Verterans& Retirees benifits

[southbound]

To all my fellow camping vererans and military retirees, Noticed about the closing of commissaries. That not all the Congressional Budget Office wants to cut. Defense Department and the COB want tocut Concurrent receipt pay and other veterans benefits. Increase Tri care
Read, all the cuts they want to do in last weeks Navy Times. At this rate it will be the 70's all over again, when ships could not go out to sea due to not enough money. Yet the Congressional Budget Office keeps all their benifits, good salaries, which come from us and outside companies.:(
Sorry for ranting about this but have no where else to vent and I know there are a lot of military out there in the camping world.

[restlesswind]

Or another way to phrase it
We have the best government that money can buy.

[Me_Again]

69 Avion wrote:

Me Again wrote:

wny_pat wrote:
And in the meantime, my parachute (multi-employer pension plan) has a very big hole in it and is on the watch list. Thank God I still have my VA benefits which my non-vet congressman is trying to raid in the name of the Tea Party. But his lip service says he is doing it for all of us???

They are running low on spots to move money to the top, so they are busy looking every and anywhere to find more. No working stiff is safe from them! Two unfunded wars and tax breaks for the wealthy got us here, yet they want to make out like we are the problem. VA Benies are earned and SSA has been paid from by workers. HO What? They left an IOU in the pot!

Chris

Did you ever think that congress doesn't work for the majority of Americans?

They have been bought with the best money they can extract! Chris

[69_Avion]

Me Again wrote:

wny_pat wrote:
And in the meantime, my parachute (multi-employer pension plan) has a very big hole in it and is on the watch list. Thank God I still have my VA benefits which my non-vet congressman is trying to raid in the name of the Tea Party. But his lip service says he is doing it for all of us???

They are running low on spots to move money to the top, so they are busy looking every and anywhere to find more. No working stiff is safe from them! Two unfunded wars and tax breaks for the wealthy got us here, yet they want to make out like we are the problem. VA Benies are earned and SSA has been paid from by workers. HO What? They left an IOU in the pot!

Chris

They would rather owe it to you than cheat you out of it.LOL

Did you ever think that congress doesn't work for the majority of Americans?

[Me_Again]

wny_pat wrote:
And in the meantime, my parachute (multi-employer pension plan) has a very big hole in it and is on the watch list. Thank God I still have my VA benefits which my non-vet congressman is trying to raid in the name of the Tea Party. But his lip service says he is doing it for all of us???

They are running low on spots to move money to the top, so they are busy looking every and anywhere to find more. No working stiff is safe from them! Two unfunded wars and tax breaks for the wealthy got us here, yet they want to make out like we are the problem. VA Benies are earned and SSA has been paid from by workers. HO What? They left an IOU in the pot!

Chris

[LarryJM]

calewjohnson wrote:

LarryJM wrote:

I'm not going to try and get into all the nitty gritty since I could make a mistake, but in a nut shell when you reach 65 TCFL requires you to apply for Medicare Part B which is the outpatient portion and then basically at no cost Tricare becomes your Medicare supplemental similar to MediGap insurance that many retirees pay for. In general you go to a doctor that takes Medicare and once the cost exceeds the Medicare coverage then Tricare picks up the TAB just like they would with Tricare Prime. For a long, long time Tricare will charge whatever insurance you have to keep the goverment costs down. Now something I'm not sure about is if one can get TCFL once they reach 65 if they haven't been a Tricare Prime enrollee. Furthermore those with insurance provided by their employer they are failing IMO to realize that that option will go away once their employement ends and they will be faced with a MAJOR CHANGE from what I know is how they have to now satisfy their health needs. Also, I have often heard this "continuity" or choice of care being thought of as an issue with Tricare, but I have in my almost 66 years have never known anything, but Military Medicine and the same goes for my DW for almost the last 45years and both our sons who are now in their 30's and 40's and in all our opinions the level of care has be bar none the best available. One issue with many is they don't understand or are not willing to work within the confines of Military or government supported Medicine and IMO that is just a lack of understanding and willingness to truly take charge of their health needs.

In the end it's all about choices and most will agree as you reach Medicare age health costs is a MAJOR CONSIDERATION. When I retired we made a decision to remain in the area of what now are two of the FINEST Military Hospitals (MTFs) ... Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (where the Pres goes along with a lot of members of Congress) and the new state of the art Fort Belvoir Community Family Hospital and get all our medical needs met at those two facilities. If one is eligible to use a MTF being close to one should IMO be just as important as where you want to retire because of weather/taxes/COL, etc. Both myself and DW have had the same Primary Care Doctor for almost the last 15 years and getting things done/approved is as simple as asking ... try that with any other health insurance when you want something like a routine EKG just because it makes you feel better or say a MRI/CAT scan where an X-ray might suffice. No problem since those are basically sunk costs at both MTFs we utilize. In fact our PCM has an EKG for just their use in Internal Medicine Clinic that she is attached to.

Now with all that being said I will say I'm no expert in all the ins and outs of Military Medicine, Medicare and obviously know less than a "ROCK" about the civilian world so my view is obviously slanted in one direction.

Larry

Did some reading and received some clarification…TFL is a rider for Medicare Part B, right? Meaning that you pay for Medicare and TFL picks up the rest, if thats the case, sounds pretty good. Some of the jobs my wife has had over the years provided riders for Tri-Care, they picked up everything Tri-Care did not pay. Hmmm, stuff I will have to get smart on one day, yuck.

Cale

The rules and such are a little more complex than just thinking of it as a rider, but that is the easiest way to look at what TCFL is. I think in real life the TCFL program is actually better than TRICARE Prime since Medicare pays for some things like walkers, O2 equip, etc. that TRICARE PRIME either doesn't cover or costs more.

Larry

Larry

[LarryJM]

john&bet wrote:

LarryJM wrote:

AprilWhine wrote:

calewjohnson wrote:
I will say this, I am currently active duty, and have been for 18 years. While I believe that the benefits I was promised when I joined should be honored, I also believe that something has to be done to offset the costs of people and operations. Today, 60 cents of every dollar in our budget goes to personnel (retired and active duty). As we move into the future, that will not be sustainable. We (US Navy) currently have 285 ships, short of the 300 goal we would like to have, I doubt we will ever get back to that number since we do not have a conflict to support that size of a fleet.

From what I can say, there will be a change to retirement coming down the pipe. More of a 401k approach and not needing to stay for a full 20. Is it right? Sure, I know of a lot of folks who cut and run before the 10 year mark because anything more than 10, you may as well do 20. That kind of thinking has kept a lot of mediocre folks in, instead of the knowledgeable technicians I have seen get out.

Next thing, Tri-Care for Life….I may get blasted for saying this, but I think that the premiums should be increased for that benefit. Two really good friends of mine, both retired LtCOL types, pay only $200 or so a year for the benefit. A real steal for such a benefit.

There are many hard questions that need to be asked when looking at our benefits. A pragmatic approach will ensure we do not end up with the failing pensions like some large companies. We can stay on this course of spending and end up with nothing in the end, or we can start trying to fix the problem before it become unrecoverable.

Just my 2 cents.

Cale

Your friends are not being straight with you. 😉

Tricare for life does not cost extra, but you do have to have Medicare Part B. My hubby is enrolled and has been since he became eligible for Medicare.

Yep calewjohnson doesn't understand TCFL as his erronous statement about the $200/yr clearly demonstrates. Nor does he seem to understand the Tricare and TCFL programs in general. I was paying the standard ~$540/yr for Tricare Prime for me and DW and this year with DW still on Tricare Prime and me on TCFL my premiums between her Tricare Prime and my TCFL are effectively $1500+ (270 for her and 1260 for me).

I am one of those that served and retired when we believed that one of the benefits for our sacrifices was free medical for life which was a broken promise when Tricare was started some 5 years after I retired and then Tricare for Life was piled on in 2001. I have up to now seen a zero benefit in TCFL except increased costs, but that could change in the future, but I'm still paying with increasing premiums now for something I thought was not going to cost me anything when I joined back in the 60s.

Larry

My Tricare for Life cost me nothing, however my medicare cost me $109.00 a month. I retired 28 years ago and just used champus/tricare standard until I turned 65. I found no reason to use prime thus no premiums and we never hit our $3000.00 out of pocket limit till '09 when me and the DW both had major surgery. My TCFL now pays all of what Medicare does not pay just like a supplemental plan would do. The only thing I pay out of pocket is our drugs and it is minimal, although I could reduce it if I would get all my drugs from the VA.

That is what I meant when I said "EFFECTIVELY" cost me $1260 since that is the MEDICARE Part B costs.

Larry

[bid_time]

wny_pat wrote:
And in the meantime, my parachute (multi-employer pension plan) has a very big hole in it and is on the watch list. Thank God I still have my VA benefits which my non-vet congressman is trying to raid in the name of the Tea Party. But his lip service says he is doing it for all of us???

My congressman told me If you like your Health Plan you can keep it - same broken promise as the rest of us. Nothing makes you more special then me.

[The_Texan]

I have just about come to the conclusion that they need to change the requirements to hold ANY political office to, MUST have served a full honorable term in the armed forces. We have so many anti military members of ALL 3 branches of government, that unless things change, there will be no standing army in another decade or two......

[wny_pat1]

And in the meantime, my parachute (multi-employer pension plan) has a very big hole in it and is on the watch list. Thank God I still have my VA benefits which my non-vet congressman is trying to raid in the name of the Tea Party. But his lip service says he is doing it for all of us???

[calewjohnson]

LarryJM wrote:

I'm not going to try and get into all the nitty gritty since I could make a mistake, but in a nut shell when you reach 65 TCFL requires you to apply for Medicare Part B which is the outpatient portion and then basically at no cost Tricare becomes your Medicare supplemental similar to MediGap insurance that many retirees pay for. In general you go to a doctor that takes Medicare and once the cost exceeds the Medicare coverage then Tricare picks up the TAB just like they would with Tricare Prime. For a long, long time Tricare will charge whatever insurance you have to keep the goverment costs down. Now something I'm not sure about is if one can get TCFL once they reach 65 if they haven't been a Tricare Prime enrollee. Furthermore those with insurance provided by their employer they are failing IMO to realize that that option will go away once their employement ends and they will be faced with a MAJOR CHANGE from what I know is how they have to now satisfy their health needs. Also, I have often heard this "continuity" or choice of care being thought of as an issue with Tricare, but I have in my almost 66 years have never known anything, but Military Medicine and the same goes for my DW for almost the last 45years and both our sons who are now in their 30's and 40's and in all our opinions the level of care has be bar none the best available. One issue with many is they don't understand or are not willing to work within the confines of Military or government supported Medicine and IMO that is just a lack of understanding and willingness to truly take charge of their health needs.

In the end it's all about choices and most will agree as you reach Medicare age health costs is a MAJOR CONSIDERATION. When I retired we made a decision to remain in the area of what now are two of the FINEST Military Hospitals (MTFs) ... Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (where the Pres goes along with a lot of members of Congress) and the new state of the art Fort Belvoir Community Family Hospital and get all our medical needs met at those two facilities. If one is eligible to use a MTF being close to one should IMO be just as important as where you want to retire because of weather/taxes/COL, etc. Both myself and DW have had the same Primary Care Doctor for almost the last 15 years and getting things done/approved is as simple as asking ... try that with any other health insurance when you want something like a routine EKG just because it makes you feel better or say a MRI/CAT scan where an X-ray might suffice. No problem since those are basically sunk costs at both MTFs we utilize. In fact our PCM has an EKG for just their use in Internal Medicine Clinic that she is attached to.

Now with all that being said I will say I'm no expert in all the ins and outs of Military Medicine, Medicare and obviously know less than a "ROCK" about the civilian world so my view is obviously slanted in one direction.

Larry

Did some reading and received some clarification…TFL is a rider for Medicare Part B, right? Meaning that you pay for Medicare and TFL picks up the rest, if thats the case, sounds pretty good. Some of the jobs my wife has had over the years provided riders for Tri-Care, they picked up everything Tri-Care did not pay. Hmmm, stuff I will have to get smart on one day, yuck.

Cale

[calewjohnson]

Bob Quinn wrote:

calewjohnson wrote:
I will say this, I am currently active duty, and have been for 18 years. While I believe that the benefits I was promised when I joined should be honored, I also believe that something has to be done to offset the costs of people and operations. Today, 60 cents of every dollar in our budget goes to personnel (retired and active duty). As we move into the future, that will not be sustainable. We (US Navy) currently have 285 ships, short of the 300 goal we would like to have, I doubt we will ever get back to that number since we do not have a conflict to support that size of a fleet.

From what I can say, there will be a change to retirement coming down the pipe. More of a 401k approach and not needing to stay for a full 20. Is it right? Sure, I know of a lot of folks who cut and run before the 10 year mark because anything more than 10, you may as well do 20. That kind of thinking has kept a lot of mediocre folks in, instead of the knowledgeable technicians I have seen get out.

Next thing, Tri-Care for Life….I may get blasted for saying this, but I think that the premiums should be increased for that benefit. Two really good friends of mine, both retired LtCOL types, pay only $200 or so a year for the benefit. A real steal for such a benefit.

There are many hard questions that need to be asked when looking at our benefits. A pragmatic approach will ensure we do not end up with the failing pensions like some large companies. We can stay on this course of spending and end up with nothing in the end, or we can start trying to fix the problem before it become unrecoverable.

Just my 2 cents.

Cale

Hey Cale, I think you should retire now, just my opinion!
Bob;)

Why would I want to do such a thing? I enjoy my job, for the time being, I really enjoy the leadership opportunities, and my other office is in an airplane. I am still very young and with my next promotion coming in May of 2014, I will be moving on to bigger and better things, which ultimately means greater challenges. Sure there are challenges in the private sector, but these are different and one of the many challenges we face, "do more with less" takes on a new meaning when you are leading war fighters and you try to return everyone home safely.

Cale

[john_bet]

LarryJM wrote:

AprilWhine wrote:

calewjohnson wrote:
I will say this, I am currently active duty, and have been for 18 years. While I believe that the benefits I was promised when I joined should be honored, I also believe that something has to be done to offset the costs of people and operations. Today, 60 cents of every dollar in our budget goes to personnel (retired and active duty). As we move into the future, that will not be sustainable. We (US Navy) currently have 285 ships, short of the 300 goal we would like to have, I doubt we will ever get back to that number since we do not have a conflict to support that size of a fleet.

From what I can say, there will be a change to retirement coming down the pipe. More of a 401k approach and not needing to stay for a full 20. Is it right? Sure, I know of a lot of folks who cut and run before the 10 year mark because anything more than 10, you may as well do 20. That kind of thinking has kept a lot of mediocre folks in, instead of the knowledgeable technicians I have seen get out.

Next thing, Tri-Care for Life….I may get blasted for saying this, but I think that the premiums should be increased for that benefit. Two really good friends of mine, both retired LtCOL types, pay only $200 or so a year for the benefit. A real steal for such a benefit.

There are many hard questions that need to be asked when looking at our benefits. A pragmatic approach will ensure we do not end up with the failing pensions like some large companies. We can stay on this course of spending and end up with nothing in the end, or we can start trying to fix the problem before it become unrecoverable.

Just my 2 cents.

Cale

Your friends are not being straight with you. 😉

Tricare for life does not cost extra, but you do have to have Medicare Part B. My hubby is enrolled and has been since he became eligible for Medicare.

Yep calewjohnson doesn't understand TCFL as his erronous statement about the $200/yr clearly demonstrates. Nor does he seem to understand the Tricare and TCFL programs in general. I was paying the standard ~$540/yr for Tricare Prime for me and DW and this year with DW still on Tricare Prime and me on TCFL my premiums between her Tricare Prime and my TCFL are effectively $1500+ (270 for her and 1260 for me).

I am one of those that served and retired when we believed that one of the benefits for our sacrifices was free medical for life which was a broken promise when Tricare was started some 5 years after I retired and then Tricare for Life was piled on in 2001. I have up to now seen a zero benefit in TCFL except increased costs, but that could change in the future, but I'm still paying with increasing premiums now for something I thought was not going to cost me anything when I joined back in the 60s.

Larry

My Tricare for Life cost me nothing, however my medicare cost me $109.00 a month. I retired 28 years ago and just used champus/tricare standard until I turned 65. I found no reason to use prime thus no premiums and we never hit our $3000.00 out of pocket limit till '09 when me and the DW both had major surgery. My TCFL now pays all of what Medicare does not pay just like a supplemental plan would do. The only thing I pay out of pocket is our drugs and it is minimal, although I could reduce it if I would get all my drugs from the VA.

[Bob_Quinn]

calewjohnson wrote:
I will say this, I am currently active duty, and have been for 18 years. While I believe that the benefits I was promised when I joined should be honored, I also believe that something has to be done to offset the costs of people and operations. Today, 60 cents of every dollar in our budget goes to personnel (retired and active duty). As we move into the future, that will not be sustainable. We (US Navy) currently have 285 ships, short of the 300 goal we would like to have, I doubt we will ever get back to that number since we do not have a conflict to support that size of a fleet.

From what I can say, there will be a change to retirement coming down the pipe. More of a 401k approach and not needing to stay for a full 20. Is it right? Sure, I know of a lot of folks who cut and run before the 10 year mark because anything more than 10, you may as well do 20. That kind of thinking has kept a lot of mediocre folks in, instead of the knowledgeable technicians I have seen get out.

Next thing, Tri-Care for Life….I may get blasted for saying this, but I think that the premiums should be increased for that benefit. Two really good friends of mine, both retired LtCOL types, pay only $200 or so a year for the benefit. A real steal for such a benefit.

There are many hard questions that need to be asked when looking at our benefits. A pragmatic approach will ensure we do not end up with the failing pensions like some large companies. We can stay on this course of spending and end up with nothing in the end, or we can start trying to fix the problem before it become unrecoverable.

Just my 2 cents.

Cale

Hey Cale, I think you should retire now, just my opinion!
Bob;)

[southbound]

Pirate wrote:
Well, they aren't proposals, just ideas, bad or good. I don't see how you could turn off disability ratings. We made several life decisions such as where to live, my career, etc, based on that rating. We'll see how it pans out.

We to made our life decisions on my husbands disability & retirement which has got much worse. We will be going back to the DR's very shortly. We were lucky that he was close enough to retirement and could go to a shore command for a few months before retirement.This was 13 years ago. He has worked since then until his medical got worse two years ago. We had a great Senator where we were who helped us with the VA, but here we are on our own. We manage. Good luck to all the vets out there. If you have problems write your congressman or Senator sometimes it helps. At least they know your there.