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Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey told service members Tuesday that the Defense Department is continuing to review the military’s health care structure after proposing changes in its fiscal 2013 budget that would increase TRICARE fees.

<p>Higher enrollment fees for TRICARE Prime members. TRICARE Prime experienced its first-ever fee increases in the 2012 budget. The 2013 budget continues that trend, and the budget overview released on February 13 proposes additional increases into the future. For the highest-earning working age retirees, the proposal calls for the current (2012) annual family enrollment fee of $520 to climb to $2,048 by FY 2017; for those in the lower tier of retirement pay, it will increase from $520 to $850.</p>

The demand for upfront payment -- part of Tricare’s attempt to crack down on rampant fraud -- has led to a dangerous burden for veteran retirees, (snip) “A lot of guys know they’re sick but they won’t go to the hospital because their money is slated for other things,” said Jim Tyler, director of the Subic Bay Retired Activities Office in Olongapo, which supports local veterans. “They won’t find out what’s wrong and they die.” Tricare acknowledges that the Phillipines system is one of its most dysfunctional and troubled — so much so that the agency decided in September to...

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The top lawmakers on the Senate’s defense panel on Friday recommended that a special committee searching for ways to slash the deficit consider some of President Barack Obama’s proposed changes to health and retirement benefits for the military. In separate letters to the bipartisan panel, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., signaled they were open to cost-saving steps in military benefits, recommendations that have already attracted fierce opposition from powerful groups of retired officers and veterans resistant to change.

As Washington looks to squeeze savings from once-sacrosanct entitlements like Social Security and Medicare, another big social welfare system is growing as rapidly, but with far less scrutiny: the health and pension benefits of military retirees. Military pensions and health care for active and retired troops now cost the government about $100 billion a year, representing an expanding portion of both the Pentagon budget — about $700 billion a year, including war costs — and the national debt, which together finance the programs. Making even incremental reductions to military benefits is typically a doomed political venture, given the public’s broad...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15, 2011 – A dispute between Walgreens and a TRICARE contractor will not stop beneficiaries from getting their prescriptions filled, despite a Walgreen’s ad campaign to the contrary, a TRICARE official said today. Don’t let that advertising, letter and Internet outreach campaign scare you, Navy Rear Adm. Christine Hunter, deputy director of the TRICARE Management Activity, said. Even if contract renewal negotiations fall through and Walgreens drops out of TRICARE’s retail pharmacy network on Jan. 1, beneficiaries still will have plenty of other options for getting their prescriptions filled. Hunter called the dispute between Walgreens and Express Scripts,...

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens said Tuesday that after several months of negotiations it has failed to reach a contract agreement with pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts, and as a result the drug chain will drop the Express Scripts network as of Dec. 31, 2011. At issue in the negotiations were clear terms of the agreement and unacceptable reimbursement rates that Walgreens said was below the industry average cost especially for Department of Defense Tricare program beneficiaries that Express Scripts manages.

Tricare’s new “closed network” for Tricare Sub-Standard Philippines; What we know and how it will accelerate the death of U.S. Military retirees By Kenneth J. Fournier (Kennyfour09@yahoo.com.ph) In an effort to cause more pain and suffering upon the U.S. Military retirees living in the Philippines, Tricare is now poised to implement, a new, extremely restrictive “closed network” for Tricare Sub-Standard in the Philippines. On top of tricare’s current inability to provide the promised, and legally mandated, medical care to retirees including the slow payment of claims, a requirement to use only Tricare certified providers listed on a provider list that...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A military built for fighting wars is looking more and more like a health care entitlement program. Costs of the program that provides health coverage to some 10 million active duty personnel, retirees, reservists and their families have jumped from $19 billion in 2001 to $53 billion in the Pentagon's latest budget request. Desperate to cut spending in Washington's time of fiscal austerity, President Barack Obama has proposed increasing the fees for working-age retirees in the decades-old health program, known as TRICARE. After years of resisting proposed increases for the military men and women who sacrificed for...

I am in the process of filing an appeal on a Tricare claim that failed to pay the proper amount. I am in need of someone with medical billing background to tell me what CPT codes are used for a urine electrophor test and a serum electrophor test. I know that the CPT codes 84165 and 84166 are used but I also have read that there are several other sub procedures that are part of the billing for these test. Some that I have identified are; 86335, 86334, 86320 and 86325, but I am not sure if they are routinely...

DOD Proposes Tricare Increases: As expected, the Defense Department FY 2012 budget recommendation contains plans to raise Tricare enrollment fees for working-age military retirees — first by 13 percent, then by linking future increases to double-digit medical inflation. The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. is against both plans. "Asking someone to voluntarily give up 20 or more years of their youth on the simple promise of a pension and lifelong medical care for themselves and their spouses is a cost this nation and our government should be more than willing to bear," said VFW National Commander Richard Eubank....

WASHINGTON, Jan. 14, 2011 – To ensure military families don’t get left out as the new national health care reform law extends parent’s health insurance to their children up to age 26, TRICARE plans to roll out its new Young Adult Program by spring and to provide an option to make coverage retroactive to Jan. 1. The new program will allow qualified, unmarried military children up to age 26 to buy health care coverage under their parents’ TRICARE plans through age 26, defense officials announced yesterday. That’s up from the current maximum age of 21, or 23 for full-time college...

The bottom line is that Congress didn’t achieve for military families what was gained for other American families, at least on adult dependent coverage, through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The armed services committees rejected adding young adult coverage as just another subsidized feature of the Tricare benefit. Doing so would have added $300 million a year to the burgeoning cost of military health care. In debating national health reform in 2009, opponents had argued that a superior Tricare program should not be impacted in any way. Only later was it noted that military families were left behind...

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is seeking modest premium increases for working-age military retirees who use the TRICARE Prime health plan. Secretary Gates unveiled sweeping cost-cutting initiatives Jan. 6, including a recommendation to increase TRICARE Prime premiums for working-age retirees in fiscal 2012, the first increase in the plan's 15-year history. "For some time, I've spoken about the department's unaffordable health costs, and in particular the benefits provided to working-age retirees under the TRICARE program," the secretary told reporters. "Many of these beneficiaries are employed full-time while receiving their full pensions, and often forego their employers' health plan to remain...

The battle over Tricare pits the efforts of the Pentagon to contain the exploding cost of health care for nearly 10 million eligible beneficiaries against the pain and emotions of those who say they have already “paid up front” with service in uniform, particularly those who deployed to America’s two current wars. The 10 million figure includes active-duty personnel, retirees, members of the National Guard and Reserves and their families. The arguments reflect the broader debate over the huge Pentagon budget that will intensify next year when Mr. Gates, who says he will step down in 2011, continues his campaign...

Open letter to all Military Retirees living overseas Recently in an email conversation with a Tricare Management Activity, TMA, employee she told me that what they have done to us is planned to be implemented around the world, so our plight over the last few years is about to be expanded. We are attempting to get service organizations involved in this and had a petition signature drive. I have the email if anyone wants to see it. When the Tricare Overseas Program was implemented it was done without any thought to local practices or customs and without any safeguards or...

Before getting started, I want to validate a real simple concept a few veterans organizations seem to ignore or outright declare as not being true. The concept: Medicare and Tricare (retired military health care) are not linked, and what happens in one doesn’t happen to the other. I won’t name the organizations, but you are wrong! When a veteran reaches 65 and qualifies for Medicare, Tricare is no longer the sole intermediary for veterans’ health care. Medicare is primary payor and Tricare is secondary (government regulations). The approved scheduled and prescription medications come essentially from the same (two separate pharmacy...

I am a member of a U.S. Military retiree group in the Philippines. We need to find a lawyer or law firm that can assess a possible class action lawsuit against a government contractor. I can't give details in the open for fear of the facts prematurely becoming known. If anyone can help direct us to a lawyer that will be willing to look at our case, we would be forever appreciative.