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Forum: VETERANS!

TOPIC: 

TriCare for Life Info

Created on: 06/11/09 03:37 AM Views: 308 Replies: 1
TriCare for Life Info
Posted Wednesday, June 10, 2009 10:37 PM

Hello Lions! Walter Dobarzynski (Class of 75) sent the info below to the LionsPride and asked us to send it to our LION Military Retirees:
    

 To: All Military Retirees: 
 
     This is a "Heads Up" on a battle we are facing now and down the road 
     with the new 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 the 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 our President 
     promised during the campaign. An 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
www.cbo.gov/ 
     a. Budget, Options, Volume 1: Health Care ( 
    
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 
 
     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 healthcare 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 healthcare 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 ret irees 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 votes to 
     keep their boss 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. 

 
TriCare for Life Info - Joe Lieberman Letter
Posted Tuesday, June 16, 2009 11:28 PM

Here is a link to a Joe Lieberman letter on the Tricare Insurance.  It came after the post above.  Check it out.

www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php

 
Edited 06/16/09 11:30 PM