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Defense Bill Would Allow Pentagon to Increase TRICARE
Prime Fees by $2.50 and $5 per Month for Individuals and
Families Respectively
Legislation Blocks Future Department of Defense Efforts
to Increase Rates beyond Cost-of-Living Adjustments
Washington, D.C. (permalink)---The
version of
the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year
2012, which was
introduced
by Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. "Buck"
McKeon (R-Calif.) yesterday, would allow the Department
of Defense to increase TRICARE fees for working age
retirees by “$2.50 a month for individuals and $5 a
month for families.” The legislation would cap the
Department of Defense’s ability to increase fees in the
future though.
An article in the Army Times on
May 6th
outlined McKeon’s proposal to “set into law a strict
formula” that would cap any Department of Defense
attempts to increase TRICARE fees
“each October by the
amount that retired pay increased the previous
December.”
The story continued, “That means the Oct. 1, 2012,
TRICARE fee increase would equal the cost-of-living
adjustment made on Dec. 1, 2011, in military retired
pay. If there is no adjustment, as there has not been
for the last two years, there would be no TRICARE fee
increase.”
Further, the Army Times article points out that
the proposal “does exactly what many associations had
requested by allowing the modest increases—$2.50 a month
for individuals and $5 a month for families—in fiscal
2012, marking the first fee hikes in 16 years, and then
preventing retirees from being hit with massive annual
increases in the future by making sure the percentage
increase is linked to the retirement [cost-of-living
adjustment].”
Chairman McKeon’s legislation would also make it clear
that:
·
“Career members of the uniformed services and their
families endure unique and extraordinary demands and
make extraordinary sacrifices over the course of a 20-
to 30-year career in protecting freedom for all
Americans; and
·
“Those decades of sacrifice constitute a significant
prepaid premium for health care during a career member’s
retirement that is over and above what the member pays
with money.”
For more information about the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, please visit the
“NDAA
Home” at
ArmedServices.House.gov.
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