washington scene LEGISLATIVE NEWS THAT AFFECTS YOU
Fee-for-All
The FY 2013 budget proposes significantly increasing health care fees for military retirees, tripling pharmacy copayments, reducing force levels, reforming retirement, and capping future pay raises.
The White House released details of its personnel and health care budget proposals Feb. 13, and they confirmed pretty much what MOAA had predicted.
All told, the TRICARE fee proposals envision shifting nearly $35 billion in health care costs from the Pentagon to military retirees over the next 10 years.
The changes would phase in significant fee hikes for nearly every segment of the military population, including retirees of all ages.
TRICARE Prime annual enrollment fees for retired families (currently $520) would rise as high as $820 starting Oct. 1 and then to as much as $2,048 within five years, with fees based on military retired-pay amount.
Retired TRICARE Standard beneficiaries would start paying a $140 annual family enrollment fee and a slightly increased deductible ($320) starting Oct. 1, with the enrollment fee and deductible rising to $250 and $580, respectively, within five years. Retirees and family members age 65 and older would start paying an annual TRICARE For Life (TFL) enrollment fee of up to $135 a person starting Oct. 1, over and above their Medicare Part B premiums. This fee also would be graduated based on retired-pay amount and would rise to as much as $475 a year ($950 a couple) within five years.
Pharmacy copayments for retail and home-delivery brand-name medications would more than double (from $12 to $26) starting Oct 1. Copayments for nonformulary medications that currently cost $25 also would more than double, to $51, and availability would be mostly restricted to the home-delivery venue, with only limited retail access. The brand-name and non-formulary copayments would rise to $34 and $66, respectively, within five years.
See the chart on page 34 for proposed retired-pay eligibility thresholds and year-by-year fee changes.
Under the proposal, medical (Chapter 61) retirees and survivors of members who died on active duty would be exempt from these increases. These simple statements in the budget raise many more questions — only some of which have been answered at this point. (See “TRICARE Q&A,” page 38.)
Also as expected, the administration proposes a special commission to recommend military retirement changes for future entrants. Once submitted to Congress, the proposals would have to be given a “yes or no” vote, as is done with base-realignment-and-closure legislation, with little debate and no opportunity for amendments.
MOAA rejects the Pentagon’s knee-jerk reaction to pass the medical cost buck to beneficiaries rather than fulfill its own responsibilities.
Contact Congress • We’ll need maximum grassroots effort to successfully challenge these drastic proposals. Go to
www.moaa.org/contactcongress to send your legislators the latest MOAA-suggested message, and ask your friends and relatives to do the same.
*online: Sign up for MOAA’s weekly Legislative Update at
www.moaa.org/email.
APRIL 2012 MILITARY OFFICER 33
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