Posted on 02/23/2020 6:49:34 AM PST by Alas Babylon!
The Pentagon is downsizing or closing 50 medical clinics, including 12 on Air Force bases, in a move the department says will “increase the readiness of our operational and medical forces.” But the change will also force families and retirees away from some USAF facilities and into TRICARE civilian providers.
The Fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act called on the Pentagon to analyze its hospital and clinic footprint, and the department screened 343 facilities inside the United States. Of those, 77 were selected for additional assessments and 50 ultimately chosen for “restructuring.”
The majority of those facilities will transition from serving all beneficiaries to only seeing Active-duty military personnel. Family members, retirees, and their families would have to seek care through the TRICARE civilian provider network.
Matt Donovan, the former acting Air Force secretary who is performing the duties of the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, outlined the changes in a Feb. 19 report to congressional leaders.
The report is a “strategic framework” for the changes, and no detailed implementation plan, timeline, projected costs, or expected savings are available yet. Local networks’ ability to take on additional patients will drive the transition time, and switching people over could take several years.
If TRICARE networks cannot provide access to quality care, “DOD will revise implementation plans,” according to a Military Health System release.
MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.’s Sabal Park Clinic will close once all patients are transferred. The clinic opened in May 2019.
Joint Base Langley-Eustis Air Force Base, Va.’s 633rd Medical Group’s inpatient facility will become an ambulatory surgical center.
The following facilities will switch to Active-duty, occupational health-only clinics: •MacDill’s 6th MDG outpatient facility •Dyess AFB, Texas’s 7th MDG outpatient facility •Robins AFB, Ga.’s 78th MDG outpatient facility •Barksdale AFB, La.’s 2nd MDG outpatient facility •Dover AFB, Del.’s 436th MDG outpatient facility •Goodfellow AFB, Texas’s 17th MDG outpatient facility •Hanscom AFB, Mass.’s 66th Medical Squadron outpatient facility •Maxwell AFB, Ala.’s 42nd MDG outpatient facility •Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.’s 87th MDG outpatient facility •Patrick AFB, Fla.’s 45th MDG outpatient facility
The Pentagon expects about 200,000 beneficiaries to move to provider networks, the majority of which are retirees. They will need to pay out of pocket for health care provided through TRICARE. A family of four filling a dozen prescriptions per year could end up spending from $157 to $720 more per year on prescription medications alone. For medical care, copays and deductibles could add hundreds or thousands more dollars.
By only providing medical services to Active-duty forces, the Pentagon wants to make sure affected facilities can help service members be “medically ready to train and deploy,” said Tom McCaffery, the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, in a release. “It also means MTFs are effectively utilized as platforms that enable our military medical personnel to acquire and maintain the clinical skills and experience that prepares them for deployment in support of combat operations around the world.”
Thanks, America!
22 years and a promise for lifetime FREE healthcare.
Meanwhile, illegals still get theirs for free...
Note to military retirees!
This article lists US Air Force clinics off limits to us.
The Army and Navy (Marines) are also closing many of their medical facilities to us, also.
I do not have those lists. Post them if you know them.
This does not feel like the proposal fits ino the “winning” mantra.
If these facilities/clinics are closed, can you not still receive free medications at civilian provider/clinics/pharmacies??
Just trying to understand why a benefit (free meds) would be taken away.
And, thank you for your service!!
No. We have to use the government funded Express Scripts mail order pharmacy.
So I get free Mentanx for diabetic neuropathy from Maxwell AFB. Express Scripts will NOT dispense it as they say it is a medical food. It costs $400 for 30 capsules elsewhere.
Express scripts have free generic drugs, but named cost anywhere from $9 to ? extra, depending. New drugs take a few years to get on their formulary. I could get some new drugs from a local pharmacy for an extra price.
I have never trusted a government promise. I am astonished that I get a Social Security check. I fully expect that future adjustments will take some or most of it away.
This lack of trust is that politicians make promises that future politicians must either keep, modify or break entirely. Each year every previous promise must pass some gate where there is always a chance that it will be modified or broken. Eventually, all promises will be modified from the original or broken.
The Social Security promise was predicated on the demographics of its time. People generally died around 65 and the workforce paying in was comparatively huge. Now people live into great old age. My mother just died last year at 102. The “trust fund” had a huge pile of money in it and it was inevitable that Congress would find a way to get their hands on it. So, under LBJ they “conformed” the budget and took the money to be replaced by IOU’s. This built in inflation devalues every dollar everyone earns. Then under Obama the money supply doubled and they added quantitative easing by putting another 87 billion into circulation every month.
Savers are well and truly screwed. If I live to 102 my $1700 per month will buy groceries for a week.
I would withhold judgement on this. I trust no news source anymore. Let’s see if there is more to this story.
“”If these facilities/clinics are closed, can you not still receive free medications at civilian provider/clinics/pharmacies??””
OR the VA for retirees?
My dad was a retired Marine. When I was in college, if I had to go get medicine, I went to the nearby Air Force base (I was still a military dependent).
If you enroll in VA Healthcare you would be eligible for most meds.
This reduction must happen. The lie of free health care for life for military service was exactly that...a lie. It is an unfunded mandate. We must reverse it else we will all go down together when this country defaults on its debt.
And before you attack me that I do not understand, know that I recently retired from the USAF after 25 years of service and I was told the same lie when I entered the Air Force.
By the way, I also agree that illegals should not get anything and we need to stop this free give away as well.
JoMa
Military members can get all of their meds though the mail using the company ExpressScripts, only there is a $7 fee to use this service. That cost sounds to me like covering the cost of shipping, not the cost of the medication.
JoMa
It’s true. The Maxwell clinic already sent me a notice.
Just a note: Tricare for Life is available for all military retirees and includes a substantial prescription benefit. Retirees from Guard and reserve status have a minimum age limit. I feel for your particular situation, but this is not as bad as it sounds. With ExpressScripts you get your scrips through the mail, many of them free. Check out Tricare bc you choose your own physician. Personally, I was never all that fond of military clinics either as active or retired. Very pleased with Tricare and a civilian doc who’s always the same guy I see when I go in.
Because the government wants to shift costs to you so that the free benefits for illegals can be paid for.
“”If these facilities/clinics are closed, can you not still receive free medications at civilian provider/clinics/pharmacies??””
Yes if it is service connected disability. If not you pay for the medicine.
FYI — The $7 fee was just raised to $10 in January for generic scripts and $60 for brand and that’s for each script that you have.
What make you believe that the costs will be more than what you pay or don’t now?
Just refer them to Walmart and pay he bill. Cheaper and more efficient.
“Each year every previous promise must pass some gate where there is always a chance that it will be modified or broken. Eventually, all promises will be modified from the original or broken.”
We’re well on our way to a $23 TRILLION debt. No rational person thinks this can go on forever. They’re going to have to start cutting somewhere, or else there will be more draconian cuts later. I have a state pension & social security. I’m sure means testing is coming down the road. I may not like it, but what must be done will be done.
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