Important Message for Military Retirees

Posted By:
Fourth Republic Guest Columnist;
Undertaker



To: All Military Retirees:

This is a "Heads Up" on a battle we are facing now and down the road with the new Administration. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has already drafted proposed legislation that would basically reduce our TRICARE for Life benefits to a system whereby we pay deductibles and co-pays up to $6,301 the first year for you and your spouse, with future years being indexed to increase with inflation.

What can we do? The article below, obtained from an Air Force Association and written by Bob Clements, best describes what we can do. Please read it and check the links for CBO language and do what Bob says-Send this email to every Military Retiree you know and write and email your Congressman often. For those of you that might have voted for "Change", you should do it more than often!

TRICARE FOR LIFE'S FUTURE.... TRICARE For Life was instituted to correct the broken promise that military retirees would receive free health care coverage for life and it covers the Medicare co-pay. Now a heavy assault has begun on Veterans'/Retirees' benefits to pay for other programs our President promised during the campaign. An it is a high priority of his administration. The one item of most interest to Retired Military is in Article 189. If approved by Congress the first assault wave would hit in 2011 and would hit hard. It would initiate cost sharing to require retirees to pay the first $525 of medical cost and 50% of the next $4,725 for a first year cost of $2,888 per person. It would be indexed to increase with inflation. A reason given for this action (for PR effect) is "overuse" by Retirees.

For those of you who are covered by TFL you will want to pay attention(Below) to what Bob Clements has surfaced about the future of TFL. In any case, on page 189 of the Congressional Budget Office report, see the note below on how to get to that spot, there is a strong recommendation to eventually eliminate the program as it is too expensive. Just another move to slight those of us who dedicated much of our adult lives to the defense of our country.
Strongly recommend that you contact your elected officials and register your strong opposition to the elimination of the TFL program. Heads-up from Bob Clements,USAF Ret(P38 Bob) The following has been added to the Congressional Budget Office Web Site www.cbo.gov/ a. Budget, Options, Volume 1: Health Care ( www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=9925)

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God Bless our Veterans, because the new Administration won't.

Undertaker