View Full Version : Could Tricare be going away?
This is absolutely NUTS!
http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/benefits/health-care/2015/01/29/retirement-commission-health-care/22531203/
Ret10Echo
01-31-2015, 22:17
The fact that the members of this commission have the word "Honorable" before their name makes me want to puke.
The PX only stocks premium items and at a price higher than out in the community
The Commissary is, in most instances, more expensive than local groceries...and in most states you don't pay a tax on grocery purchases (Commissary charges a 5% surcharge)
Fuel Station is at or above local economy
Class VI... GONE
What's left?
Retirees below Medicare-eligible age would pay their premiums out of pocket, although at a lower cost than civilian plans as "recognition" of their service, commission members said,
Here's an example of FEHB costs...
(Using a national PPO plan as an example (Not an HMO)...)
Blue Cross Blue Shield
Standard Self: Total Premium per month 634.92 Government Pays 437.69 Employee Pays 197.23
Standard Family: Total Premium per month 1434.07 Government Pays 971.90 Employee Pays 462.17
Rates for 2015 here (http://www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/healthcare/plan-information/premiums/2015/nonpostal-ffs.pdf)
Why does this matter? I would suggest that the level of physical abuse a service member's body takes over a 20+ year career is significant. More significant than many professions... Exposure to certain things that would bring the EPA or OSHA down on a corporation are overlooked. Mission first.
Mostly it matters because Veteran's deserve respect...they deserve the best... They deserve to NOT be treated like some lower social strata as if they are standing with their hands out like some career welfare recipient. Dues are paid.... IN FULL.
Get rid of the parasites... Save money on SNAP cards, Free cell phones and broken government.
Rant off...
R10
I am getting feedback from my current provider of my Aetna Medicare+, That all the medicare accounts will be flipped into berry-care next year.
I am sure berry has an executive order for the same for tri-care...
It really sucks.
The new congress better get off their asses soon...
Everyone will soon have insurance that covers nothing...
In the small pond I work in, the consensus is old style group plans will be dead in two years. Employers will be offering insurance through "private exchanges" where an employee and dependents will receive a stipend to pay to for a policy from the private exchange.
There are two advantages for employers. The first is it gets the employer out of all the HIPAA and COBRA requirements that come with having a group plan. The second is it lets the employee qualify for healthcare tax subsidies they wouldn't get in a group plan.
I am increasingly recommending that my patients just pay cash because their out of pocket insurance expenses are rising so high, anyway. Most of them will never reach their deductible unless they have late stage cancer or a limb severed off.
Probably makes sense at the doc's office. It might be a problem at the pharmacy or a hospital where the insurance company has negotiated a deep discount as part of their network. IIRC, the cash price for generic Sumatriptan at Walgreens is about $150 for 9 tablets. The AWP price plus dispensing fee a carrier pays is like $17.00.
Which is becoming increasingly unsustainable in practice.
Refer to the entire tenor of this thread.
Not fair, sure. Unsustainable, not so sure.
In most states, the health insurance market is an oligopoly. Usually only two or three carriers control the entire market. Sometimes it's only one. That's hasn't changed with the ACA. Until there's true competition in the health insurance market, the carriers are the 800# gorillas that can make the "unsustainable" behavior go on and on.
Free Health Care for Life sure is getting to be expensive.
Oh, and I'm sure nobody on Tricare now will be grandfather.
Remember, the Lying Cheeto runs the House and Dickweed runs the Senate. Neither can be trusted to loo out for vets.
Do this and change retirement to a 401K plan and folks would be pretty ill informed to serve over 6 years.
Free Health Care for Life sure is getting to be expensive.
...
Not trying to beat a dead horse, but this is why no matter how much the Repub's talk about repealing Obamacare, the mainstream Republicans will never do it. Under ACA, there is too much money to be made for the insurance companies.
Unless something has changed recently, Tricare is like any other self-insured group plan. The government insures the claims and pays an insurance carrier an administrative fee and per claim transaction fee to run the program. Other than it's the government, it's no different than how a company like Union Pacific Railroad or Ford runs their self-insured health insurance plans.
Insurance companies don't like self insured plans. It makes processing claims a commodity and it doesn't generate enough revenue as reserves they can re-invest and make more money. Insurance companies make more money off the reserve investments than they do the policies themselves.
By pushing everyone on to a private exchange, insurance companies are in the drivers seat. First, the policies are fully insured polices. The carrier ends up with more reserve $'s and more reserves means more clout. Second, now instead of having to negotiate with a large group, it's only with a single individual. Who's going to win that fight.
IMO, Tricare and every other self-insured group plan is being handed over to the insurance companies by congress.
Again, sorry if I'm beating a dead horse.