Military Officer - February 2006 - (Page 40) washingtonscene Tear Out Letters for Health Care ■ Please sign, stamp, and mail the four tear-out letters between pages 34 and 35 and 50 and 51. Tell Congress that shifting government health care costs to military beneficiaries is wrong and would undermine long-term retention and readiness. MOAA Protests Fee Hikes Raising retiree, Guard, Reserve health fees sends wrong message. A s this issue was going to press, MOAA learned that Defense leaders plan to propose substantial health cost increases for hundreds of thousands of retirees as of Oct. 1, 2006. The new plan envisions establishing an enrollment fee for TRICARE Standard, which has none at present. It also would double the TRICARE deductible and more than triple the TRICARE Prime enrollment fee over the next three years, and then increase all of these fees annually by the rate of inflation. Retired officers would be charged about one-third more than enlisted members. At this point, it appears Medicareeligibles would be exempt from most DoD-Proposed TRICARE Fee Increases for Retirees Under Age 65 FY 06 Prime enrollment fee FY 07 $400/800 $300/600 $150/300 $100/200 $200/400 $175/350 $9/15 $0/10 FY 08 $600/1,200 $375/750 $225/450 $150/300 $250/500 $175/350 FY 09** $750/1,500 $450/900 $300/600 $200/400 $300/600 $200/400 Officer* Enlisted* Standard enrollment fee $230/460 $230/460 $0 $0 $150/300 $150/300 $3/9 $3/9 Officer* Enlisted* Standard deductible Officer* Enlisted* Retail TMOP Pharmacy copayment (for all beneficiaries except active duty members) NOTES: *The first number is for single members, the second is for families. **Rates for FY 2010 and beyond would be increased by inflation. The first number is for generic drugs, the second is for brand-name drugs on DoD’s drug formulary list. The plan would eliminate any copayment for generic formulary drugs ordered through the TRICARE Mail Order Pharmacy (TMOP). 40 MILITARY OFFICER FEBRUARY 2006 increases. It’s not yet known whether the plan would apply to survivors as well, but that would appear likely. (See chart, this page, for specifics of the plan, as related to MOAA by multiple sources.) In December, DoD also announced an 8.5 percent 2006 premium increase for TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS), the new health care option for drilling members of the Guard and Reserve. This increase — imposed only a few months into the new plan — is almost triple the troops’ 2006 pay raise (3.1 percent). Monthly premiums rose from $75 to $81 for singles and $233 to $253 for families. Guard and Reserve members are already laying their lives on the line and disrupting their families for years at a time. This program was supposed to be a recruiting and retention incentive, but we’re going to price the troops out of the market with these kinds of annual increases. MOAA and The Military Coalition have sent letters to all House and Senate Armed Services committee members protesting the retiree and reserve fee hikes. The fundamental issue is that military medical and retirement programs need to be substantially better than civilian programs. They are an essential offset to the extraordinary demands and sacrifices inherent in a military career — sacrifices that civilians don’t have to deal with and wouldn’t put up with. Jacking up health care costs for military retirees to follow corporate trends misses the whole point of why we have a unique military health care plan. Guard, Reserve, and retired families already gave to their country through careers of personal sacrifice. If we’re at all concerned about future recruiting, retention, and readiness, we’d best not forget that. A country that can afford billions for pork every year can afford the cost of health coverage for servicemembers and their families who spent decades sacrificing their own freedoms to protect freedom for the rest of America. [CONTINUES ON PAGE 42]
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