Military Officer - April 2007 - (Page 32) washingtonscene Answers to Your Legislative Health Care Questions ■ Chat online with an MOAA lobbyist. Health care lobbyist Cmdr. John Class, USN-Ret., talked online with MOAA members Feb. 15 about their concerns. View the discussion at www.moaa .org/februarylegischat; e-mail questions for an upcoming chat to legis chat@moaa.org. pushed last year — and effectively pressures Congress to implement them all immediately, without a two-year phase-in. In other words, the administration consciously has underfunded the defense health budget by presuming the task force’s outcome and has challenged Congress to either change the law to implement fee increases high enough to save $1.9 billion or find $1.9 billion from another source to make up for the Pentagon’s underfunding. MOAA thinks it’s flat wrong to play this kind of budget “chicken” with something as important as the military community’s health benefits — especially during a time of war. We strongly believe that Congress should establish clear guidelines in law about the unique role of military retirement benefits, including health care, as the primary offset for the extraordinary demands and sacrifices inherent in a DoD-Proposed TRICARE Fee Increases for Retirees Under Age 65 CURRENT Prime enrollment fee FY 08 $700/1,400 $475/950 $325/650 $280/560 $200/400 $140/280 $280/560 $185/370 $185/370 $5/15 $0/9 FY 09** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** military career. We must recognize that military servicemembers and families who served two or three decades under those conditions made a substantial, in-kind prepayment for those benefits. The cash deductibles, enrollment fees, and copayments that they pay in retirement are only a small portion of their very large personal contributions toward their benefits. To help make this case, we ask every MOAA member to do three things: ■ Go to http://capwiz.com/moaa/home and click on the Stop TRICARE Fee Hikes link to send an MOAA-suggested message to your legislators asking them to cosponsor these important bills and prevent DoD from disproportionately raising health fees (see related articles, pages 34 and 40). ■ Use MOAA’s toll-free Capitol Hill hot line, (866) 272-6622, to urge your legislators to oppose the TRICARE fee hikes. Just ask the operator to connect you with your legislator’s office. ■ Pass this message to all of your TRICARE-eligible friends and urge them to take the above actions. Officer* Enlisted* (E-7 and above) Enlisted* (E-6 and below) Standard enrollment fee $230/460 $230/460 $230/460 $0 $0 $0 $150/300 $150/300 $150/300 $3/9 $3/9 Officer* Enlisted* (E-7 and above) Enlisted* (E-6 and below) Standard deductible House Speaker Pledges Her Support Leadership eyes concurrent receipt, SBP, and TRICARE. Officer* Enlisted* (E-7 and above) Enlisted* (E-6 and below) Retail TMOP Pharmacy copayment (for all beneficiaries except active duty members) O NOTES: *The first number is for single members, the second is for families. **Rates for FY 2009 and beyond would be increased by using the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan rates of 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). 32 MILITARY OFFICER APRIL 2007 n Feb. 7, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), and 38 other members of the Democratic House majority, including virtually all committee chairmen, met with leaders from MOAA and other veterans’ organizations to pledge their continued support for military and veterans’ “people programs.” The speaker introduced her http://www.moaa.org/februarylegischat http://www.moaa.org/februarylegischat http://capwiz.com/moaa/home
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.