federal workers, including those covered
by Public Law 107-135, part-time service performed prior to April
7, 1986, is treated as full-time service
when calculating retirement annuities. In most cases, the changes
result in higher retirement benefits.
Information about retirees who would be covered by S. 2043
is limited, but based on data provided by VA
and the Office of Personnel Management, CBO estimates that about
1,500 current retirees would have
their benefits increased by the bill. CBO estimates that the new
formula would increase benefits for
affected retirees by 13 percent to 22 percent, depending on how
much part-time service was performed
prior to April 7, 1986. As a result, enacting S. 2043 would increase
direct spending by $6 million in 2003,
$30 million over the 2003-2007 period, and $64 million over the
2003-2012 period.