Don't get me wrong-- I'm not sniveling about my healthcare premiums. For survivors with few/no health problems this is the world's greatest deal.
But tripling the premiums over three years?!? Admittedly it's only from $460/year to $1500/year-- but yikes-- that's 48% per year. Alarmist journalism, not a budget-buster, not going back to work, but it makes you wonder if DoD knows what the heck they're doing. I guess I've answered that question by watching DoD piss off the military retiree population.
My two points here are (1) I never expected this type of ER surprise, so if you're planning on becoming a military retiree then you can learn from my mistake by anticipating something similar, and (2) you'd better plan on paying a little more for healthcare than previously expected.
As for the proposals, DoD routinely pulls this retiree-beating scare tactic and then compromises with Congress. The Military Coalition and MOAA are all over the issue so it'll probably just involve a "mere" 50-100% rise in premiums over the next few years.
Military.com & Tom Philpott on TRICARE premium increases
But tripling the premiums over three years?!? Admittedly it's only from $460/year to $1500/year-- but yikes-- that's 48% per year. Alarmist journalism, not a budget-buster, not going back to work, but it makes you wonder if DoD knows what the heck they're doing. I guess I've answered that question by watching DoD piss off the military retiree population.
My two points here are (1) I never expected this type of ER surprise, so if you're planning on becoming a military retiree then you can learn from my mistake by anticipating something similar, and (2) you'd better plan on paying a little more for healthcare than previously expected.
As for the proposals, DoD routinely pulls this retiree-beating scare tactic and then compromises with Congress. The Military Coalition and MOAA are all over the issue so it'll probably just involve a "mere" 50-100% rise in premiums over the next few years.
Military.com & Tom Philpott on TRICARE premium increases