Posted on 10/03/2011 5:14:36 PM PDT by katiedidit1
The Department of Defense has been pushing for TRICARE fee increases for nearly a year. This week military retirees who choose to enroll in TRICARE Prime will be required to pay an additional $2.50 per month for individual members and $5 per month for members and family. The increase takes the annual premium rate from $230 (individual) and $460 (family) to $260 and $520 respectively. Currently enrolled retirees will begin paying the new annual enrollment fees in January 2012.
The same week TRICARE announced their new TRICARE Prime enrollment fees, the administration proposed a brand new $200 annual fee for TRICARE for Life (the Medicare supplement for military retirees and their dependents who are older than 65). If adopted, this new enrollment fee would be charged beginning in 2013, and it would gradually increase. According to the White House the proposal would save $6.7 billion over 10 years.
The White House also proposed a new TRICARE prescription medication co-pay structure. Under the plan retirees would see co-pays rise based a percentage formula tied to government costs. According to a report by Tom Philpott, generic drugs at retail would be set at 10 percent of the Defense Department’s cost for the medicine and this would climb to 20 percent after 2013. Co-pays for brand names would start at 15 percent of cost and be raised to 30 percent over an as yet unspecified period.
Read more: http://militaryadvantage.military.com/2011/10/more-tricare-fee-increases-proposed/#ixzz1Zlce8q3G MilitaryAdvantage.Military.com
(Excerpt) Read more at militaryadvantage.military.com ...
We are on Tricare for life and still pay into Medicare A & B. Cola’s are frozen and prescription fees increasing. Will our Commander in Chief who is in charge of the military also take cuts? will he have a chunk taken out of his check?
BOHICA!!!!
would love O to BOHICA!
They can take the premium increase out of the raises we have had in our retirement pay over the past several years./s
No, and let me tell you something else about that son of a b1+ch, he ends DADT and then goes on TV and says, “You should support everyone in the military.”
How does he support the military?
CUT spending on SOLDIERS, SAILORS, MARINES and AIRMEN, but make dang sure all those union hacks working for big business in swing states get defense money. Cut healthcare, cut retirement, cut individual equipment, cut training . . .
BHO is a SOB. SOBBHO.
Don’t worry. You didn’t really earn retirement anyway. All you did was provide freedom for the country. You don’t deserve a thing for that.
Nancy Pelosi . . . well, now, that’s somebody who was selflessly sacrificed her life for the well-being of others (and her business associates). She has earned a pension.
Gail, is this what you were telling me a couple of days ago?
Same here. At the end of this year I too join my DH on TFL..I will pay quarterly for Part B. I have waited out taking out SS for tax reasons but may after the next tax time. My DH also has ALZ so I have become more familiar with the SS check he gets...and it is less each year..taxes and of course as medicare fees go up his SS goes down.. And now there is talk of having TFL paying an additional $200.00 to “ enroll in TFL” That would be I suppose 400.00 from us..he in his own right and me in my own right..just great...F the retirees and all the “heroes” once again...
But why should we expect anything different from our government? They broke treaties with the Native Americans nee Indians, why not the “heroes” who put their names on the dotted line to defend this nation with no guarantee they will live long enough to collect the benefits at all.
Well I guess now you mention the DADT thingy..since there will likely be more and more cases of STDs and HIVAids..well if that is going to be “ service connected” and the VA or retired medical will have to pay for it somehow, the military will now dShave to be punished by making all the rest of us pay more.../
Alot of hospitals and physicians will not take Tricare. They payment is worse than Medicaid.
while our Commander in Thief is extending the time of cruises to 2 yrs!!!!!!!!!! many have already done back to back and back again tours at paupers wages and those that made it to retirement served for little of nothing...he begrudges them? like Clinton I believe he loathes the military and you are right he is a sorry ass pos
Did anyone expect anything else from the spawn of the 60s hippies and freaks?
From what I understand, the annual Tricare fee is quite low, around $500 per year. That’s really very little compared with what the average American has to pay for medical insurance.
No, he’s too busy chiding the GOP presidential candidates for failing to “stand up” for that gay soldier who asked a question during that recent debate and received about four boos (out of 5,000 people in the audience).
Here’s a good retort for any GOP presidential contender who wants to use it: “Mr. President, why aren’t you standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform, their families and military retirees? On your watch, retirees haven’t had a COLA adjustment in years; TRICARE fees are increasing and you’re proposing defense cuts that will gut military readiness and programs that benefit the armed forces community.
“Instead of worrying about one soldier—who represents one of your favorite interest groups—Mr. Obama should be worrying about the readiness and welfare of all who now serve and the benefits promised to those who served in the past.”
Sadly, not one of the GOP contenders is likely to rise to the challenge because (a) most have never served, and (b) they have no idea about Obama’s war on the military.
Yes, but you’ve also got to remember that the “average” military retiree left the service as an E-6 with 21-22 years of service and receives a pension of roughly $1600 a month, after taxes and deductions. $500 a year, plus the increased Tricare co-pays, really puts a dent in their budget.
It’s also worth noting that these beneficiaries were promised on-base health care at the time of their enlistment/commissioning. But Bill Clinton decided to under-fund military healthcare in the 1990s, pushing most dependents and retirees into Tricare and its network of “civilian” physicians and treatment facilities. About 10 years ago, the average cost for an “on-base” appendectomy was $300; off-base, it was more like $5,000. And “geniuses” like Bob Gates and Leon Panetta can’t figure out why healthcare costs have skyrocketed.
The average American chose to not defend his nation.
Servicemen are not average.
Healthcare is one facet of the deferred compensation they EARNED. Please learn to distinguish the difference between earned and unearned benefits.
And yes, while the increase is small, this is the nose of the camel as BHO shifts our wealth from protecting the nation to serving his welfare constituencies.
That may be true however, when the recruiters are doing the best they can to secure enlistments either for the enlisted ranks or the officer ranks, one of the key features in the recruiting endeavour was to inform potential recruits that should they serve for 20 years or more and retire, they and the dependents would have medical care provided. The active forces were to have had medical care for their dependents as well...
Then came TricarePrime..which had a cost to it and if you paid this fee, you would sort of get to the head of the line for appointments at a MTF..if you were Tricare Standard you could well face a waiting list..
AS for the retired community when I enlisted NOTHING was siad about the medicare deal upon reaching 65. But when my DH hit the golden age, he was told he could not be seen at the MTF because we did not have a zip code in the area for retirees and they did not have enough medical personnel to care for all the active duty and retiress..so the retired folks had to find other doctors. And at first he had to have Health Net..medicare and Health Net..and later it was Secure Horizons..don’t see any military medical promise kept there..finally thanks to Colonel Day, we now hav TFL and now congress is trying once again to screw with the military.They never ever consider cutting their own pay or increasing their fees..but on the backs of th warriors it is just jimmydamndandy.
You are right about the silence on this issue among all the candidates. They only touch on the “we are proud of our troops” but they evade the talking about the cuts and increases in fees for Tricare. The latest round Obama is talking about will be on those 65 and older. The media, politicians and even Rush do not talk about this...why? as for Obama making a circus of the one gay soldier it was more to bash the Tea Party folks than to promote the soldier. Where were the dem leaders when the Boy Scouts were booed by delegates at the DNC in Calif..when Gore ran for president?
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