Posted on 05/12/2006 5:45:37 PM PDT by SandRat
WASHINGTON, May 12, 2006 – The Defense Department has been working hard with Congress for the past several months and has reached some conclusions about how the fee system for military health care should be changed, a top DoD official said here yesterday.
"It's universally agreed that there is a serious issue, a serious problem, with the growing health care costs within the Department of Defense, and the potential adverse impact that that might have to sustain our great health benefit," Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said in an interview.
DoD has had a lot of good, transparent dialogue with members and committees of Congress, along with beneficiary organizations, Winkenwerder said. There has been emerging agreement in some areas, he said, specifically in the area of pharmacy costs. All parties agree that changes need to be made in the pharmacy co-payment system, and DoD has received some good feedback to modify its proposal, he said.
Congress is debating DoD's proposed Tricare fee adjustments as part of the Fiscal Year 2007 National Defense Authorization Act.
A persistent rumor that the increase in Tricare fees for military retirees will eat up 50 percent of their cost-of-living allowance is not true, Winkenwerder said. He asserted that the increases in Tricare fees will be dramatically less than the increases in retiree pay.
All the senior DoD and military leadership support the Tricare fee increase as a necessary means to sustain the military health care system, Winkenwerder said. The chairman and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all the chiefs of staff, vice chiefs of staff, and surgeons general wrote a letter to Congress supporting DoD's efforts and asking Congress to work with the department, he said.
"Within the department, there's almost universal agreement about the problem and the proposal," he said. "But having said that, it's important that members of Congress and others get a comfort level or some level of agreement about what we're doing, and that we move forward together."
Changes to the Tricare fee system are essential if the military is going to sustain its health benefit at the current level, Winkenwerder said. Unless financing continues to flow into the system now and in the future, it will be impossible to keep up the quality of care the military has grown accustomed to, he said.
"Something's gotta give; so, unless you can have that financing coming in, we're concerned that the system would really run into trouble," he said. "That's why taking action now or in the very near future is important, and waiting two years or beyond would not be a good idea, because it just makes the problem harder to solve."
Winkenwerder and other DoD officials have said that if the fee system is not changed, the health system will take up 12 percent of the DoD budget, at $64 billion, by 2015.
The discussion so far about the Tricare fee increases has been spirited and heartfelt, but always professional, Winkenwerder said. A lot of good ideas have been exchanged, he said, and he is confident about the future.
"We're optimistic about being able to make changes over the next months and into next year that would be the right thing to do and certainly very important to do," he said.
Yeah Right! < / digust for having to enure Hillary Care and broken promises
In private industry, my healthcare costs are about 15 percent. Quit bitching and pay.
On the other hand, there may be another viewpoint:
Perhaps military retirees should carry the burden of increased healthcare costs. Afterall, we have served our 30 years with free healthcare the whole time. Free, even if you needed a spinal fusion or a new leg or whatever. I mean, how generous can you be. No extract charge for removing shrapnel, at least most of it.
I would not want veterans to put a burden on the system so it cannot afford an F-22, or even an extra Predator or two.
There may be other ways to pay for the care, but I would not want the congress people to have to pay something for their healthcare. Those people are so seriously underpaid for the work they do. It takes a lot to come up with so many useless rules and social programs. I sure would not want to eliminate free medical care for ILLEGAL aliens. Even worse would be to make the poor pay for their healthcare. I mean, those people have rights.
To balance the books on our heathcare by discriminatory and predatory treatment of the poor, ILLEGAL aliens and congress people should not considered.
Let's just screw the veterans. I mean, they vote Republican like blacks vote Democrat.
Let's just screw the veterans. I mean, they vote Republican like blacks vote Democrat.
How right you are. This is the only first step. Next they eliminate pensions. Its coming. After all, there are more illegal immigrants than military retirees. Its soo old fashion to think of benefits that people actually earned rather than handed to them for belonging to a certain ethnic group and breathing.
I wonder how the health care of the members of congress is paid? I am sure they pay a portion of their medical coverage and have deductibles for drugs./sarc
If this plan is good enough for the military, it should be the same plan the members of congress use.
BTTT
Look at this....I can't believe a DEMOCRAT is looking out for us veterans. Where are the d@mn Republicans!!??
Capitol Hill Watch | Senate Passes Amendment To Block Rx Copay Increase in TRICARE
[Jun 15, 2006]
The Senate on Wednesday by voice vote approved an amendment to the defense authorization bill (S 2766), which would block a proposed increase in copayments for TRICARE members who purchase prescription drugs at retail pharmacies, CQ Today reports. The Bush administration had proposed increasing copays for prescription drugs purchased at retail pharmacies and making generic medications available by mail order at no cost to help reduce military health care costs. The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), would not affect the proposal to make generic medications available by mail order at no cost. By 2015, health care costs likely will account for $65 billion, or 12%, of the military budget, according to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who supported the proposal to increase copays for prescriptions purchased at retail pharmacies. However, Lautenberg and others said that the proposal would have required TRICARE members to "jump through hoops" to obtain necessary medications during a war (Donnelly, CQ Today, 6/14).
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