Obama to soldiers: Pay up!

There is a program for the military called Tricare. This program is designed to handle the medical needs of active duty military personnel, military retirees and their immediate families. It’s part of the agreement we make to our military. You protect us and we will take care of you.

Now I don’t know a lot about this program. I didn’t serve in the military and I’m not covered by it. You can look up the details on Wikipedia ((What is Tricare)), or on the Tricare web site ((Welcome to Tricare)) As I understand it, there is a small fee or copay for those who are eligible, and this doesn’t cover combat related or line of duty related injuries. Those are covered under the VA system. (I may be wrong with this, but I have no doubt I will be corrected by those with first hand knowledge)

In the recent Defense Authorization Bill passed by the House of Representatives in May, a demand by the SCoaMF to jack up the copay and fee rates for the troops was shot down. Der Fubar was NOT happy with this and sent out this statement with regards to TRICARE:

TRICARE Fees and Co-Payments. The Administration is disappointed that the Congress did not incorporate the requested TRICARE fee initiatives into either the appropriation or authorization legislation. The Administration asks the House to reconsider the TRICARE fee proposals, which are essential for DOD to successfully address rising personnel costs. The $1.8 billion in savings are part of a carefully balanced FY 2013 Budget request.

Now the “Fee initiatives” King Barry is speaking about are fee increases. Big ones I’ve heard. Here are some of the details from the Free Beacon:

The Obama administration’s proposed defense budget calls for military families and retirees to pay sharply more for their healthcare, while leaving unionized civilian defense workers’ benefits untouched. The proposal is causing a major rift within the Pentagon, according to U.S. officials. Several congressional aides suggested the move is designed to increase the enrollment in Obamacare’s state-run insurance exchanges.

The disparity in treatment between civilian and uniformed personnel is causing a backlash within the military that could undermine recruitment and retention.

Backlash is putting it mildly. I have corresponded with former and current members of the military and they are ripping mad over this. They put their lives on the line for this country and we promised we would see to their medical needs afterwords. The rumblings from the active duty people? I won’t go into what I’ve heard, but Panetta and Der Fubar should be paying attention. They aren’t of course.

Congress agrees with the soldiers and refused to raise the fee costs on them.

“We shouldn’t ask our military to pay our bills when we aren’t willing to impose a similar hardship on the rest of the population,” Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and a Republican from California, said in a statement to the Washington Free Beacon. “We can’t keep asking those who have given so much to give that much more.”

So why is Der Fubar and his minions trying to do this? Easy. He’s trying to push the military into Obamacare.

Administration officials told Congress that one goal of the increased fees is to force military retirees to reduce their involvement in Tricare and eventually opt out of the program in favor of alternatives established by the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

“When they talked to us, they did mention the option of healthcare exchanges under Obamacare. So it’s in their mind,” said a congressional aide involved in the issue.

Gee what a surprise. Obama hates the military so screwing them over fits in perfectly with his plans. How badly will they be screwed over? Well here are the numbers from the Free Beacon article:

Under the new plan, the Pentagon would get the bulk of its savings by targeting under-65 and Medicare-eligible military retirees through a tiered increase in annual Tricare premiums that will be based on yearly retirement pay.

Significantly, the plan calls for increases between 30 percent to 78 percent in Tricare annual premiums for the first year. After that, the plan will impose five-year increases ranging from 94 percent to 345 percent—more than 3 times current levels.

According to congressional assessments, a retired Army colonel with a family currently paying $460 a year for health care will pay $2,048.

The new plan hits active duty personnel by increasing co-payments for pharmaceuticals and eliminating incentives for using generic drugs.

People in the military don’t get rich. They are way underpaid as it is for the job they do. Pulling this amount out of their pay is really going to hurt them.

“Would you stay with a car insurance company that raised your premiums by 345 percent in five years? Probably not,” said the congressional aide. “Would anybody accept their taxes being raised 345 percent in five years? Probably not.”

It’s all part of Obama’s Baldrick ((Blackadder’s Baldrick)) like cunning plant to gut the military.

“We all recognize that we are in a time of austerity,” this aide said. “But defense has made up to this point 50 percent of deficit reduction cuts that we agreed to, but is only 20 percent of the budget.”

The administration is asking troops to get by without the equipment and force levels needed for global missions. “And now they are going to them again and asking them to pay more for their health care when you’ve held the civilian workforce at DoD and across the federal government virtually harmless in all of these cuts. And it just doesn’t seem fair,” the second aide said.

It isn’t fair, it isn’t right and it also violates the one principle every leader back to ancient Rome knew. “Always make sure you pay the Legions first.”

There was a reason for this. It was, basically, Don’t piss off the guys with all the guns. Der Fubar is pissing off the military big time and is to stupid to understand what the worst case scenario may be. It seems that Mr. Constitutional Scholar has forgotten that the military swears their oath NOT to him, but to the Constitution. There is also this little bit about “All enemies, Foreign and DOMESTIC. I’ve heard rumors of some serious grumblings and people asking when the “Domestic” part of “Enemies foreign and domestic kicks in. Soldiers griping is a God given right they exercise with gusto. When they start grumbling, that is an indication of a morale problem that needs to be addressed asap.

The ScoaMF is addressing it. He’s working to make it worse.

Remember in November!

Thatisall

~The Angry Webmaster~

(1 votes, average: 1.00 out of 5)

Loading...