Legion: Don't increase TRICARE fees

With the Department of Defense on the verge of increasing fees for its TRICARE insurance program, the nation’s largest veterans service organization remains strongly opposed to any new out-of-pocket health-care costs for those who use the program.

“We have opposed such increases for several years and are proud of the fact that TRICARE fees have never been raised in the 15-year history of the program,” American Legion National Commander Jimmie Foster said. “We are well aware that DoD needs to reduce its budget, but they need to look elsewhere and leave TRICARE alone.”

Defense Secretary Robert Gates wants to reduce DoD health-care costs by $7 billion over the next five years, and TRICARE’s annual enrollment fees have been eyed for increases to help do that. Fees are currently $230 for individuals and $460 for families.

Gates said health-care costs are “eating the department alive” and are on track to represent 10 percent of the entire U.S. defense budget by 2015.

Foster said TRICARE is one benefit that should not be compromised to improve the federal government’s bottom line. “We need to remember that our military retirees have given decades of service to their country, risking their lives in combat, serving under arduous conditions and being separated from their families,” he said. “Keeping their insurance rates low is one way we can repay them for their honorable service.”

During the national convention in Milwaukee last August, the Legion passed a resolution that opposed any increases to TRICARE enrollment fees, deductibles or premiums. The resolution called such proposals “an erosion of quality-of-life benefits from a grateful nation” and “inappropriate and out of line with career servicemembers’ unique sacrifices.”

Foster said many retired veterans are on fixed incomes “and the last thing they need in this economy is a rate increase for their health insurance.”