Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has advised the powerful 12-member Joint Select Committee on Debt Reduction to consider ending access to TRICARE Prime, the military's popular managed care option, for working-age retirees and their families, to avoid spending cuts that would directly impact readiness.

Unless at least seven of 12 super committee members agree on a $1.5 billion, 10-year package to attack the national debt, the Budget Control Act signed in August will require automatic federal program cuts of $1.2 trillion, with roughly $450 billion from defense programs.

The cuts would be in addition to nearly $500 billion in defense spending curbs over 10 years already ordered by President Obama as part of an earlier deficit-reduction agreement.

Uniformed leaders of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps testified Tuesday to the devastating impact these automatic cuts, called sequestration, would have on force levels and weapons modernization programs if the super committee can't reach a deal by its Nov. 23rd deadline.

Pulling the TRICARE Prime idea from a recent Congressional Budget Office report, McCain said forcing retirees under 65 to use TRICARE Standard, the fee-for-service option, or health insurance from civilian employers, or space-available care at base clinics or hospitals, could save DoD medical accounts up to $111 billion over the next decade.

McCain, ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, was once a champion for expanded TRICARE benefits to retirees. He was not available for an interview. But a staff member explained the senator feels eliminating retiree TRICARE Prime is more acceptable than alternatives to cut equipment, training or key weapon programs needed by the current force.

"Faced with the possibility of sequester and its potential for an enormously harmful impact on national security," he said, McCain wants the super committee to consider carefully options "that would not impose drastic negative impacts on the Defense Department, or the currently serving force and their families, while sustaining the TRICARE benefit."

As reported here two weeks ago, McCain also has embraced President Obama's proposal to set a $200 a year enrollment fee for TRICARE for Life, the prized supplement to Medicare for military beneficiaries age 65 and older.

Retirees under 65 are another 40 percent of the TRICARE-eligible population. TRICARE Standard users face higher out-of-pockets costs, with annual deductibles and cost-sharing requirements but they can choose their own care providers. Beneficiary costs can't exceed an annual catastrophic cap. But CBO suggests raising that cap of $3000 a year per family to $7500.

CBO said 71 percent of working-age military retirees currently use some form of TRICARE. That number would fall to 35 percent if access to Prime were denied. Many of these beneficiaries would elect to use civilian employer health insurance, thus reversing a trend over the last few decades of military retirees leaving employer insurance plans to use TRICARE

Is it time for us VETS to make another contribution to keep America great ?

I would suggest that Law Makers also vote to drastically reduce their pay, at least this year, because they have not performed to the level of pay they are receiving. In addition I would like to know the truth about their Medical benefits while in office and their Retirement package after only the minumum time requirements Serving Us!!
TAKE IT FROM THE RETIREES WHO HAVE ALREADY SERVED.
CEC

I am not sure how to respond to the Senators sugestion,I am angered that such a idea at this time and state of the job market. Retirement pay is not enough in many retiree's life to provide all of the necessities. A few are lucky to find work at all or at least in keeping with their past rating and experience. I ran into this when I retired. Some even said I did not need as much as I was drawing a retirement from the military. Work for less than a civilian got for the same job. It is time to turn up the heat again write your congresmen, work thru your military groups that you are members of.
Marshall

I have just about given up writing to the people on the hill. It seems they have a standard "canned reply" that never addresses the questions/concerns that you wrote about. Most of the time the reply is so late in coming that the issue is already decided, they always agree with you but nothing changes. America needs to vote these clowns out.

Some of us out here in fly-over country don't have an option for TRICARE Prime. I'm in NW Wisconsin, and I can't use it. It is not available to me. I find Standard to work just fine. There are deductibles, but they are small. All the providers here do the claims paperwork, and I go to the VA for most of my care anyways. My wife uses TRICARE exclusively, as we have opted not to have her company insurance or my county insurance. I guess I would like to see other retirees be able to keep Prime if they think it appropriate and valuable, but I can tell you from experience that life as we know it wouldn't end simply because Prime was taken away. I would worry about the catastrophic cap being raised, though.....

Don't get me started. My biggest concern isn't the actual benefit reduction, rather it's the BROKEN PROMISE! If this comes to pass, and I see one more BS pork project for millions approved, I will know that my country's word isn't worth the paper it's written on. What are the odds? What's more, is there any way a citizen can pull back a vote cast in good faith. I know the decisions are hard, but it is wiser to build fewer ships, planes, and aircraft than to raid earned benefits from those who now need them to survive.

Right on the mark as usual Rick. Our great leaders have found more ways to waste money and continue to raid and rape the programs that we have all worked for and provided for. When and by whom was the USA appointed the hall monitor for the rest of the world? Close the overseas bases, bring them home, fortify and rebuild our country and take care of our own in the proper manner. Things at this point are truly "FUBAR"!

Totally agree with your point Rick. We cannot continue to enable these inept lawmakers by re-electing them. We seem to be convenient sacrificial targets easily thrown under the bus. How many other areas of wasteful federal spending are being overlooked?

Check out the link below to see how a couple of Vets handled this situation once before and what the Courts had to say about it.

http://mrgrg-ms.org/d99-1402.html#conclusion

Regards to all and Happy Thanksgiving,
Bob Ainsworth