The Bush administration, in its fiscal 2007 defense budget, unveiled its plan to raise TRICARE fees and deductibles for military retirees under age 65 and their dependents. Co-payments in the TRICARE retail pharmacy network also would climb, but for all beneficiaries except those on active duty.
Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, immediately endorsed the plan, describing it as a necessary "renorming" of TRICARE fees and deductibles left unchanged since they were set in 1995.
With equal speed, military associations attacked the proposal.
Compared to an earlier draft, the final plan accelerates phase-in of TRICARE increases so major changes occur over two years, not three.
Annual enrollment fees for TRICARE Prime, the managed care program, would double for senior enlisted (E-7 and above) and nearly triple for officer retirees. But the final plan includes a lower, third tier of fees and deductibles for retirees E-6 and below and their dependents. Their Prime enrollment fees would rise only by 41 percent, sparing a million beneficiaries from steeper increases planned for senior enlisted.
This sounds pretty bad at first, but if you read on it seems to be making the payments more in line with what I would expect to pay as a civilian. For example "Finally, to slow military health costs more, co-payments under the TRICARE retail pharmacy network would be raised, for generic drugs to $5, up from $3, and for brand name drugs to $15, from $9."
As a retiree, who was originally promised life long Medical and Dental care, we didn't have the oppurtunity to join health insurance programs in our younger years and later we were too old to join because the costs would have been too enormous. The injustice was never rectified.
02/17/06 02:25:44
Cindy Brown wrote:
How in the world does this president expect all retirees and their family members to live on just the retirement pay? Is it really justice to expect a soldier who has sacrificed living and family for over 20 years to pay more for health insurance? The majority of sickness and discomforts are due to the daily expectancy of the Army! Come now, let's give more to the soldiers who give their time and lives to the military!
