Task Force on Elderly Health Discuss Options
Tricare has become the Military Provider for Active Service and Retired Service Members.
But many people are concerned about the cost of Tricare Services for Elderly, Veteran and Retired Service Members.
The Task Force that is looking into this issue will issue their final report soon. Called “The Task Force on the Future of Military Health, it will look at and recommend a “modest†cost increase, or fee, for just under two million Service Members who are elderly.
This new report is expected to call for higher co-payments, deductibles and various fees also for about three million younger retirees who use their Tricare Medical Benefits.
The Task force has recommended to Congress last May in their interim Report that it should be considered to go back to relative cost sharing for retirees under age 65. The cost sharing was phased out when Tricare came into being in the 1990s.
Many retirees in their 40s, 50s and early 60s object to this finding. They believe that the funding structure that was begun with Tricare should stay, without increasing fees and co-payments. They see the increase as a direct reduction in their benefits, and feel it is unfair.
But with the staggering cost of the war effort in Iraq, and Afghanistan, Congress and Federal Officials are under increasing pressure to try to find ways to trim costs and reduce how much is being spent.
The effort to add fees and co-payments is seen by some as a relatively pain free way of doing this.
