washingtonscene For FY 2013, the proposed copayment
Quote of the Month “A cut of this magni- tude would leave many, if not most, Medicare patients without access to physicians.” — Rep. Phil Roe (R-
Tenn.) on why Congress must act to stop the
nearly 30-percent cut to Medicare/TRICARE
payments to physicians.
would be 15 percent of the drug cost, and that would rise to 30 percent in a few years. MOAA did some additional research to see what the percentage-of-cost methodol- ogy would mean for some specific medica- tions — and found some disturbing things. Among the most expensive medications
are those for treatment of cancer, hemo- philia, and multiple sclerosis. Astonish- ingly, a 15-percent copayment for those medications would amount to about $2,000, $5,000, and $6,600, respectively. Do your own math for a 30-percent copayment. As a practical matter, all of these would quickly bounce against the annual cata- strophic expense cap of $3,000 a year, which many patients with these diseases already bump into. But changing the co- payment structure in this way would hit many of them with a $3,000 bill up front rather than stretching it out over months or a year. And if the catastrophic cap were raised, as some have proposed, that bill could soar much higher. Another concern is a 15-percent or
30-percent-of-cost copayment would dra- matically raise the cost of medications for conditions like asthma, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes. At the 15-percent level, copayments for those medications would range from $17 to $36 — double that amount for a 30-percent copayment. Such changes fly in the face of preven-
tive medicine initiatives touted by DoD and Congress — initiatives that depend on the use of medications to prevent chronic conditions from developing into cata- strophic and costly hospital care. Studies show even modest copayments deter some patients from taking needed medications, so MOAA has urged elimina- tion of copayments for these medications. By using the TRICARE pharmacy pro- gram as a cash cow to generate savings,
32 MILITARY OFFICER DECEMBER 2011
the OMB would undermine preventive health care policy and put many more military beneficiaries’ lives at risk. That’s nuts.
Final COLA I
Announced Most will receive 3.6 percent.
t’s official. The 2012 COLA for military retired pay, Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuities, Social Security
checks, and VA disability and survivor benefits will be 3.6 percent, effective Dec. 1. It first will appear in the January checks, which will be paid Dec. 30. But two categories of military retirees
won’t receive a 3.6-percent COLA: 2011 Retirees. Servicemembers who
retired during calendar year 2011 will re- ceive a somewhat smaller, partial COLA for this year only, because they already re- ceived a January military pay raise (which also raised their 2011 retired pay). Members who retired between Jan. 1, 2011, and Sept. 30, 2011, will receive a par- tial COLA based on the calendar quarter in which they retired. January-through-March retirees will receive 3.6 percent; April- through-June retirees will receive 2.4 per- cent; and July-through-September retirees will receive 0.4 percent. Those who retired after Oct. 1, 2011, will see no COLA this year. Servicemembers who retired during 2011 will receive full-year COLAs in future years. REDUX Retirees. Servicemembers who
entered service on or after Aug. 1, 1986, and elected to accept a $30,000 career re- tention bonus at 15 years of service agreed to accept reduced retired pay and COLAs as a trade-off for the bonus. REDUX retir- ees’ COLAs are depressed 1 percent below the normal COLA rate, so they’ll see a 2.6-percent COLA.
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