1995brave wrote: Here is the TriCare newsletter that states family price will go up to $520 per year from $460 per year. Newsletter
Count your blessings....most Americans who buy insurance pay at least that much per month...not per year.
Why should I count blessings that were promised to be FREE? I am happy it is only a small increase (and increases, right now at least, are limited by law at how much they can increase). But the issue is the erosion of our "free" benefit that now costs a little, then a little more....then a little more. I isn't right what is happening. Not even a little bit.....
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Before this gets shut downI....I have to add that it is absolutely incredulous that anyone, ESPECIALLY someone who has not served in the military, to say the things that I am reading. The defense of our country, of which 55% are first term between the ages of 18-26, should NEVER come into question. The number one expenditure should always be to the 1% of our country serving proudly to protect the 99%. I retired in 2008 and didn't earn over $30,000 a year until the year 2001; after I had been in for 19 years! To infer that I am somehow unfairly getting something for nothing without having to pay a price is ludicrous. The price I paid was moving all over with my family in tow and doing so without complaining because we were fulfilling OUR side of the contract. Now I completed my contractual term the US Gov. shall complete theirs. Period. When I signed on the dotted line, Tri-Care did not exist and I was promised a retirement when I reached 20yrs in service and free healthcare for my ENTIRE LIFE!
It is OK to have an opinion. It is not OK to criticize something that blankets your very existence in protection from all enemies, foreign and domestic. We are trying very hard in this country to un-weave this blanket which will have an adverse reaction to the “pursuit of happiness” we enjoy today.
To all those who have served and are serving, God Bless you all!
Actually, I blame the DOD itself. We are now paying for all the (supposed) cost cutting measures of the 90s. When Clinton came in, budgets were cut, so the DOD decided the easiest thing to do was to close all the base hospitals that were staffed by military doctors and nurses and then TriCare would pay to turf people downtown. DOD healthcare went from in-house care to being sent to civilian doctors at a negotiated rate. In essence, they outsourced labor to (civilian) people with higher wages and more overhead, all the while expecting cost savings.
I said it would end up costing more back then and I was right. From 2001 to 2011, military health care spending rose 167%. I see proof of this all the time. At the clinic where I'm stationed, if you go in for a checkup from the base doctor and they find you have a heart problem, they call 911 and have an ambulance dive up to the base and transport the person to the local hospital--which is exaclty what happens at any neighborhood clinic...except this clinic was (until about 12 years ago) a full hospital with ambulances and operating rooms and was open 24 hours a day. Heck they still have the ambulance bays and ambulances,even though there isn't anybody to staff them.
The military has definitely earned their benefits but a retired colonel with a family only paying $460.00 a YEAR for insurance would be pretty naive NOT to expect an increase. Heck a 300% increase would still be a steal!
Spoken by someone who didn't do any time in the military and supports Obama's abysmal treatment of military and SS recipiants? That $460 sounds low, but there is a co-pay for every visit to the doctor, prescrption and no dental care. That already violates the benefits we were promised. You don't think that the many years that Colonel spent as a very low paid Lieutenant in a very dangerous occupation is entitled to receive care?
I turn 65 this year and my promised health care for life will be terminated. There is no spin on that fact.
Not true. When you turn 65, you become eligible for Tricare for Life. No premiums, but you have to sign up for Medicare part B.
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As a taxpayer why should I be paying for gold plated healthcare for any military, former military, or veteran? Yes, they are in a dangerous line of work, but there are plenty of others with dangerous jobs who pay a lot more for their healthcare! Certainly the taxpayers should pay 100% for injuries suffered on the job, but not for routine health care.
Most of us in the real world pay as much in a month for our health care as a military person pays for an entire year of health care. In my case, I also pay a $250 deductible and I pay 20% of any costs. My health care is practically worthless unless I get really sick or suffer major injury.
My health care coverage is pretty average these days. Most plans I know about require the insured to pay a percentage of what the care costs.
Wow, some of these posts are just shocking to me. DH served for 11 years and is only entitled to VA coverage. We are lucky to have excellent benefits and choose not to burden the VA system and let those who need it use it.
I'm not as familiar with the Tricare insurance as we would not be eligible. I do believe our Congressmen should not be put on a pedestal. I believe there health insurance should be equivalent to their constituents. Maybe then and only then would things change. I believe Congress should lead by example and be subject to self cut backs before asking our Veterans to do so.
This is rather long, but worth the read. I am a retired disabled combat Viet Nam veteran of 21 years. In all of our travels, when I have needed to go see a Doctor, I have had no problems using Tricare for Life.
This is taken from the February 2012 issue of the Armed Forces Retiree News:
DO VERTERANS HAVE A RIGHT TO FREE HEALTH CARE FOR LIFE?
"The short answer is no," said Peter Graves, a spokesman for the assistant defense secretary for health affairs. "Health care benefits for military members, retirees, and their families are, and have always been, as provided by law, and the law has never promised free health care for life."
The law provides free medical care for servicemembers on active duty and their families, Graves said in an email.
Congressional Research Service, which provides analysis for Congress, issued a 2003 report that found veterans were not entitled to free medical care for life, even though they may have been promised exactly that by their recruiters.
Since 1956, veterans and their families can be treated at military medical facilities "subject to the availability of space and facilities and the capabilities of the medical and dental staff," the report found.
"They have no right to military health care and the military services have total discretion in when and under what circumstances retirees and their dependents will get care in military treatment facilities," the report said.
Moreover, since recruiters do not have the authority to make such promises, there is no way to enforce them, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in 2002. The Supreme Court later refused to hear the case, ending the matter.
THE RUMOR DOCTOR'S DIAGNOSIS: The rumor of free medical care for life is false, even though some veterans were promised it by recruiters, who were in no position to make such a promise. As the CRS report makes clear, "Unauthorized promises based on mistakes, fraud, etc. do not constitute a contractual obligation on the part of the government/taxpayer."
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When the economy was running strong, nobody gave a hoot about the military and heaped upon them great pay and benefits, after all, who wanted their jobs? The ones that are complaining about having to pay routine health care would probably the first ones to obtain their draft deferments, because that is what we would have if we didn't pay the benefits we do. Our society wants it both ways. We want to be able to fight wars, and not be the ones to have to do it. When we find people that volunteer for it, we want them to do it for nothing, right?
I served 22 years, all of it peacetime. That doesn't mean I wasn't ready to die for my country. Should we now only pay benefits to those that actually pick up a weapon? What about sailors? Airmen? Some of you people complaining here about hour medical benefits make me sick.
* This post was
edited 03/01/12 03:22pm by an administrator/moderator *
I realize this won't be the most popular response here... but I say do it.
In an article I read it quoted the cost of a retired Lt. Col who is paying $460 a year for his family's medical. That is the same that an E6 pays, even though the Col's retirement is MUCH more then the enlisted.
So what I say is figure out what percentage $460 is for a retired E6 and apply that percentage across the board. Balance the whole thing out. Make that retired O5 pay the same percentage that E6 pays.
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