Air Force Times: Planned Tricare hikes unfair, lawmakers say
By Rick Maze
The Defense Department is getting early pushback from key Republican lawmakers over proposals to increase Tricare fees.
Three Republicans on the Senate Budget Committee raised a similar point: that federal workers and other people receiving government-provided health benefits are not facing the same increases, making it seem that the government is balancing the budget on the backs of veterans.
“Do you think this is fair?” said Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H. “All of us should be sacrificing, but I see [military retirees] as being asked to go first.”
She noted that as a member of Congress, she receives federal employee health insurance and is not facing the same fee increases.
Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., said he has received a complaint from a retiree who wanted to know why he was going to be asked to pay more for health care than his sister, who is on welfare.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., complained that federal workers, including unionized workers, are being treated better than military veterans when it comes to health care fees.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said he couldn’t respond to the comparison between military and federal civilian health care because he only controls Tricare benefits for retirees. But he defended hiking fees for health care benefits and copayments for prescription drugs as a way to cut defense spending and said he expected the military would accept the changes.
“They go when they are told to go and do what they are supposed to do,” he said, traits he sees as part of their strength and willingness to sacrifice.
