washingtonscene
best-case scenario, when a volatile real world never follows that scenario. While all military compensation pro-
grams are going to come under very close budget scrutiny, MOAA will focus on re- minding Congress of the lessons learned from past ill-considered cutbacks.
MOAA Defends Military
A
“discourage overuse” of health care bene- fits. He asserted there’s no evidence to show that retiree health care fees have any impact on recruiting and retention. Ryan took strong issue with such state-
Beneficiaries MOAA president participates in a think-tank panel.
t a health care discussion panel sponsored by the Center for American Progress, a think tank in
Washington, D.C., MOAA President Vice Adm. Norb Ryan Jr., USN-Ret., challenged the perspective of other panelists that military beneficiaries should be socked with large TRICARE fees and have their benefits means-tested. The other panelists included former Deputy Secretary of Defense Rudy deLeon as moderator, former Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Dr. David Chu, and former Assistant Sec- retary of Defense (Manpower, Reserve Affairs, Installations and Logistics) Dr. Lawrence Korb. Chu asserted health care “isn’t why
young people join the military” and said military health care benefits should be means-tested, with more senior retirees paying more. He also said there should be penalties for beneficiaries who don’t use programs that are the lowest cost for DoD. Korb urged raising TRICARE fees to at
least $1,000 a year, means-testing retired beneficiaries who have access to civilian health coverage, and implementing fees and coverage caps for TRICARE For Life to
36 MILITARY OFFICER JULY 2011
MOAA President Vice Adm. Norb Ryan Jr., USN-Ret., discusses mili- tary health care at a Center for American Progress event in May.
PHOTO: BRANDON ROSS
ments. While MOAA hasn’t taken the po- sition that retiree fees should never rise, he insisted proposals for large fee hikes fail to adequately recognize that career military people prepay huge premiums for their health care in retirement through decades of service and sacrifice. Congress understands that better than DoD leaders, Ryan said, and that’s why Congress repeatedly has rejected past Pen- tagon proposals to double and triple TRI- CARE fees. Hill leaders believe, as MOAA does, retirement and health care benefits are a key career incentive for enduring the adverse conditions of a service career. Ryan rejected means-testing health fees as inap- propriate for the military, because it’s not done for federal civilian health care and is very rare in the private sector. Rather than focusing on jacking up ben- eficiary charges, Ryan said, Pentagon lead- ers should focus on delivering care more efficiently, including greater incentives to
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