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2012-10-30 -Election 2012

Obama to cut medical benefits for active, retired military, not union workers

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Posted by Au Auric 2012-10-30 00:39|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top

#1 "We shouldn't ask our military to pay our bills when we aren't willing to impose a similar hardship on the rest of the population," said Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon (R-CA)

It is infuriating to have watched Obama hustle future union votes and pay off his 2008 IOUs to the unions for their vote by giving them sweetheart deals at the expense of everyone else.

Posted by JohnQC 2012-10-30 08:12|| 2012-10-30 08:12|| Front Page Top

#2 They tried increasing Tricare over a decade ago. The usual suspects convened a panel of retired generals to rubber stamp a similar increase in the annual fee, around 300 percent. It died rather quickly in Congress. Now if they had just pushed forth a simple increase of 50 dollars a year for the next 10 years, we'd be at the spot they wanted today rather than no increase to cover the expanding medical costs.

Yep, I was in during the 70s. The officers lived in gentile poverty and the married enlisted on food stamps. The usual suspects played the 'medical care for life' card to induce people to stay in as part of the retention system. It was another game of kicking the can down the road to leave someone else with the problem when it arrived, since they wouldn't have to deal with it later. However, everyone didn't envision the advances in medical care and science from the 70s either.

I suspect that current funding can cover the costs of 70s/80s era medical care. The problem is that most people want 2012 era medical care, protocols, procedures, and pharmaceuticals. I can't hold them to really cover stuff that didn't exist when the 'promises' were made. I, for one, have no problem forking over more to cover an increase in the annual charge. Based on the warning of that aforementioned GO board, I've budgeted annually for such an increase over the years. It's been a nice piece of savings when the old rates continued, but its something that, just like the national debt, has to come due. Both sides of the aisle in Congress have been playing the unfunded commitment game on this issue for decades and it's now eating money from other military functions.

Posted by Procopius2k 2012-10-30 09:33|| 2012-10-30 09:33|| Front Page Top

#3 Just remember.... "you can KEEP the insurance you now have".

(If you can still pay for it.)

Posted by Besoeker 2012-10-30 09:39|| 2012-10-30 09:39|| Front Page Top

#4 Lovely. I just made the decision to switch from my employers healthcare plan to Tricare for Life. TfL was about half the price Now it doesn't look like such a bargain.

Posted by Rambler in Virginia 2012-10-30 14:51|| 2012-10-30 14:51|| Front Page Top

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