Obama goes after troop, retiree health care

Katie Pavlich:

President Obama has already gutted the Army in favor of out of control entitlement programs and now, he's going after military medical benefits in order to get more people on his ObamaCare rolls. In Obama's latest budget, military families will be forced to pay substantially more for medical care through the military while civilian defense union workers will continue receiving the same benefits.

The Obama administration’s proposed defense budget calls for military families and retirees to pay sharply more for their healthcare, while leaving unionized civilian defense workers’ benefits untouched. The proposal is causing a major rift within the Pentagon, according to U.S. officials. Several congressional aides suggested the move is designed to increase the enrollment in Obamacare’s state-run insurance exchanges.

The disparity in treatment between civilian and uniformed personnel is causing a backlash within the military that could undermine recruitment and retention.

The proposed increases in health care payments by service members, which must be approved by Congress, are part of the Pentagon’s $487 billion cut in spending. It seeks to save $1.8 billion from the Tricare medical system in the fiscal 2013 budget, and $12.9 billion by 2017.

It seems as if Obama is trying to make joining the military so unenjoyable in order to decrease sign up numbers. First, he reduces their force to a level his own defense secretary says is ridiculous and dangerous, which means military members are spread even thinner for deployments and other duties. Second, his budget would force military members to pay more for medical benefits than their civilian counterparts. Why be a soldier when you can be a defense worker?

The administration is also pushing for more expensive Tricare payments for military members in order to force them onto ObamaCare, just like they are doing with private insurance plans. It's all part of the move toward single payer healthcare.

Administration officials told Congress that one goal of the increased fees is to force military retirees to reduce their involvement in Tricare and eventually opt out of the program in favor of alternatives established by the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

And just how much more will military have to pay?

Significantly, the plan calls for increases between 30 percent to 78 percent in Tricare annual premiums for the first year. After that, the plan will impose five-year increases ranging from 94 percent to 345 percent—more than 3 times current levels.

According to congressional assessments, a retired Army colonel with a family currently paying $460 a year for health care will pay $2,048.

The military disapproves of the push....

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This is significantly more than what state employees in Wisconsin were asked to contribute that resulted in tantrums by the unions ans criticism by Obama.   At best this is gamesmanship by Obama to make it look like he is serious about the deficit when he knows Congress is likely to reject such draconian cost increases for the military and veterans.  He certainly has not proposed such additional expenditures for Medicare patients and that is a program that has been the main driving force in deficit spending.