Unless you have been hiding under a rock somewhere, you have heard that the deficit hawks are focused on TRICARE premiums and overhauling the military retirement system for current servicemembers and future military retirees as a means of cutting cost.
This week NPR interviewed Todd Harrison, Senior Fellow for Defense Budget Studies, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (an independent, non-partisan policy research institute). Mr. Harrison told NPR that the current TRICARE system for retirees under age 65 is “incentivizing more of these retirees to stay in the military health care system rather than take health care from their private sector insurers that they can get through their employers.” Harrison, also quoted Gates’ favorite phrase that TRICARE is “eating the Defense Department alive.”
[Isn’t the TRICARE option one of the biggest incentives to stay in for 20 or more years? Are retirees at fault for choosing to use the benefits they have EARNED?]
Contact your elected officials to let them know how you feel about this issue.
