If the latest “suggestions” (or shall we call it “Congressional Monetary Piracy”?) are approved, active Duty as well as retired Military will face an unprecedented increase in health care costs.
I guess it’s a good thing that the Government is so supportive of the Military, both past and present and so grateful for their services (as they tell us all the time)…otherwise I’d hate to imagine what changes “they” would propose. (Oh…never mind, they are ALREADY proposing those changes…guess support and gratitude only take you so far…for 20+ years of service?)
If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, check out the “Budget Options, Volume I, Health Care”, released in December of 2008.(https://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=9925) It is meant to “help policy makers better understand the trade-offs and choices inherent in making changes large or small, to the American health care system and to federal health care programs”.
Pay special attention to Options 95, 96 and 97, which pertain to current and retired Military (both those that are not eligible for Medicare and those that are).
Congress is trying to reach into soldier’s wallets, with a wide open hand.
Option 95 – Increase Health Care Cost Sharing For Family Members Of Active Duty Military Personnel
According to these proposed options (95), Military Personnel, both active duty and retired, as well as their dependents, would face “increasing out-of-pocket costs for care received through TRICARE Prime”. In addition, “cost sharing under TRICARE Prime would be altered to incorporate co-payments that would cover, on average, about 10 percent of the cost of health care services, obtained either at military facilities or from civilian providers”.
This would lead to TRICARE Prime Enrollees have a “stronger incentive to use medical services prudently because they would be responsible for a share of the cost”.
Option 96 – Introduce Minimum Out-of-Pocket Requirements under TRICARE for Life
Under Option 96, this assault on military veterans continues by requiring them to cover the “first $525 of an enrollee’s cost-sharing liabilities for calendar year 2011 and would limit coverage to 50 percent of the next $4725 in Medicare cost sharing “. The driving force behind this proposed option? “The federal spending devoted to TFL (Tricare for Life) beneficiaries would be reduced by about $14 billion though 2014 and by about $40 billion through 2019.” It is expected that these savings would “come from a reduced demand for medical services”, which would make sense, as most military families would not be able to cover the expected co-payments.
Option 97 – Increase Medical Cost Sharing for Military Retirees who are not yet eligible for Medicare
Under this option, the annual enrollment fee per family would increase by 239 percent (from $460 to $1100), the co-pay per visit would increase by 230 percent (from $12 to $28).
If you feel that this proposed action is amounting to nothing more than greed and a broken promise to those who are willing to sacrificy their lives for this Nation, please contact your congressman, senator, etc – and let them know how you feel. Only if we stand together can we affect a different outcome.
You can get all the contact information for your Congressman, Senator, U.S. Representatives, State Legislators and Governors at USA.gov – Government made easy.
What do you think? Are you ready to “fight” for what’s been promised to you?
Note: The Title of this post was changed to reflect it’s contents more accurately.
U.S. Army PCS 