According to MOAA, the Military Officer Association of America’s recent study there will be a 28% cut in Medicare/ TRICARE in 2012. The cuts will reduce payments to doctors and jeopardize health care access for military and elderly patients. These cuts are a result of declining participation of heath care providers due to low reimbursement from the government. MOAA is actively trying to lobby against these cuts. The 28% cuts are the result of a flawed statutory payment formula that causes the recurring annual threats to military and elderly health care benefits. Since 2002, Congress has passed short-term fixes to prevent annual cuts from happening, however by prolonging the necessary fixes to the system the annual compounding feature of the flawed law causes a bigger cut every subsequent year. As military members this directly affects us because our TRICARE rates are tied by law to Medicare’s rates. In 2011, we faced a 25% cut in benefits, left unfixed we will lose 28% in 2012.

To learn more check out www.moaa.org or read this recent article Military Health Care Costs Eating A Hole in Defense Budget, or visit The Frontlines to learn more about veteran related issues and concerns.

Very respectfully,

The Warrant

References

Military Officer Magazine,  MOAA April 2011