Military Coalition dead set against higher Tricare fees

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http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=44309

Military Coalition dead set against higher Tricare fees


By Tom Philpott, Special to Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, March 15, 2007

Members of the Task Force on the Future of Military Healthcare learned last week why The Military Coalition may be the most formidable lobbying force ever to fight on behalf of servicemembers, retirees and families.

Representing more than 30 service associations, TMC leaders appeared before the congressionally created task force like a steel wall of opposition to plans to raise Tricare fees, co-payments or deductibles.

Tricare rates haven’t been adjusted since they were set in 1995. But rather than concede a single point to panel economists that an increase is past due, coalition representatives attacked on multiple fronts.

Their new theme for deflecting higher fees, expressed often during the March 7 meeting and in a glossy brochure from the Military Officers Association of America, is that retiree premiums have been “paid in full” by retirees “through decades of arduous service and sacrifice.”

Five coalition witnesses presented now-familiar arguments for rejecting higher fees, including that Department of Defense officials have failed to act on a host of alternative cost-saving moves. Also, it’s not right to raise fees in wartime and the treatment of outpatients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center is fresh evidence of the strain on members and families. But the coalition also had new arguments.

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