Posted on 06/29/2012 12:02:46 PM PDT by sunmars
The Obama administration on Friday threatened to veto a defense appropriations bill in part because it does not include higher health care fees for members of the military.
The Administration is disappointed that the Congress did not incorporate the requested TRICARE fee initiatives into either the appropriation or authorization legislation, the White House wrote in an official policy statement expressing opposition to the bill, which the House approved in May.
President Obamas most recent budget proposal includes billions of dollars in higher fees for members of TRICARE, the military health care system, and is part of the administrations plan to cut nearly $500 billion from the Pentagons budget.
Some fear the administrations proposal is an effort to increase enrollment in the state-run insurance exchanges mandated under the presidents controversial health care law.
The administration urged the House to reconsider to fee increase, arguing they are essential for DOD to successfully address rising personnel costs.
The House bill has significant bipartisan support, and easily passed by a margin of 299 to 120.
(Excerpt) Read more at freebeacon.com ...
I understand that but I also understand how much Michelle likes to spend and live large.
They will need to stay VERY busy to keep up with Michelle’s champagne wishes and caviar dreams.
It will cost them more to live as they have become accustomed. They aren’t and won’t be billionaires. I betcha five bucks that the Obamas divorce.
Haven’t heard anything, which usually means he’s okay!
It’s hotter there than it is here. And I’m sure it’s much more humid. Ick...
And? Thanks for your service, what does your 4 years mean to a veteran of war that does 20 plus?
Did you serve in Vietnam and have a service connected disability? If you do, do you really want to pay to be a disabled veteran? America owes you; you dont owe us.
Cut costs? Decommission them. They’re no longer needed, now that Obama won the war on terror and made the MB our BFFL./s
I have no service-connected disabilities. I was in Vietnam for a few months, as a DOD civilian on TDY from Japan. Nobody owes me anything. I didn’t mean to imply that anyone did.
Barry and his friends at the Pentagon are incensed that military retirees actually expect them to keep their promises. When I enlisted in 1981, I was also promised free, on-base care for the rest of my life. By the time a retired two decades later, that promise was long-gone, and we were stuck with Tri-Care. I’m grateful that I still have healthcare, but it’s far from the Cadillac plans that many state and local government employees enjoy, or (for that matter) the plan that covers retired federal civil servants.
True, Tri-Care hasn’t see a fee increase since 1994, but a little perspective is in order. Most retirees are in Tri-Care Standard, which carries a 20% co-pay for most procedures. If you don’t have an additional policy, that expense comes out of your pocket. And, if you do have another policy, that becomes your primary, with Tri-Care picking up what’s left.
All of these considerations are very important when you consider that the “average” military retiree leaves the service as an E-6 (Technical Sergeant in the Air Force, Staff Sergeant in the Army, Petty Officer First Class in the Navy) with an after-tax pension of about $1,600 a month. For every retired General and Colonel who are looking for tax shelters, there are 20 retired E-6s who are struggling to get by, and can’t afford the Tri-Care fee increases that are on the way.
The Obama plan isn’t very hard to figure out. Many retirees who rely on health insurance from their “civilian” jobs will lose those plans under Obamacare. That will push us into the exchanges for additional coverage, until private insurers get out of the business altogether. At that point, we’ll be pushed into Obamacare, and Tri-Care will be cancelled altogether. That will save the Pentagon billions. Anyone who doesn’t believe DoD won’t sell us down the river (again) is sadly mistaken.
“I entered into the Federal Service after four years of active duty in Sep 1964. I retired in Jul 1997. I have paid insurance preniums every pay period since then. Even today, Im paying $300 a month for the federal BC/BS and another $100 a month for Medicare. And I am NOT complaining.”
“I have no service-connected disabilities. I was in Vietnam for a few months, as a DOD civilian on TDY from Japan. Nobody owes me anything. I didnt mean to imply that anyone did.”
I am just confused why you were comparing your service and what you pay to Military Retirees who either did 20 (or 20 plus years), multiple deployments, and may have service connected disabilities. What you pay has no connection to what a Retired Service member has earned.
America may not owe you anything, but Retired Military have earned what Obama is now trying to take away.
Promises broken by our government...again. Our military has to PAY for getting maimed and scarred?! That’s disgusting.
I don’t know how this conversation got so out of control. I never said anything about military retirement. Obama should be run out of town on a rail, tarred and feathered, if he tries to take one cent of the well-deserved miltary retirement.
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