A new bill that is passing through the Congress has been proposed that would freeze Tricare fees for military retirees. The Defense Department has been trying to raise some of the different copayments and enrollment fees to try and balance health care costs. But Congress feels strongly that the costs should not be passed on to the Servicemembers, so they are working to make sure that the Federal Government picks up the bill for the cost of any additional Tricare payments.
Tricare is the program that pays for full medical and Dental benefits for those that are in the military, and for their dependants. The bill is sponsored by Chet Edwards, D-Texas and he is one of the close allies of the President. At one point Representative Edwards was seriously considered as a possible vice presidential running mate.
Edwards is the chairman of the subcommittee of the House Appropriations committee that deals with quality of life programs for the military and Veterans. So when Edwards puts his might behind a bill that is pro military support it is not likely to be overturned very easily.
There is a broad bases support right now for benefits and support for many of the different programs that help our citizen soldiers. Real life programs are being expanded that allow for support for different members of the Military in education, post military training, and to help with the transition to college, training or jobs after their military service is done.
Part 1: I separated from the Air Force in 2007 after alsomt 9 years of service and 3 post 9-11 deployments to Afghanistan, Kuwait, Saudi, Turkmenistan etc. Even though I will never see a dime of military healthcare or retirement benefits, I will not support fleecing our brave airmen, soldiers, sailors & marines who served 20+ years to bailout the federal government. If you want to reform the Military Health Care System for the new recruits coming in, so be it. Tell them up front before signing up and good luck recruiting . For everyone else currently serving & retired- FULFILL THE PROMISE. Barely ½ of 1% of our citizens have the courage to stand up and protect our country. Providing basic retirement with healthcare benefits for our service members is the LEAST we can do. There are plenty of other areas in DOD where money can be saved. From reducing the Pentagon bureaucracy, to closing depots, to throwing out the DOD Acquisition Process and starting over- tens of billions can be saved each year. Can t tell you how many weapons programs I ve worked over the years that were literally paralyzed due to the bureaucratic indecision with untold millions of dollars wasted.