According to a report on the FY2013 Defense Appropriations Act provided by the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, the Pentagon reprogrammed $1.36 billion dollars from TRICARE in fiscal year 2011, $772 million in fiscal year 2010, and requested an additional $708 million to reprogram from this year's budget.
This reprogramming has been happening at a time that the VFW has worked tirelessly to prevent the Pentagon from arbitrarily raising TRICARE copayments, adding and expanding fees, and tying increases to medical inflation; while retiree health costs are rising at an average rate of 2.6 percent.
"The VFW is adamant that the Pentagon must not be allowed to pull this bait-and-switch on Congress and TRICARE beneficiaries," said VFW Executive Director Bob Wallace. "Instead, the Pentagon must improve its budget and management controls so Congress can have an accurate view of the fiscal situation within TRICARE and the entire Military Health System before shifting responsibility to those who choose to wear the uniform to pay for their own health care."
Your VFW has been one of the few veterans' organizations in Washington fighting to prevent any increases in military health care premiums, encouraging Washington bureaucrats to do the hard work of generating a more cost-effective military, without jeopardizing the welfare of military families and breaking faith with military retirees.
VFW advocacy efforts earlier this year successfully fought off TRICARE fee increases, and in light of this recent report, the VFW intends only to ratchet up the pressure.
To make your voice heard on TRICARE fees, click here, and check back regularly with this blog for updates.
To read the full Senate report, click here. Details on health care reprogramming can be found on p. 228.
Let's tie some items together. The DOD siphons funds from Tricare while complaining how health is killing their budget. The VA is criminally behind on claim processing in what can only be described as the largest case of incompetence and poor leadership ever. A recent poll lists government corruption as the leading concern among voters. You really have to ask, who's getting rich in all of this? Who's being protected?
ReplyDeleteRetiree.
DeleteWho is being protected, who is getting rich? Those who kids are not volunteering for service in the military and the faster health care for activeduty personnel and retirees is depleted the more it will cost them individualy. No more middle class. Republicans say they are for the military but block everything except for the rich. That is who you are fighting for. Not President Obama's fault - try the republican and tea party for destroying America but saving their wealth overseas first. How many of their kids are serving in the military?
Not that your rant makes any sense, but who's in the White House? Obama's sound-bites on taxing the rich - doesn't amount to anything, it's a drop in the bucket. Excessive spending and taxing is what's killing the middle-class. Wait till 2014 when everyone's medicare tax sky-rockets! As far as corporations going overseas - leading causes: over-regulation, over-taxation, over-protected unions ... sounds like Democrats mode of operation to me.
DeleteThese lies are part of Obama's belief that military retirees do not deserve their entitlements they earned from spending their best years and prime years defending this nation. I am at a total shock that people have not woke up and smelled the coffee, this guy was not raised in america and does not value the hardships our military and retirees have incured.
ReplyDeleteGovernment is now the enemy of the people and needs to be tossed along with those within from the impostor president on down, so we can return to our Constitution. Look forward to Revolution II for Real Change.
ReplyDeleteLook, number 1, the Pentagon has never had a real audit.
ReplyDeleteNumber 2, then Secretary Rumsfeld admitted that he "lost"
two trillion dollars. ( Source: whereisthemoney.org )
We are being " had" by our own government becuase they think we are too stupid to know what is going on.