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Reservists could get health care, loans under DFL plan
by Laura McCallum, Minnesota Public Radio
December 15, 2004

Henry and Jewel Gipson of Minneapolis. Henry Gipson, an Army reservist who served 11 months in Iraq, said his family struggled financially while he was away. (MPR Photo/Laura McCallum)

Some DFL state officials are proposing that the state offer health care benefits and no-interest loans to Minnesota National Guard members and reservists. They say the high number of overseas deployments is placing a tremendous burden on families. Gov. Pawlenty has already proposed a package of military benefits, and the issue is likely to receive widespread support at the Capitol.

St. Paul, Minn. — About 2,000 members of the Minnesota National Guard and reserves are currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Attorney General Mike Hatch says they're citizen soldiers who may face a pay cut when they're deployed.

"A person who's a mechanic, he's got another job, living in Willmar, making about $40,000 a year, ends up being a master sergeant in Iraq making about $28,000 a year," Hatch says. "And that $1,000 a month difference is a big deal when the kids then can't get the clothes to go to school, when the car can't get fixed after a wreck."

	The Johnson family

Hatch and two DFL legislators are proposing that the state offer returning soldiers no-interest loans of up to $2,000 for each month they served overseas.

Henry and Jewel Gipson of Minneapolis say they would welcome such a loan. Henry Gipson is an Army reservist who served in Iraq for 11 months. His wife Jewel says his checks didn't arrive regularly, and the bills piled up when he was gone.

"The loan would definitely help us to get back on our feet, to pay some of our creditors off, and to try and get our lives back," says Jewel Gipson. "It was a mentally stressful situation as well. I think that he needs counseling to deal with that, and right now it's just not in our budget."

Gipson says the couple also needed better health coverage when the federal government's health insurance, called TriCare, ran out after her husband returned from Iraq.

DFLers are proposing that returning soldiers be eligible for the state's employee health care plan if they can't get private coverage. They would get one month of coverage for each month they served overseas. Gov. Pawlenty says instead of extending state coverage, he supports federal legislation that would extend TriCare to Guard members and reservists pre-and-post deployment.

	Hatch and lawmakers

"And as we traveled to Kosovo, Bosnia, to Iraq and visited the troops, one of the things they don't like is the disruption when they go from private employer insurance to the military health insurance and then back to their private insurance," Pawlenty says. "So they'd like to get more of a seamless system. So we share the goals with Attorney General Hatch, we just want to share our idea, which we think is probably more streamlined."

Pawlenty says he supports Hatch's idea of a no-interest loan for returning soldiers. It's unclear how much that would cost the state, although Hatch believes the cost would be minimal.

Pawlenty has proposed an $18 million package of military benefits, such as 100 percent tuition reimbursement and re-enlistment bonuses of $1,000 a year. He says the state needs to provide more incentives to recruit and retain Guard members.

Pawlenty spoke at a deployment ceremony for a group of 16 National Guard members heading to Afghanistan for as long as 18 months. Sgt. Greg Johnson is a beekeeper in Callaway, in northwestern Minnesota. He says he could really use a no-interest loan when he returns.

"When I come back, $15,000 will be the minimum that I'm going to need in out-of-pocket expenses to get my business back running again," says Johnson. "The military pays a lot better than it used to, but for trying to switch back and forth from civilian life to being a small-business owner, it is murder."

Johnson and the other Guard members will train members of the Afghan army during their deployment. Johnson spent last Christmas in Bosnia, so he's happy that he will at least get to spend the holidays with his wife and two daughters.

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