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September 08, 2009
End of Tricare for Life for Military Battle To Face Now and Later With Obama
THE END OF TRICARE FOR LIFE FOR MILITARY
Tom Marfiak
Rear Admiral USN Ret.
Subject: THE END OF TRICARE FOR LIFE FOR MILITARY
To: All Military Retirees:
This is a "Heads Up" on a battle we are facing now and down the road with the Obama 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 BG 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 th broken promise that military retirees would receive free healthcare 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 the President promised during the campaign. And 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 BG 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 BG Bob Clements, USAF Ret (P38 Bob).
The following has been added to the Congressional Budget Office Web Site
http://www.cbo.gov/budget/budproj.shtml
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/99xx/doc9...lthOptions.pdf
For those who have never opened one of these web sites from OMB:
1. double click on the above URL (or copy and paste the URL in your Server's address block)
2. click on PDF
3. click on the binoculars
4. do a search for TFL
Now here it is folks and I will guarantee if you sit around on your behind and do nothing about it as they bring these options forward this coming year, you will lose one of the best health care benefits that the Medicare eligible retired military have. It is short of the promises made that we fought so hard for back in the late 90s and early 2000s but it is still the best health care program that anyone in the United States has, bar none. 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.
The service organizations 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 just read the data on the noted sites 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 fan, 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 who vote to keep their benefactor in office. If you know of anyone who is Retired Military, please forward this on to them.
Remember- TFL is an "Earned Benefit" that's been granted by a previous Congress.
WTF....veterans are being lied to and cheated on a daily basis as is. Now this.
.
Wild Thing's comment......
I HATE when they mess with our Veterans! Damn anyone that does this.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at September 8, 2009 06:47 AM
Comments
Another way of increasing obama's users of obamacare. Retirees fought hard to get the promised health benefits. We finally got Tricare for Life. Now obama takes it away.
Posted by: TomR at September 8, 2009 11:56 AM
Tom, this really angers me. Obama and others
doing this need to realize they would not
even have a country if it were not for our
Veterans.
Posted by: Wild Thing at September 8, 2009 03:29 PM
The Baracksheviks want TRY AND GET CARE when it comes to vets. I was told by a liberal piece of human dung not too long ago that the vets receive socialized health care in good old Jihad Joe Biden's blue state? Just mailed an $8 check to the VA in Atlanta for a small bottle of eye drops (visine type) that I could have purchased locally at Happy Harry's for $3! FREEDOM IS NOT FREE!
Posted by: darthcrUSAderworldtour07 at September 8, 2009 06:20 PM
Yeah I'm pissed and I'm not even using Tricare.
Chrissie, I've told you about my VA case and it's current disposition, it ain't over!!!
Brother and sister veterans: Just a FYI. I received one of those Veterans Claims Assistance Act (VCAA) package offers from VA last week dealing with my claim. Suspicious, I drove over the the VA Hospital today to speak in person with one of the American Legion counselors there, he is a retired Veterans Administration worker and works part time for the American Legion. The gotcha is the (ECA) Expedited Claims Adjudication Initiatve: Agreement and Waiver of Rights, included in the package, this means at the VA's discretion your case is final because you waived your rights to appeal. I was cautioned not to sign it by my counselor as it would let the VA off the hook for future awards for current and future disabilities. I'm glad I checked it out because as you know the entire file cabinet is dumped on you every time they want just one signature on one piece of the paperwork.
Who could be pushing this atrocity but the Obama and the Pelosi crowd.
Posted by: Jack at September 8, 2009 06:29 PM
Another way of increasing obama's mindless health care plans. Obama is making us a socialist country even though he says and acts like his Health Care Program is no different than any other government program. Retirees fought hard to get the promised health benefits. We finally got Tricare for Life. Now obama takes it away. Obama thinks that he has all the answers and talks like he knows everything and nobody has the information he does. His actions so far have done nothing but make America poorer. I cannot find a job and I am almost bankrupt. Someone needs to tell obama to retire and allow someone with some know how take over. I'm terribly worried and upset that our country is going to be taken over by liberal socialists millionaires!!!
Posted by: Scott Younce at September 8, 2009 10:26 PM
