BE ADVISED...Retired Military Health Care Cuts???

Vets Eyed For Health Cost Cuts
Tom Philpott | December 31, 2008
CBO Eyes Military Retirees, Vets for Health Cost Cuts

A new report from the Congressional Budget Office shows why some military retirees and veterans could face higher out-of-pocket costs if the Obama administration and Congress take bold moves to reform the U.S. health system and to make federal health programs more efficient.

Among 115 "options" presented, though not endorsed, in the CBO report, several focus on raising TRICARE out-of-pocket costs for retirees and one for families. Others would tighten access to VA hospitals and clinics, or raise VA health fees, for veterans with no service-connected conditions.

Working-age military retirees will find here some of those familiar cost-saving ideas endorsed by the Bush administration to raise TRICARE fees, co-payments and deductibles for retirees under age 62 and their spouses.

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But other options are new and, if enacted into law, would raise health costs for Medicare-eligible military retirees and for active duty families. One option suggests having the VA health system disenroll millions of current users who have no service-related injuries or ailments.

Every two years CBO presents daring options for Congress and the executive branch to weigh in trying to control federal spending. The new report, "Budget Options, Volume 1: Health Care," is unusual in that it focuses entirely health care, an Obama policy priority, and its arrival is unscheduled.

It's also significant that the CBO director who led this work was Peter R. Orszag, President-elect Obama's nominee to be his director of the Office of Management and Budget. OMB is responsible for assembling the president's annual budget request to Congress. How bold will his economic team be?

"We are going to go through our federal budget, as I promised during the campaign, page by page, line by line, eliminating those programs we don't need and insisting that those that we do need operate in a sensible, cost-effective way," Obama said in November as he announced Orszag's nomination to join his cabinet .

"We're also going to focus on one of the biggest, long-run challenges that our budget faces, namely the rising cost of health care in both the public and private sectors," Obama continued. "This is not just a challenge but also an opportunity to improve the health care that Americans rely on, and to bring down the costs that taxpayers, businesses and families have to pay. That is what [OMB] will do in my administration."

Obama added, "Peter doesn't need a map to tell him where the bodies are buried in the federal budget. He knows what works and what doesn't, what's worth our precious tax dollars and what is not."

Indeed, in the CBO report's preface, Orszag gets "special thanks" for having "conceived" the report and being "instrumental in its development."

Many of its options deal with adjustments to Medicare, Medicaid, private health insurance rules and the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan for federal civilians. Most ideas are aimed at cutting costs but some would enhance benefits. The 226-page report can be read online.

Here are some options that would touch military people and veterans:

TRICARE for Working-Age Retirees – Fees, co-payments and deductibles would be raised for retirees under 62 to restore the relative costs paid when TRICARE began in 1995. TRICARE Prime enrollment would be raised to $550 a year for individuals from $230. Retiree families would pay $1100 versus $460 today. Co-pays for doctor visits would climb to $28 from $12 and users of TRICARE Standard and TRICARE Extra would pay an annual deductible of $350 for an individual and $700 for families. Congress has declined to support such increases for the past three years.

Fees for Active Duty Families – Dependents of active duty members enrolled in TRICARE Prime, the managed care network, would pay new fees equal to 10 percent of the cost of health services obtained either in military treatment facilities or through civilian network providers. Total out of pocket costs would be capped, however.

To help offset these costs, dependents would receive a $500 non-taxable allowance annually. Those who elect to use alternative health insurance, rather than TRICARE, could apply the $500 toward their health insurance premiums, co-payments or deductibles.

CBO estimates these fees would save $7 billion over 10 years and encourage Prime enrollees to "use medical services prudently." It also would entice more spouses to enroll in employer-provided health plans instead of TRICARE. The downside, CBO said, would be financial difficulties for some Prime enrollees despite the cap on out-of-pocket costs. Also, CBO said, spouses induced to rely on employer health plans could see health coverage interrupted during military assignment relocations.

TRICARE-For-Life Fees – The military's health insurance supplement to Medicare could see higher user costs. Under this option, beneficiaries would pay the first $525 of yearly medical costs plus one half of the next $4725 of costs charged to Medicare. So the extra out-of-pocket cost for TFL users would be up to $2887.50 a year. This amount would be indexed to rise with Medicare costs. The change would save $40 billion over 10 years. But CBO said it also could discourage some patients from seeking preventive care or proper management of chronic conditions. So it could negatively affect some patients' health.

Tighten VA Enrollment – The VA healthcare system would be directed to disenroll 2.3 million Priority Groups 7 and 8 -- individuals who are not poor and have no service-related medical needs. Estimated savings would be $53 billion over 10 years but Medicare spending would rise by $26 billion in the same period as elderly among these vets shifted to Medicare.

CBO said 90 percent of these vets have other health care coverage. But this change could leave up to 10 percent unable to find affordable care.

To comment, e-mail milupdate@aol.com, write to Military Update, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA, 20120-1111 or visit: militaryupdate.com.

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Copyright 2009 Tom Philpott. All opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of Military.com.

FLYING WEST

from a book titled Tall Tail Tales and credited to Captain Michael Larkin, TWA





I hope there’s a place way up in the sky

Where pilot’s can go when they have to die

A place where a guy could buy a cold beer

For a friend and a comrade whose memory is dear

A place where no doctor or lawyer could tread

Nor a management type would e’re be caught dead

Just a quaint little place; kind of dark, full of smoke

Where they like to sing loud and have a good joke

The kind of a place where a lady could go

And feel safe and protected by men she would know

There must be a place where old pilots go

When their wings get too weary and their airspeed gets low

Where the whiskey is old and the women are young

And the songs about flying and dying are sung

Where you’d see all the fellows who’d flown west before

And they’d call out your name as you came through the door

Who would buy you a drink if your thirst should be bad

And relate to each other “he was quite a good lad”

And then through the mist, you’d spot an old guy

You had not seen in years though he’d taught you to fly

He’d nod his old head with a grin ear to ear

And say “Welcome my son, I’m pleased that you’re here!”

For this is a place where true flyers come

When the battles are over, and the wars have been won

They’ve come here at last to be safe and afar

From the government clerk and the management czar

Politicians and lawyers, the Feds and the noise

Where the hours are happy and these good old boys

Can relax with a cool one, and well deserved rest

This is heaven my son, you’ve passed your last test.

...there's a fellowship...

When a Veteran leaves the 'job' and retires to a better life, many are
jealous, some are pleased, and others, who may have already retired,
wonder if he knows what he is leaving behind, because we already know.

1. We know, for example, that after a lifetime of camaraderie that few
experience, it will remain as a longing for those past times.

2. We know in the Military life there is a fellowship which lasts long
after the uniforms are hung up in the back of the closet.

3. We know even if he throws them away, they will be on him with every
step and breath that remains in his life. We also know how the very
bearing of the man speaks of what he was and in his heart still is.

These are the burdens of the job. You will still look at people
suspi
ciously, still see what others do not see or choose to ignore and
always will look at the rest of the Military world with a respect for
what they do; only grown in a lifetime of knowing.

Never think for one moment you are escaping from that life. You are
only escaping the 'job' and merely being allowed to leave 'active' duty.

So what I wish for you is that whenever you ease into retirement, in
your heart you never forget for one moment that you are still a member
of the greatest fraternity the world has ever known.


A veteran - whether active duty, retired, or reserve- is someone who,
at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The
Government of the United States of America' for an amount of 'up to
and including my life'. . . and military wives are as much veterans as
their spouses.



From one Veteran to another, it's an honor to be in your company.

Military Ingenuity

Starting in 1941, an increasing number of British airmen found themselves as the involuntary guests of the Third Reich, and the authorities were casting-about for ways and means to facilitate their escape. Now obviously, one of the most helpful aids to that end is a useful and accurate map, one showing not only where-stuff-was, but also showing the locations of 'safe houses', where a POW on-the-loose could go for food and shelter. Paper maps had some real drawbacks: They make a lot of noise when you o! pen and fold them, they wear-out rapidly and if they get wet, they turn into mush.


Someone in MI-5 got the idea of printing escape maps on silk. It's durable, can be scrunched-up into tiny wads, and unfolded as many times as needed, and makes no noise what-so-ever. At that time, there was only one manufacturer in Great Britain that had perfected the technology of printing on silk, and that was John Waddington, Ltd.



When approached by the government, the firm was only too happy to do its bit for the war effort. By pure coincidence, Waddington was also the U.K. Licensee for the popular American board game, Monopoly. As it happened, 'games and pastimes' was a category item qualified for insertion into 'CARE packages', dis-patched by the International Red Cross, to prisoners of war.



Under the strictest of secrecy, in a securely guarded and inaccessible old workshop on the grounds of Waddington's, a group of sworn-to-secrecy employees began mass-producing escape maps, keyed to each region of Germany or Italy where Allied POW camps were located (Red Cross packages were delivered to prisoners in accordance with that same regional system). When processed, these maps could be folded into such tiny dots that they would actually fit inside a Monopoly playing piece.



As long as they were! at it, the clever workmen at Waddington's also managed to add:
1. A playing token, containing a small magnetic compass,
2. A two-part metal file that could easily be screwed together.
3. Useful amounts of genuine high-denomination German, Italian, and French

currency, hidden within the piles of Monopoly money!



British and American air-crews were advised, before taking off on their first mission, how to identify a 'rigged' Monopoly set by means of a tiny red dot, one cleverly rigged to look like an ordinary printing glitch, located in the corner of the Free Parking square! Of the estimated 35,000 Allied POWS who successfully escaped, an estimated one-third were aided in their flight by the rigged Monopoly sets. Everyone who did so was sworn to secrecy Indefinitely, since the British Government might want to use this highly successful use in still another, future war.



The story wasn't de-classified until 2007, when the surviving craftsmen from Waddington's, as well as the firm itself, were finally honoured in a public ceremony. Anyway, it's always nice when you can play that 'Get Out of Jail Free' card.



Keep Smiling

Happy Birthday Marine Corps

Veteran's Day 2008

2009 Meeting and Duty Schedule

555th HONORS SCHEDULE 2009...


Dinner Meeting..................DUTY WEEK

29 JAN 09...........................02-06 FEB 09
19 MAR 09...........................23-27MAR 09
07 MAY 09..........................11-15 MAY 09
25 JUN 09............................29 JUN-3 JUL 09
13 AUG 09............................17-21 AUG 09
01 OCT 09...........................05-09 OCT 009
19 NOV 09............................23-27 NOV 09