I've heard it will double sometime soon?

Army Times
April 3, 2006
Pg. 45

DoD Can Raise Tricare Fees Without Congress' OK

But upfront cost for Standard requires law change

By Rick Maze, Times Staff Writer

While pledging to work with Congress on a proposal to increase Tricare fees for military retirees, the Pentagon's top health care official said congressional approval is not needed to achieve about $7 billion of the $11.2 billion in planned cost savings.

Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant defense secretary for health affairs, also said in a March 23 interview that the plan to raise enrollment fees, deductibles and co-payments for retirees under age 65 - “working-age retirees” - has no specific effective date.

The 2007 budget, however, is based on the assumption that fee increases will take effect Oct. 1, the start of the fiscal year.

Under the Pentagon plan, annual Tricare Prime enrollment fees, now $230 for individuals and $450 for families, would climb over two years based on a retiree's paygrade to a maximum of $1,400 for family coverage for a retired officer. Retail pharmacy co-payments, now $3 for generic and $9 for brand names, would jump to $5 for generic and $15 for brand names in fiscal 2007.

The Pentagon has full authority to put parts of its plan into effect whenever it chooses, including the higher enrollment fee for Prime and higher pharmacy co-pays for all Tricare users except active-duty members.

But whether the Pentagon would, in fact, pull the trigger on any increases without approval from Congress is unclear, and Winkenwerder would not say. Instead, he continued to promise to work with Congress to gain support for the Pentagon plan while holding open the possibility of acting without approval.

Another aspect of the plan - establishing an enrollment fee for Tricare Standard, which has no upfront charge now - would require a change in law and could not be done without congressional action, he said. Tricare Standard fee increases account for $4.2 billion of the $11.2 billion in estimated savings.

Under the Tricare Standard proposal, not only would a new enrollment fee be created, current annual deductibles would be increased, also using a rank-based rate plan. The maximum annual enrollment fee would be $560 for family coverage for a retired officer plus a $560 annual deductible, a $260 increase over the current deductible.

A House bill with 77 co-sponsors, H 4949, would prevent the Pentagon from raising health care fees unless specifically approved by Congress. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, chief sponsor of that bill, said March 22 that he has been promised there are no plans to impose increases without congressional input.

“I respect the administration saying they seriously want to take input from members of Congress and military retirees on this important issue,” he said.

But defense officials stressed that “input” is not the same thing as congressional approval. The Pentagon legislative affairs staff has been trying to discourage lawmakers from signing onto Edwards' bill, arguing that the proposed increases are not out of line considering improvements in military health care benefits

Shouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone. But the bad part is that if they raise the annual fees, the service stays the same or drops....

Sure if fun though when the subject of how much one pays per year, you should see the jaw drop when I tell them 450 per year for the entire family.....

House panel nixes VA enrollment fee plan

By
<mailto:rmaze@atpco.com?subject=Question%20from%20MarineCorpsTimes.com%20rea
der> Rick Maze
Army Times staff writer

The House Budget Committee killed the Bush administration's plans for
charging some veterans an enrollment fee for health care and raising their
prescription drug prices, but it left alive a proposal to increase health
care fees for some military retirees under age 65.

On a 22-15 party-line vote, the committee rejected an amendment by Rep. Chet
Edwards, D-Texas, which would have blocked Pentagon plans to double and
triple Tricare premiums for working-age military retirees.

Just minutes earlier, the committee approved by voice vote an amendment,
sponsored by Rep. Jeb Bradley, R-N.H., that would prevent the Department of
Veterans Affairs from charging an enrollment fee for veterans seeking
treatment who have modest incomes and no service-connected disabilities, and
a proposed increase in prescription drug co-payments.

To do this, Bradley's amendment shifted $795 million in 2007 and $3.97
billion over the next five years to the veterans' health care budget from
the foreign aid budget.

"We owe it to those who have served our country to ensure that they have
quality health care and benefits," Bradley said. "With an aging veteran
population and a growing number of servicemen and women returning from
military service, it is vital that funding for veterans' health care is
sufficient in order to meet increased demand for services."

But Edwards said the committee had nothing to crow about regarding the
Tricare fees.

"Minutes after this committee acted in a bipartisan fashion and voted down
increased enrollment fees and prescription drug co-pays for veterans, my
Republican colleagues acted in partisan fashion rejecting my Tricare
amendment, effectively endorsing a $1000 annual tax on military retirees'
health care," he said.

"I believe that keeping our promise of quality, affordable health care for
military retirees is the right thing to do and the smart thing to do,"
Edwards said. "It is right because our nation has a moral obligation to keep
our promises to those who have kept their promise to defend our nation."

The two votes came on the $2.8 trillion congressional budget resolution that
sets broad spending and revenue targets for 2007. The House is expected to
take up the measure next week, when Edwards - who has more than 140
cosponsors for a bill blocking the Tricare fee increases - will again try to
get money added to the defense budget to preclude any increase in Tricare
fees for retirees.

The Senate passed its version of the budget two weeks ago and had a similar
debate and outcome. Money was added to the VA budget to make fee increases
for veterans unnecessary, but senators defeated an amendment, sponsored by
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to eliminate the Tricare fee increases for
retirees.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, said she hopes
for a different outcome. After a meeting Wednesday with military and
veterans' groups, Pelosi said she heard "loud and clear" that blocking the
Tricare increases "is their number one priority."

"It is unconscionable to impose a fee increase on the men and women in
uniform who bravely sacrificed for our country, especially during a time of
war," she said. "We must demonstrate our commitment to our troops and future
veterans by assuring them that just as they protected us, we will take care
of them when their service ends."





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My employer pays these fees as part of my benefits package...sure do hope they authorize an increase in the allowed premiums....