How retirement plans for dozens of Navy officers were upended by a new law

Not really a surprise here. I remember being passed over for 0-5 the first time. It added, in the letter, that nurse 0-4's with 15 years in could take the early retirement. When I called over to Separations and retirement it was for all nurse majors except nurse anesthetists. Two and a half years later, it said the same thing, i called over to personnel
and lo and behold, there was no exception nurse anesthetists this time.

Boggles the mind but certainly not unexpected. When I went into the Army, we could exchange our basic issue uniforms when they were worn out. We were told if we retired we would have earned our Medical and Dental for ourselves and families "for life". That our wives would draw our full retirement once we died.
By the time I did retire I was paying for my own uniforms (no more DX), Medical after retirement for wives was no longer covered + and soldiers had to pay for "Delta Dental". Before I retired, my wife and I had to decide if we would pay for her survivor benefits or find another way to support her once I passed on.
I have been told by a financial expert that we could have turned down her 'survivors benefits' and done an allotment from my retirement directly to her Social Security. If we had we still wouldn't noticed the missing money because it's been paid to her survivors benefits directly from my own retirement monies. That she would be now drawing a social security that would be equal to my retirement instead of 1/3 she is expecting now.
It would be nice if my military 'out briefing' ACAP (yesterday's Military Transition Assistance) had included some financial alternates for us to consider.
In case yall are wondering we are doing fine but the extra cash would have been nice once we finally did retire from our civilian jobs - especially with the inflation that's hit since 2020.