Senate Committee kills big Tricare hikes
The Navy Times reports that the Senate Armed Services Committee halted the administration’s attempts to hike Tricare co-pays substantially in the coming Defense Budget, but some Senators aren’t happy with the move and may try to reinsert the hikes after the budget leaves the committee;
The Senate committee followed the lead of its House counterpart, which earlier also did not approve any of the proposed fee increases. Without such authorization, the Pentagon must follow current law, which restricts increases in Tricare Prime enrollment fees to no more than the most recent annual cost-of-living adjustment in military retired pay.
[…]
Lawmakers still can offer amendments to the bill before it is voted on by the full Senate. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is among those who said he favors fee increases on retirees enrolled in the military health system.
“Tricare is, quite frankly, unsustainable without reform. We haven’t increased premiums since 1995 but once, and it’s really pitting the military between health care benefits for retirees and funding the force,” Graham said June 11.
Thanks, Flaming Lindsey, way to stick up for veterans, Mr. Veteran. I think that the Senate is unsustainable without reform, so I call for you and the rest of the perfumed princes to cut their staffs by at least half, along with your salaries. Go tell Social Security recipients you’re going to raise their costs, and Medicaid participants while you’re at it. I double-dog-dare you.
The Senate can reduce the costs of Tricare by halting the Pentagon from raiding our surplus in Tricare. Tricare is the only program run by the Pentagon that is operating at a surplus, so they want to “fund the force” with our co-pays and premiums. Sure is helping out, us having veterans in Congress isn’t it?
Category: Veteran Health Care
This happened with Medicare some time ago. There are no surprises any more about what the congress critters will do to stiff anyone who falls in their line of sight.
By ‘this happened’, I meant the splitting off Medicare into various parts and making retirees pay for those extra parts, and those premiums go up, too.
Vets need to stop rolling over and FIGHT. When you have jackasses like CNAS and the bloggers of Foreign Policy saying that pay and bennies are “ripe for reform” the cretins in Congress will listen. Time to punch back.
“Tricare is unsustainable without reform.”
No shit Senator Sherlock. Veterans groups were saying that back for the implementation and subsequent changes to Tricare way back when.
Increasing the fees will only increase the cost of meds and services, the wait times, while significantly decreasing the pool of folks who would use Tricare, which means those that continue Tricare will face multiple rate and fee hikes.
Face it: the Prognazis and their liberal allies in the GOP want to move veterans, servicemembers and families off of military medical care and into Obamacare.
King Barack will just issue a fatwas or ukase or decree.
And the 1% of the population will continue to be asked to “balance the budget on their backs” so the other 99% can have it easier.
Tiring seeing this kind of stuff again and again. There aren’t 50,000 other programs out there you can cut to give “free shit” to people who don’t work for it?
Eventually the charade will stop and veterans which represent miniscule political power will be treated as such by politicians that have gotten tired of it. It’s not a matter of if, but of when.
Drug users, welfare precipitants, and sexual perverts have more political clout.
The end is near.
Well, that’s just great. I’ll pay less for the benefit that my recruiter told me I’d get for free if I hung on for 20 years. At least its a bit cheaper (a bit) than the premium I paid as a Federal Readiness Tech and as a public school teacher.
Obviously, things change after 35+ years.