mickeyd
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Got an email from MOAA today and one of the items mentioned is related to Tricare, a health program that many military retirees and their families participate in. The Pentagon sure love to tinker with it, especially for the under 65 gang.
Here's an extract form it:
Here's an extract form it:
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[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Pentagon Issues Report on TRICARE Fees[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The December 2007 report of the Task Force on the Future of Military Health Care got a lot of attention by urging large increases in fees for military retirees under 65 and an enrollment fee for TRICARE For Life, among many other proposals. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]For the last year, those recommendations have been under review by a special committee appointed by the Secretary of Defense. Now that committee has issued its "recommendations on the recommendations." [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The good news is that the Pentagon panel didn't propose fee hikes as severe as those urged by the Task Force, and it didn't support the proposal for a TFL enrollment fee. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The bad news is that it still recommended significant fee hikes for retirees under 65, and proposed means-testing those fees based on total family income. Here are some selected specifics: [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Fees for under-65 retirees: The DoD committee agreed with the Task Force that TRICARE fees should be raised and periodically adjusted to reflect some percentage of military health costs, but declined to propose specific fee levels. They recommended tying TRICARE Prime enrollment fees to some percentage of the Medicare Part B premium ($96.40 per month this year for the base rate), with a family rate at double the single rate. TRICARE Standard deductibles would be raised by an amount sufficient to provide the same relative level of beneficiary cost-sharing. The committee proposed to have the Defense Department secure congressional authority to raise fees and then figure out how much to raise them. They envisioned phasing in the fee increases over a period of years, citing the Task Force's four-year plan. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Tiering/Means-Testing: The committee recommended setting different tiers of fees based on retirees' family adjusted gross income. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Pharmacy Copays: The committee proposed eliminating copays for generic and brand-name formulary medications purchased through the mail-order pharmacy system. For retail pharmacy purchases, copays would be $4 for generics (vs. the current $3), $20 for brand names (vs. $9), and $30 for non-formulary medications (vs. $22). [/FONT]