DOD Moved $3 Billion From Tricare To Weapons Over Last Three Years - Washington Post

[WooWooWoo]

The Washington Post reportedthis week that the Department of Defense has requested nearly $3 billion over the last three years be moved from funds dedicated to TRICARE into weapons programs and other accounts unrelated to healthcare, despite assurances from Pentagon officials that healthcare costs were "eating the U.S. military alive."

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.

http://www.vfw.org/News-and-Events/Articles/2012-Articles/Report-Shows-Pentagon-Fudged-TRICARE-Numbers/

[itsrobert]

1. Is this why they are raising Tricare Cost for Retirees?

n/t

[jb111o]

2. Money Saved by Denying Care

Part of the money they reprogrammed came from savings the Tricare Management Activity (TMA) made by systematically denying care to beneficiaries that are forced to use Philippine SubStandard. Using TMA's own data they reported that they spent $600 per beneficiary in 2010. At the same time they reported in their MHS 2012 Stakeholders Report, which is available to anyone on the internet. The report lists pharmacy costs per beneficiary for FY 2010, the last year complete data was available at the time of the report, on page 32. This date says that TMA spends $850 per beneficiary under 65 and $2,100 per beneficiary 65 and over. Based on DoD actuary data the mix of under and over 65 beneficiaries in the Philippines, and using TMA's reported costs, would create a per beneficiary pharmacy cost of $1,304. TMA has also acknowledged that the cost of pharmaceuticals in the Philippines cost the same as in the U.S. So when you compare TMA's reported cost per beneficiary of $600 to the expected cost per beneficiary for pharmacy along of $1,304 it becomes very apparent that the policies they implemented only in the Philippines have drastically reduced access to care as what they paid only covers 46% of the cost of pharmaceuticals not to mention no coverage for visits, hospitalizations, lab or x-ray. Bottom line beneficiaries pay for most of their own care or do without so TMA can save money that they can donate to DoD so they can buy more weapons.

We would think that TMA and DoD would at least thank the Tricare beneficiaries and military retirees who sacrificed their health and money to support these purchases!

[Scuba]

3. MIC profits come before veteran's lives. Chew 'em up and spit 'em out.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. You'd think people would have caught on by now.

I'm sure the higher echelons in the military are well taken care of re: pensions, pay and healthcare.
The lower ranks, tho....

[pinboy3niner]

6. The higher echelons are on the same pay and benefits schedule as the troops

But somehow I don't believe a Major General walking into a military hospital gets the same treatment as "the troops."

At the VA, rank is not indicated unless one goes deeper into the records. At the VA, all are equal--with equal rights to be fucked over.

Which is not at all a criticsm of the VA health care system, which consistently ranks as good or better than the civlian health care system in the U.S.

The VA's problems lie mostly with the administrative bureaucracy outside the healthcare system, where vets are nickel-and-dimed to get their ratings.

To me, the worst example is the %#*%# L. A. Regional Office, which had the Treasury Department dock my combat disability pay. That %#*%# office was kind enough to send me a letter to tell me that I never applied for a VA disability--even though I'd had a VA combat disability rating for more than 40 years. And their letter that said I'd never made a claim had my 40+year-old claim number typed in at the top.

That kind of incompetence is hard to justify or explain, yet the L.A. office somehow manages to sail through the VA's IG inspections.

I really don't give a shit about my case--which I think I can easily resolve--but I am concerned about our Iraq and Afghan War vets having to go through that same crap. Those men and women deserve better--and I fear for any of them who may have to deal with the %#*%# L. A. Regional Office of the VA.

[indepat]

5. Always take care of the munitions' makers and f*ck the people. Oh

such right-wingish solution to everything.