Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 557
| Subject: TRICARE (REF ACTIVE DUTY & RETIREES)
TRICARE (REF ACTIVE DUTY & RETIREES)
To All,
The government has begun on Veterans'/Retirees' benefits to pay for other programs. The word on the street is that these indeed are a high priority of the Obama administration. The one most of interest to Retired Military is in Article 189. If approved by Congress, the first would hit in 2011 and would hit hard. It would initiate cost sharing to require retirees to pay the first $525 of medical cost and 50% of the next $4,725 for a first year cost of $2,888 per person. It would be indexed to increase with inflation. A reason given for this action (for PR effect) is "overuse" by Retirees.
This will be a major increase for anyone using TRICARE related services, not just TRICARE for Life (TFL). There is a link below to the OMB report.
Search for TRICARE and read 95, 96 and 97. They are out to increase cost for active duty, retirees not eligible for TFL and those using TFL.
Please review and pass this to any retiree's you know. I love how cavalier the bean counters are when they state "minimum out of pocket expenses" and then they further state 22% of the savings would come from a reduced demand for medical services, which said another way is that 78% of the savings would come from retirees!!!
We need MOAA, VFW and AL all over this and soonest!!
If you know of anyone who is Retired Military, please forward this on to them. I don't know how many of you partake of the Tri Care for Life program but here is a very interesting note on the subject. Seems as though our President Elect has placed a priority on cutting it out of the budget as a means to provide funding for those things he promised during his campaign.
In any case, on page 189 of the Congressional Budget Office report, (see the note below on how to get to that spot), there is a strong recommendation to eventually eliminate the program as it is too expensive. I would ask that you contact your elected officials and register your strong opposition to the elimination of this program. Just another move to slight those of us who dedicated much of our adult lives to the defense of our country. Thanks for listening.
Heads-up from BGEN Bob Clements, USAF Ret (P38 Bob). The following has been added to the Congressional Budget Office Web Site http://www.cbo.gov/ ??????? a. Budget, Options,
Volume 1: Health Care (http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=9925
For those who have never opened one of these web sites from OMB:
1. double click on the above URL
2. click on PDF
3. click on the binoculars
4. do a search for TFL
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TRICARE (REF ACTIVE DUTY & RETIREES)
