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January 28, 2009
Military Retirees' Tri Care for Life at Risk
Military Retirees' Tri Care for Life at Risk
For those of you who are covered by TFL you will want to pay attention to what BG Bob Clements has surfaced about the future of TFL.
If you know of anyone who is Retired Military, please forward this on to them.
I don't know how many of you partake of the Tri Care for Life program but here is a very interesting note on the subject.
Obama has placed a priority on cutting it out of the budget as a means to provide funding for those things he promised during the campaign.
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. I would ask that you contact your elected officials and register your strong opposition to the elimination of this program. Just another move to slight those of us who dedicated much of our adult lives to the defense of our country.
Heads-up from BG Bob Clements, USAF Ret (P38 Bob) The following has been added to the Congressional Budget Office Web Site
a. Budget, Options, Volume 1: Health Care
http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=9925
For those who have never opened one of these web sites from OMB :
1. double click on the above URL
2. click on PDF
3. click on the binoculars
4. do a search for TFL.
To All,
This is for real. The heavy assault has begun on Veterans'/Retirees' benefits to pay for other programs. The word on the street is that these indeed are a high priority of the Obama administration. The one most of interest to Retired Military is in Article 189. If approved by Congress the first assault wave would hit the beaches 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.
People who are professionals always look for the channel of least resistance when it comes to cutting money out of the Federal and DOD budget. I can tell you this straight on, military retirees are one of those channels of least resistance noted for sitting around, doing nothing, and waiting for ole Joe to do it for them. You had better wake up. Your medical benefits are prime target. If you lose them, you have nobody to blame but yourself. Let me repeat that ... you have nobody to blame but yourself.
The way to secure your benefits is to write to your members of Congress and to keep writing and writing and writing. ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH!! Keep repeating the above statement until you are blue in the face.
Now I'm going to make one more statement to all of you younger people out there who are not yet eligible for Tricare for Life. HEALTH CARE WILL EVENTUALLY BECOME THE DOMINATING FACTOR IN YOUR LIFE. Remember that . . . . it will impact you big time with the utmost in cruelty unless you are fortunate enough to die from a heart attack . . . or get run over by a truck.
Now, I am going to attach AGAIN exactly what OMB has in store for military retirees using TFL. This source is directly from OMB and is not something that I have dreamed up. They are telling you exactly what they are going to do with your benefits. If you do nothing, this is what you will get.
The service organizations will put up a fight and are aware of this and will put up a fight but, they will need your help and can't do it by themselves.
I hope this makes it clear as to what you can expect if you do nothing.
To show you how stupid these professionals can be at times if you will read the attached document closely you will see that in spite of the MTFs (Military Treatment Facility) need to get patients back to keep their doctors busy and the hospitals from going to clinic status, these people from OMB would employ a means to keep retirees from using MTF facilities by charging them a fee for services. How dumb can you get.
Even if you are an Obama lover, and believe that changeth cometh, TFL option from OMB will not go away. They need the money they spend on you for other programs for people who produce nothing but votes to keep their boss in office.
It looks like we will again be confronted by the 'attack of the beancounters' who, by and large, wouldn't know (and probably never will know) genuine unselfish service to our country and are solely motivated by crunching numbers so that those numbers will reflect favorably on their bosses and their boss's causes. They have no thought to the havoc they would cause . . . in many cases the loss of any amount of TFL benefits would be a an insurmountable hardship ..... and to some it would truly be a death sentence.
It is well that we gear up for the fight now. As P38Bob says, we must write, write, write and write. Once is not enough! In time I will be preparing letters for your use in writing to your elected officials and submitting them to the TREA Membership, and to others who may want to join the fight.
Your comments and inquiries are welcome.
Fred Langston,
President (2008), Legislative Affairs Chair,
Greater San Diego Chapter 128,
The Retired Enlisted Association (TREA),
Wild Thing's comment..........
I got this in an email and wanted to pass it on.
Here is the link directly to the PDF file
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/99xx/doc9925/12-18-HealthOptions.pdf
Posted by Wild Thing at January 28, 2009 05:45 AM
Comments
As a military retiree I hate to say this but Bush went after TRICARE too. He tried to increase the payments we make to TRICARE to put us in line with the private sector. It was interesting how he wanted to put us in line with the private sector but the private sector didn't devote 20+ years of service to this nation. The lower payments we pay into TRICARE is the only benefit we have left to show for a life of service.
Fortunately for us, both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate shot him down on it.
Posted by: BobF at January 28, 2009 07:43 AM
I use TFL a lot. It does not surprise me that the politicians want to go after it.
Remember that Obama said he wanted all Americans to have the same medical benefits that he had as a Senator. Well, that right there is an absolute tipoff that the man is full of crap. Very few Americans have medical coverage or will have in any way comparable to what our privileged Congresspeople have. They even have a staffed ambulance siting just outside the Congressional building in case they have to go to Bethesda Navy Hospital for care.
Posted by: TomR at January 28, 2009 10:22 AM
Nobody, but nobody will have a say on how their life is to be run. These bastards want it all.
Posted by: Mark at January 28, 2009 11:49 AM
BOHICA!!!
Posted by: Jack at January 28, 2009 12:51 PM
TRY AND GET CARE 2009-2016 and had a peacenic tell me that my DAV benefits are an example of socialized health care! Yeah, he needed his teeth smashed but I was afraid the SOB would kiss me! We are in the fight for our lives folks - big time! The RINOS are even against US!
Posted by: darthcrUSAderworldtour07 at January 28, 2009 04:36 PM
You know I heard a guy on the radio around Veteran's Day last year saying that our society looks at the Military sort of the way the french look at their Foreign Legion which IMO is a very formidable force much more than that of the french army (I know it's an oxymoron).
Posted by: JohnE PFC U.S. Army at January 28, 2009 06:38 PM
BobF., I think it is so wrong to mess with anything our Veterans have been promised. I can't stand it. Thanks for the information Bob.
Posted by: Wild Thing at January 29, 2009 12:06 AM
Tom, oh my gosh.
"They even have a staffed ambulance siting just outside the Congressional building in case they have to go to Bethesda Navy Hospital for care."
More waste of money. grrrrrrrr
Posted by: Wild Thing at January 29, 2009 12:09 AM
Mark, yes I never knew all this would happen. I knew it would be bad but it is happening so fast.
Posted by: Wild Thing at January 29, 2009 12:13 AM
Jack, ditto that!!!!
Posted by: Wild Thing at January 29, 2009 12:19 AM
Darth, oh sheesh that is horrible!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Wild Thing at January 29, 2009 12:20 AM
JohnE PFC U.S. Army, what was that movie about the French Foreign Legion, it was really a good film. I never can remember the name of it.
Posted by: Wild Thing at January 29, 2009 12:22 AM
Who was in it? The only movie about the French Foreign Legion I can think of is "March or Die" starring Gene Hackman.
Posted by: JohnE PFC U.S. Army at January 29, 2009 12:54 AM
OH yessss I saw that one. I like Gene Hackman.
I just used google to try and find the one I was thinking of....haha and the name of the one I was trying to think of is called " Beau Geste" it is a classic and was made in 1939. It is an awesome, fantastic story of honor and bravery.
Posted by: Wild Thing at January 29, 2009 05:15 AM
