This is a little outside the typical Kit Up lane, but it’s important. We thought you might be interested:
“With the presidential election over, Defense officials are expected to announce soon that military retirees and their dependents living more than 40 miles from a military treatment facility or base closure site will lose access to TRICARE Prime, the military’s managed care option.
These beneficiaries would be expected to shift to TRICARE Standard, their fee-for-service insurance option, which would mean an increase in out-of-pocket costs for beneficiaries who are frequent users of health services.
A total of 171,000 retirees and dependents are expected to have to shift coverage when remote Prime networks go away. Tentative plans are for this to occur April 1 in the West Region, which would coincide with UnitedHealth Military and Veterans Services taking over the region’s support contract from TriWest Healthcare Alliance after 16 years…”
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And so it begins…
Yeah… Soon, we will have a social democratic system! If you could see my face… You would know that this is sarcasm.
And the band plays on
let the **** **** games begin.
Did you even read the article? This has been coming since the Bush era.
“The new contracts were drafted during the Bush administration and are intended to be more comprehensive and efficient. But sensitive to how a change in Prime eligibility might be used by politicians this fall, Defense officials ordered plans to end Prime for retirees living outside catchment areas, including draft notification letters, shelved until after the election.”
Remove the tinfoil hats already.
Most people don’t read articles they comment on, Standard is also a better deal if you have other insurance. Thats why half of retirees are already on it.
One acronym: BOHICA! This says it all.
At the end of the article there is a link to write to your congressmen. If you are opposed to this take action. We are no helpless to the changes, we can stand together and have our voices heard.
Well this is the first step in taking away permanent benefits to retirees. I’m active duty and they have already presented us (at least in the navy) with prospective plans to alter the benefits after you retire. Some of the plans are to with hold retirement payment until you are 65 or limit how many years you can have insurance or collect a retirement check. This all seems kind of harsh when you only have to serve 2 terms in congress or the senate to get benefits for life. Not many senators or congressmen get shot at or blown up.