Military Officer - June 2006 - (Page 30)

washingtonscene The new Lautenberg-Hagel bill would limit the secretary of Defense’s authority to increase some TRICARE fees and copayments, and it would prohibit certain other increases entirely. Under current law, the secretary of Defense has considerable discretion to increase TRICARE Prime enrollment fees and pharmacy copayments. The new bill would put signiﬁcant limits on that authority, barring an increase in any year that would exceed the percentage of the previous year’s retired pay increase. In a negative reaction to the secretary’s recent 8.5-percent increase in TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS) premiums for Guard and Reserve families, the bill would specify that any future TRS premium increases could not exceed the military basic pay raise percentage. In addition, it would bar establishment of any enrollment fee for TRICARE Standard and prevent any further increases in the inpatient copayment for retirees using TRICARE Standard. “Especially in a time of war, it is unthinkable that the administration would even consider dramatically increasing health care costs for those who have sacriﬁced for our country,” Lautenberg said at a press conference introducing the bill. “Our bill assures today’s military retirees and their families that, just as they protected us, we will take care of them when their service ends.” MOAA strongly supports this important legislation. With the LautenbergHagel S. 2617 in the Senate and Reps. Chet Edwards’ (D-Texas) and Walter Jones’ (RN.C.) H.R. 4949 in the House, bipartisan efforts in both chambers now are aimed at preventing the kind of disproportional and inappropriate health fee increases proposed by Pentagon leaders in the FY 2007 Defense budget. Our hope is that similar provisions will be put in the FY 2007 Defense Authorization Bill. JUNE 2006 MOAA Part of Health Meeting Senator Graham hosts defense, association dialogue. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) M Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) OAA President Vice Adm. Norb Ryan Jr., USN-Ret., was among the association leaders invited by Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) to an April 4 meeting with DoD leaders. This was the second such meeting Graham has convened to try to get a better handle on the differences of opinion between Pentagon leaders who want large increases in retiree TRICARE fees and association leaders who argue that the increases are inappropriate. MOAA feels strongly that DoD has failed to pursue many other available options to reduce health costs without penalizing beneﬁciaries. Graham said at the outset that he thinks the answer lies somewhere in the middle, believing that fees probably should be increased to some degree. But he agreed that that shouldn’t happen until Defense health ofﬁcials have wrung out all possible savings from other options. He told Defense leaders pointblank that he won’t support increases of the size they’re proposing. One suggestion MOAA and other associations have proposed is to obtain an independent review of DoD’s budget numbers and an objective look at ways to contain costs besides raising beneﬁciary fees, including consultation with DoD and association leaders. A representative from the Government Accountability Ofﬁce (GAO) also attended the meeting and accepted Graham’s tasking to conduct such a review. MOAA looks forward to working with the GAO on this important effort and 30 MILITARY OFFICER

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - June 2006

Military Officer - June 2006 Contents From the Editor President’s Page Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Chapter Activities MOAA Member Services Living Well 5 Foods for Life The Kindest Cut Winning the Battle Cover Story: Choppers Pages of History Information Exchange Advertising Index MOAA Scholarship Donors Member Books MOAA Calendar Sounding Taps Encore

Military Officer - June 2006

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