Posted on 01/27/2009 10:00:33 PM PST by Magnum44
For those of you who are covered by TFL you will want to pay attention to what BG Bob Clements has surfaced about the future of TFL.
If you know of anyone who is Retired Military, please forward this on to them.
I don't know how many of you partake of the Tri Care for Life program but here is a very interesting note on the subject. Seems as though our President Elect has placed a priority on cutting it out of the budget as a means to provide funding for those things he promised during the campaign.
In any case, on page 189 of the Congressional Budget Office report, see the note below on how to get to that spot, there is a strong recommendation to eventually eliminate the program as it is too expensive. I would ask that you contact your elected officials and register your strong opposition to the elimination of this program. Just another move to slight those of us who dedicated much of our adult lives to the defense of our country. Thanks for listening.
Heads-up from BG Bob Clements, USAF Ret (P38 Bob) The following has been added to the Congressional Budget Office Web Site http://www.cbo.gov/
a. Budget, Options, Volume 1: Health Care http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=9925
For those who have never opened one of these web sites from OMB : 1. double click on the above URL 2. click on PDF 3. click on the binoculars 4. do a search for TFL.
Subject: FW: Tricare for Life's Future Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2009 09:14:10 -0800
To All,
This is for real. The heavy assault has begun on Veterans'/Retirees' benefits to pay for other programs. The word on the street is that these indeed are a high priority of the Obama administration. The one most of interest to Retired Military is in Article 189. If approved by Congress the first assault wave would hit the beaches in 2011 and would hit hard. It would initiate cost sharing to require retirees to pay the first $525 of medical cost and 50% of the next $4,725 for a first year cost of $2,888 per person. It would be indexed to increase with inflation. A reason given for this action (for PR effect) is "overuse" by Retirees.
Clyde
People who are professionals always look for the channel of least resistance when it comes to cutting money out of the Federal and DOD budget. I can tell you this straight on, military retirees are one of those channels of least resistance noted for sitting around, doing nothing, and waiting for ole Joe to do it for them. You had better wake up. Your medical benefits are prime target. If you lose them, you have nobody to blame but yourself. Let me repeat that ... you have nobody to blame but yourself.
The way to secure your benefits is to write to your members of Congress and to keep writing and writing and writing. ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH!! Keep repeating the above statement until you are blue in the face.
Now I'm going to make one more statement to all of you younger people out there who are not yet eligible for Tricare for Life. HEALTH CARE WILL EVENTUALLY BECOME THE DOMINATING FACTOR IN YOUR LIFE. Remember that . . . . it will impact you big time with the utmost in cruelty unless you are fortunate enough to die from a heart attack . . . or get run over by a truck.
Now, I am going to attach AGAIN exactly what OMB has in store for military retirees using TFL. This source is directly from OMB and is not something that I have dreamed up. They are telling you exactly what they are going to do with your benefits. If you do nothing, this is what you will get.
The service organizations will put up a fight and are aware of this and will put up a fight but, they will need your help and can't do it by themselves.
I hope this makes it clear as to what you can expect if you do nothing.
To show you how stupid these professionals can be at times if you will read the attached document closely you will see that in spite of the MTFs (Military Treatment Facility) need to get patients back to keep their doctors busy and the hospitals from going to clinic status, these people from OMB would employ a means to keep retirees from using MTF facilities by charging them a fee for services. How dumb can you get.
Even if you are an Obama lover, and believe that changeth cometh, TFL option from OMB will not go away. They need the money they spend on you for other programs for people who produce nothing but votes to keep their boss in office. chk6 .. bob"
==================================================================== ==== A footnote: BG Bob Clement is known with affection as"P38bob". He flew P38s in WWII. He was one of the stalwart warriors that led effectively from the front when the hard battles were being fought to bring Tricare for Life to reality. I was honored and pleased to a player in that effort by following P38 Bob's lead. (in those days I was known as MilVet99)
MilVets: it looks like we will again be confronted by the 'attack of the beancounters' who, by and large, wouldn't know (and probably never will know) genuine unselfish service to our country and are solely motivated by crunching numbers so that those numbers will reflect favorably on their bosses and their boss's causes. They have no thought to the havoc they would cause . . . in many cases the loss of any amount of TFL benefits would be a an insurmountable hardship ..... and to some it would truly be a death sentence.
It is well that we gear up for the fight now. As P38Bob says, we must write, write, write and write. Once is not enough! In time I will be preparing letters for your use in writing to your elected officials and submitting them to the TREA Membership, and to others who may want to join the fight.
Them Beancounters haven't seen anything until they've see a united and angered group of MilVets. Lets do it and git 'er done!!!!! Your comments and inquiries are welcome.
Fred Langston, President (2008), Legislative Affairs Chair, Greater San Diego Chapter 128, The Retired Enlisted Association (TREA), fglangston@yahoo.com
thanks for the info.
ping for later
Bump for later read.
I guess O wants socialized medicine for everyone but veterans.
Ping.
Thanks for the info. I will be forwarding this to many interested parties.
ping
Roger that. It’s another Obamanation ahead for us. But the Courts say it’s OK for the government to lie to US and break its promises... but NEVER try that with one a them silly-vilian welfare queens!
PING
Thanks. Since old Tonk passed, I did not know who to ping for retiree news.
bttt
Ain't that the truth.
Bump to save.
Thanks for posting. Impacts my mom!
Okay ... so the question begs to be asked ... how is this applied to socialized medicine?
Thanks for posting. This affects my father-in-law. Veterans shouldn’t have to speak up for themselves. It seems to me America should speak up for them. We owe them. If you are a vet, all I can say is thank-you, and those words don’t begin to cover it.
If I, a nurse for 30 yrs, can pay about $7000 a year in premiums for my husband, I suppose the federal employees can cough up a little more, even the military retirees......
I was promised a pony when I was kid and never got it......who can I sue?
my husband was promised a nice pension and medical retirement package for both of us, but his company went bankrupt, he lost his good pension and any medical.....
and who does he sue?
And I’m sure you served 4 tours in Southeast Asia and being exposed to chemical agents, such as Agent Orange. And now that we are aged Veterans with all kinds of medical problems, were have to take out health insurance? Your “pony” analogy is insulting.
I see your point, that makes it OK then.
“If I, a nurse for 30 yrs, can pay about $7000 a year in premiums for my husband, I suppose the federal employees can cough up a little more, even the military retirees......”
If you had signed a blank check to the fedgov for an amount up to and including your life, often had to live in conditions that prison inmates would riot over, got sent to places where people might be actively trying to kill you, might even have witnessed your coworkers killed, etc, you might think differently about that. You might think that the gov’t promising to take care of your medical after retirement might just be reasonable. “cough up a little more” might not seem so reasonable.
“I was promised a pony when I was kid and never got it......who can I sue?”
Sorry, this statement leads me to believe you are not old enough to have been a nurse for 30 years.
“my husband was promised a nice pension and medical retirement package for both of us, but his company went bankrupt, he lost his good pension and any medical.....”
The fedgov hasn't gone bankrupt, yet. It does seem to be trying awful hard to do so now, though.
For what the military is going through while serving our country, if our country cannot be relied upon to fulfill their obligations, they should instead pay an appropriate wage. That would be many times what they are currently getting.
That's the problem with paying for something well in advance of delivery, people become ungrateful, and forget what has already been paid.
Thanks for the heads up.
This reminds me of the saving of social security by cutting off widows and children.
Army widow
Well it was for our Veterans. They satisfied their part of the contract, so should our Government.
And as for your husband, if his company was large enough the Pension Guaranty Benefit Agency would pay his pension.
Do you think our veterans should not be paid for their services? That is exactly what they are doing. This was compensation that was promised to them by our Government that is now being reneged on.
Thank YOU! There are a couple other military ping lists, this is USMC. I don’t have time to look for the other lists now, I’ll check later unless you’ve get to it before me.
Here we go again... Thanks for the heads-up I’ll start throwing it through my personal network.
Notice that you never see “overuse” as a reason to cut Welfare, food stamps, etc.
If you want to see an example of “overuse” in the health care system, go to virtually any emergency room and look at all of the people there with sniffles.
If I, a nurse for 30 yrs, can pay about $7000 a year in premiums for my husband, I suppose the federal employees can cough up a little more, even the military retirees......
Do you have any idea how much most military retirees draw? Retired Generals and Colonels might do OK, but not the rest of us.
Well said. Well said.
According to your flawed logic, since people live longer now, those that live past a certain age shouldn't get pensions and/or medical plans. Never mind that many of those over 60 folks provided the jobs and capital that allowed you to be a nurse for 30 years. Never mind that they were REQUIRED by law to pay for a ponzi scheme called “Social(ist) Security.”
Our medical benefits are not a handout. We PAID for those benefits by enduring many, many years of low pay, substandard housing, bare minimum medical care sometimes in remote areas of the world, and having our butts shot at by terrorists or spat upon in our own country. We paid for it by sacrificing many of the personal liberties you have and had as a civilian nurse, only so you could exercise those same liberties.
If you were promised a pony when you were a kid and never got, it could be for several reasons. Perhaps your parents were liars, or you were a jerk, or you didn't deserve it. Perhaps because you shot your mouth without thinking things through. Whatever the reason, sue your parents, nanny, home owner's association, etc. Your argument here is non sequiter (at least), but more likely just plain ignorant.
Please send an address and photo of where you work or live so it can be distributed to national guardsmen and women, or active duty folks. That way the can pass you over when there is a national or state disaster that requires more medical care than the infrastructure can handle. That way they can pass you over if a terrorist blows up your neighborhood.
OK ... I feel somewhat better now. See my tagline ... when you fire a tracer bullet or round, remember that it works both ways. If you can't understand that, then NEVER MIND.
Major, US Army Retired (and damn proud of it)
When 0bama brings us universal health care it will all be the same, vets included and it will be mandatory. The only exclusion will be members of congress and the executive branch.
Can I sue you for stupidity? To repeat a quote attributed to Abe Lincoln, “Better to be silent and be thought a fool and to open one’s mouth and confirm it.”
Tricare/scarecare/nocare/who cares. Been retired over 12 years, had a lot of medical expenses last year. Have not seen a penny from scarecare. I know some people swear by it. Just another benefit they are taking away from the vets and giving it to the people who voted for this administration. Yea, I’ll call my congresscritter, ain’t gonna change anything.
Heads up! ping.
First I’ve read on this. Having just been laid off at my civilian employer due to economy “change/hope” I just signed up for TriCare Reserve Select. Much cheaper than the COBRA insurance offering, by almost $600/mo.
Sheesh, some people have no concept of Military duty huh?
Another Gem:
Option 28. End Enrollment in VA Medical Care for Veterans in Priority Groups 7 and 8. These are Veterans who have no service related disability and have an income above some arbitrary line at which “they can afford it” in some bureaucrat’s estimation.
Bump for this thread and subject.
Thank you for posting.
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