washingtonscene
case they also would incur the $600 fam- ily deductible (and high point-of-service charges if they don’t have a referral). Out- of-network use also will carry a 20-per- cent cost share of TRICARE allowable charges after the deductible is met. Active duty family copayments and cost sharing would apply to survivors whose sponsors died on active duty, TRICARE Young Adult beneficiaries with an active duty sponsor, and the Transitional Assis- tance Management Program.
What About T Retired Pay
% of Gross Retired Pay Ceiling Flag Officer Ceiling
2016 N/A
FY
$0 $0
FY 2017
TFL? TRICARE For Life (TFL) fees would be based on retired pay.
he budget proposes future TRICARE For Life (TFL)-eligibles — specifically, those who become
Medicare-eligible on or after Jan. 1, 2017 — would have to start paying an annual enrollment fee based on a percentage of the sponsor’s retired pay. Beneficiaries already enrolled in Medi-
care Jan. 1, 2017, would be exempted from the new fee, as would medical (Chapter 61) retirees and survivors of servicemembers who died on active duty. The annual enrollment fee would start at 0.5 percent of gross retired pay for
DoD-Proposed TFL Annual Family Enrollment Fee FY
0.5%
$150 $200
2018 1%
$300 $400
2019 1.5%
FY
$450 $600
2020 2%
FY
$600 $800
a married, Medicare-eligible couple in 2017, increasing to 2 percent of retired pay by 2021. In the first year, the fee would be capped at $200 per couple for retired flag and general officers and $150 for lower grades. As the fee increas- es to 2 percent of retired pay over the next four years, those caps also would increase, reaching $632 and $842 in 2021. Individual TFL-eligibles would pay half the indicated rate. (See the chart, below left.) MOAA is concerned about this plan and objects to means-testing service- earned health care benefits, which would impose successively greater financial penalties for longer and more success- ful service. No other civilian or federal employer means-tests retired employees’ health care benefits. It is particularly inappropriate to seek to impose additional fees on TFL-eligibles for three other reasons: First, this population already is
paying the highest fees of any military beneficiaries, as TFL requires enrolling in Medicare Part B and paying the asso- ciated premiums. Second, Congress’ expressed intent for enacting TFL was Medicare Part B premiums would be the only enrollment fee for TFL, with a career of service and sacrifice constituting a full, pre-paid pre- mium for TFL coverage of the remaining 20 percent. Third, DoD’s costs for TFL have
2021 2%
FY
$632 $842
The fees shown are for a married couple, both eligible for Medicare. Individuals would pay half the rate indicated.
36 MILITARY OFFICER APRIL 2016
dropped dramatically — from $11 billion in FY 2011 to an estimated $6.4 billion in FY 2017, as DoD actuaries now have 15 years of actual experience with the program and can project program costs more accurately. Rather than “spiraling out of control,” DoD health care costs for this group are spiraling downward. So why is there the need to charge them an additional fee?
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