Going after the group that has the money! I think they want to transfer TRICARE for LIFE money to VA expenses.
My TRICARE services are all rendered by private (competitive) health providers, why should my fees be raised? Well, I know why! VA is socialized, not competitive, like my doctor and other providers.
I did see one proposal that called for combining TFL with Medicare. My current GP takes my Tricare Prime but doesn’t take Medicare or Obamacare. I’d hate to lose her services as she is one of the best doctors that I’ve ever had. I’m 2 1/2 hours away from the nearest military medical facility by car. I like having civilian health care. My experience with military doctors or civilian doctors in the pay from the military isn’t positive.
“Going after the group that has the money! I think they want to transfer TRICARE for LIFE money to VA expenses.”
Entirely different. Currently, retirees who continue to work in the civilian world often have a choice. They can get insurance from the civilian jobs, often at a price. Many choose to rely on tricare and save the costs of civilian insurance. The military budget guys think these worker/retirees should pay for the civilian insurance and not use tricare until they actually retire.
For example, I was a military retiree while working for civil service. I was a National Guard retiree so I did not actually have retiree status until I turned 60, not retired pay or medical. I paid bluecross/blueshield several hundred a month.
Once I turned 60 and received full benefits, I cancelled the BC/BS and saved the premiums. The budget guys think I was ripping off the system. Well, maybe, but they wrote the rules.
Getting harder to find doctors to take Tricare Life along with Medicare. As a senior woman, I needed a GYN for a health issue, and was told we are NOT a profitable age, and they don’t take Medicare, much less Tricare Life.
What the heck did my husband spend 20 yrs in the Navy for at sub par pay and over deployments? Commissary and Exchange are as expensive as private stores now. In fact milk was more expensive than Kroger’s this week. A whole chicken raw cost what a cooked chicken at Kroger’s cost. $200 Vera Wang Wallets? I get the benefits of reduced gas cost when I shop Kroger’s more than offsets the 5% restock fee vs the state sales tax. And we are a NO State income tax state, just sales tax.