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Posted on 03/22/2010 4:59:25 PM PDT by SandRat
WASHINGTON, March 22, 2010 – The Tricare military health plan meets the standards set by the health care reform bill the House of Representatives passed last night, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said in a statement issued yesterday.
Calling their health and well-being his highest priority, Gates reassured servicemembers and their families that the legislation won’t have a negative effect on Tricare, which “already meets the bill's quality and minimum benefit standards.”
“This was clarified by a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives [March 20], and is expected to be re-affirmed by the Senate,” Gates said in the statement.
“The president and I are committed to seeing that our troops, retirees and their families will continue to receive the best quality health care,” the secretary said.
| Biographies: Robert M. Gates Related Sites: |
The bill that was passed required Tricare to meet the federal standards..not the other way around. So that could be better or worse than present. Then there is the matter of reimbursement..it may be cut like Medicare, so there would be fewer providers. This all sounds like a cover up.
There already are few providers, they will just be fewer.
Right...or mandatory payment that is the same as any civilian. What I've read, TriCare is not immune for the military users to pay for premiums like any other payer under the government health care system in the Senate bill that has passed into law.
lula: “There already are few providers, they will just be fewer.”
A KEY point, lula! Yes, you are covered, but try finding a doctor who will accept the terrible reimbursement rates.
The military EARNS their pension and retirement benefits. They are not a handout. It’s compensation for the sacrifices we make.
It won’t be long before military retirees will be standing in the same lines as welfare moms, waiting for the few doctors left who are willing to practice medicine at a loss.
Fewer providers? There’s only one within a reasonable distance for my family and it’s over 20 miles away.
SECDEF Gates is twisting the facts. The Chairman of the
House Armed Forces Committee, Rep Ike Skelton D-MO, put out a press release that stated that SEPARATE legistration will be required to correct the fact the TRICARE was left out of the bill that was passed by House last night.
I do not know the if correction includes TRICARE for LIFE.
Call Ike’s office and ask HIM: DC 202-225-2876 or
FAX 202-225-2695.
Says something about the smarts of folks who hired us, trained us to kill and blow stuff up, who would then start to mess with us......
There are different levels of Tri-Care. Our rural hospital will not accept one of their plans cause their reimbursement is very, very poor. Worse than Medicaid and that is BAD.
There are different levels of Tri-Care. Our rural hospital will not accept one of their plans cause their reimbursement is very, very poor. Worse than Medicaid and that is BAD.
‘Can I expect my TRICARE enrollment fee, premiums, deductibles or co-pays to go up because of this legislation? There is nothing in the legislation that would change any TRICARE fees.’
That still doesn’t answer the question of the NEW BIG FEES passed in the 2009 DOD bill, that go into effect in 2011.
Does OBAMANATIONCARE negate the BIG NEW FEES in the DOD bill? Just because there are no new fees in OBAMANATIONCARE doesn’t mean that they aren’t still in the 2009 DOD bill!
Calls to congress critters are needed for clarification.
http://economicspolitics.blogspot.com/2009/05/tricare-for-life-is-obama-trying-to.html
This option would help reduce the costs of TFL, as well as costs for Medicare, by introducing minimum out-of pocket requirements for beneficiaries. Under this option, TFL would not cover any of the first $525 of an enrollee’s cost-sharing liabilities for calendar year 2011 and would limit coverage to 50 percent of the next $4,725 in Medicare cost sharing that the beneficiary incurred. (Because all further cost sharing would be covered by TFL, enrollees could not pay more than $2,888 in cost sharing in that year.) http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/99xx/doc9925/12-18-HealthOptions.pdf
Tricare For Life is admined out of the Medicare agency.
I’ve not heard.
If you hear anything ping me.
Doesn’t do any good to call my commie rep. I’ll try Rep Marsha Blackburn’s office Monday...from Tuesday and the week following I won’t be worth spit following surgery, I’m not a good patient, and pain meds knock me out.
Got the same problem with Gabbie Giffords, Can’t get through to leave a voice mail, or talk to a human, or send an email, they all get rejected. She;s a sorry work!
Go look at this, I swear these folks HATE our Military. Post it and let FReepers at it.
Oh how they do hate the military.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/63358
(CNSNews.com) - The Senate defeated three separate amendments offered to the health-care reconciliation bill on Wednesday night that would have abolished or limited the impact of a new tax on medical devices—including prosthetics, such as artificial limbs—that was enacted in the new health-care law President Barack Obama signed on Tuesday.
One of those bills would have completely repealed the new tax, another would have exempted those in veteran’s health programs and members of TRICARE (the government insurance plan for military personnel, veterans and their families) from its impact, and a third would have exempted children and the disabled, including disabled veterans.
“Let me tell you, I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will stand up for the wounded warriors,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R.-Utah), as he introduced his amendment, http://hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=922f8d97-1b78-be3e-e049-af2dab5e701a which exempted military personnel, veterans and their families from the the medical devices tax. “I hope they will stand up and realize that these folks should not be hammered with higher costs on medical devices. We owe them a debt of gratitude not more taxes.”
“Who are the folks who will bear the burden of this tax?” asked Sen. Pat Roberts (R.-Kan.), who sponsored http://roberts.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=7c39794c-2161-4027-a220-5b86eb27a4fd the amendment that would have killed the tax entirely. “People with disabilities, diabetics, amputees, people with cancer, just to name some of the people—and more—who will see their costs go up because of this tax. We do not want to do this. Why would we want to do this on those who are most vulnerable?”
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R.-Okla.), who sponsored an amendment to exempt children and the disabled from the tax, pointed out that his proposal http://inhofe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressRoom.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=961d4b8f-802a-23ad-4ff4-d326a3af33c4 would not only prevent the tax from increasing the cost of prosthetic limbs for wounded troops but also that it would prevent the tax from increasing the cost of incubators for prematurely born babies.
His amendment, Inhofe said, “excludes those devices for children and those with disabilities. For example, some of our troops coming home have lost limbs and they have prosthetic devices. This is for them. This is for the 8-year-old whose heart quit beating in the middle of the night and they put a pacemaker in and it saved his life. It is for incubators and this type of thing.”
Speaking on the Senate floor in opposition to Sen. Inhofe’s amendment, Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D.-Mont.)said: “It exempts a certain group from the shared responsibility in helping finance health care reform.” Baucus opposed all three amendments, as did most Senate Democrats.
Sen. Roberts’s amendment to repeal the medical-devices tax was defeated 56-42 http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=2&vote=00079. Sen. Inhofe’s amendment to exclude children and the disabled was defeated 57-41 http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=2&vote=00080. And Sen. Hatch’s amendment to exclude people insured by TRICARE or in veteran’s health programs was defeated 54-44 http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=2&vote=00081.
The new medical-devices tax is expected to bring in $20 billion in revenues over the next ten years to help cover the cost of President Obama’s health-care plan. The tax will be paid to the government by the manufacturers and importers of medical devices, but the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation determined that those manufacturers and importers would simply pass the cost of the tax through to the consumers of their products by raising prices.
Sen. Charles Grassley (R.-Iowa), the ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, had asked the CBO and JCT what the impact of the $20 billion tax on medical devices would be when the provision first came up in his committee. “Both of them said these excise taxes will be passed on to the consumers in the form of higher prices and higher insurance premiums,” said Grassley..
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