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.

[TechWriter]

The Texan wrote:
Jim Shoe said the end of the road is in sight.....He must be actually reading what happened this week. Everybody else better start paying attention to WORLD politics, because our leaders sure as heck don't..... Check and see what the China government and China national bank did this week....Yes, the end of the road is very near now.....

I give up. What did they do?

[The_Texan]

orfsotr wrote:
And now I get my maintenance meds thru express scripts for free.

Explain how they are free..:?..The recent increases in meds price with TFL changed all my "free" meds to a cost.

[orfsotr]

When I joined the AF many moons ago, I was promised free health care at military instalations (to include dental and eye care) for life. By the time I retired, that had changed to tricare, with no dental or eye care! But you know, I'm not complaining, there are no premiums and the cost share is really pretty low, especailly with the catastrophic cap, and everything is based on the tricare allowable charges, not what the medical provider bills! My medical bills for cancer treatment were over $500,000.00. Of which I paid $3,000.00. Much less than my friends pay for their premiums & cost shares! Really can't beat it with a stick! And now I get my maintenance meds thru express scripts for free.

[mlts22]

The Texan wrote:
Jim Shoe said the end of the road is in sight.....He must be actually reading what happened this week. Everybody else better start paying attention to WORLD politics, because our leaders sure as heck don't..... Check and see what the China government and China national bank did this week....Yes, the end of the road is very near now.....

Yep, don't forget the Chinese spending trillions on their army... and it isn't a defense force either. There are some islands in the Pacific that they want from Japan... not because they are great for resorts, but it would give them regional control over some very useful oil and rare earth reserves.

[Pirate1]

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.

[down_home]

Pirate wrote:
Got it. I did not read that article. I hope that they plan on grandfathering any of those proposed changes. Some of those veterans changes are major, IF they enact them. They have been talking about one issue, service connection for injuries not really related to military duty, for some years now. I just lost my Tricare Prime and am not really happy about that but I understand the money issues, kind of.

Disabled Veterans with Unemployability as part of their rating would have it taken away at 65. That could cut many Veterans income in half and take away their access to some care at the VA like Dental. It would also make them pay copays on medicines and drugs and put them in line behind other Vets in priority,I understand, as well as the amount of life insurance, paltry as it is they can get through VA.
The proposals were for exiting Reciepents as well as future ones.
There would be thousands and more bankrupting and possibly some committing suicide. Totally Disabled Vets are not generally able to go find a job let alone do one.

[Pirate1]

Got it. I did not read that article. I hope that they plan on grandfathering any of those proposed changes. Some of those veterans changes are major, IF they enact them. They have been talking about one issue, service connection for injuries not really related to military duty, for some years now. I just lost my Tricare Prime and am not really happy about that but I understand the money issues, kind of.

[southbound]

In Reply to Pirate.
The news was in the Nov 25 2013 Navy Times Pages 6 and 8. Possible cuts that were listed by the Congressional

Budget Office were the following.Cap Military Retirees,Change retirement pay, HALT concurrent receipt,Limit disability pay, Tighten unemployability,set minimum TLF fees, RAise othr Tricare fees,Cancel/delay weapons,Replace the joint Strike Figher with f-16 for the Air Force, and F/A-18 for the Navy and Marine Corps. Saving $48.5 Billion, Defer development of new Air Force long range Bomber until after 2023, Cancel the Army's ground combat vehicle program, Halt construction of the Ford Class Nuclear powered aircraft carrie after completion of the Carrier John F. Kennedy, Reduce the planned purchase of 14 Ohio-class ballistic missile subs to just 8.
You can find a lot of the information on the Congressional Budget Office website, also take a look at what they make.

[n7bsn]

Pirate wrote:
I read the Navy Times article but don't recall seeing anything about cutting veterans benefits. Where did you read that?

He may have been referring to cuts in general.

One "cut" that got a lot of publicity is the proposed (approved?) change on early retirements. Under it (at some time in the future) people that retire with less then 30 years could still "retire" but they get no payments until age 62. To get paid at retirement 30 years of service would be required.
But this change (?proposed?) would only apply to new enlistees (or ones with very few years of service). Something like how they started changing civilian retirements 20 years ago.

[monkey44]

What comes of this and other discussions about the subject ... seems like the old promises are trashed to pay for new programs and expenses.

The purse strings should first open for what's in place, what's already funded as continuous obligation, the existing expenses, before adding new expenses.

We earned it - that's really the bottom line - we already paid, so we should get what we paid for, and let the 'newbies' pay for the new programs. Every congressman has two hands, and the very least, quit signing off raises with one hand, while cutting promised obligations with the other.

[ncrowley]

When I joined the military, I was promised free health care for life when I retired. This benefit was common knowledge and told to every military person by recruiters, commanders, etc. Then the people in Congress decided that since it was not in writing, they could just cut out the free health care. This is wrong. I have no problem with changing the retirement plan but it must be done for those that are entering - not those that have 15 years in. It is very sad that our government continually lies to its citizens. The government has a LOT they can cut and Tricare fees are the least of their issues. They have increased the size of their staff and all the federal agencies. They need to get rid of the bloat and the departments they should not have in the first place, like the department of education and HUD.

Financially, I would have been MUCH better off with a civilian job that would have allowed me to pay off a house and not move so often, and in my career field (computer programming) I would have gotten much better pay. I stayed for 20 years for lots of reasons and one of them was the health care promise. My government has lied to me and used me and it is wrong.

[Pirate1]

southbound wrote:
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.

I read the Navy Times article but don't recall seeing anything about cutting veterans benefits. Where did you read that?

[The_Texan]

Jim Shoe said the end of the road is in sight.....He must be actually reading what happened this week. Everybody else better start paying attention to WORLD politics, because our leaders sure as heck don't..... Check and see what the China government and China national bank did this week....Yes, the end of the road is very near now.....

[path1]

Don't assume that they are only taking away. They gave to me.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/report-camp-lejeune-water-contaminated-at-unprecedented-levels/2108929

If you been poisoned this link will help you.

http://www.benefits.va.gov/COMPENSATION/claims-postservice-exposures-camp_leguene_water.asp

Be prepared for a big run around, Only send correspondence "registered mail, return receipt requested"

Other helpful info at: The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten

http://www.tftptf.com/5801.html

[Jim_Shoe]

Our country is $17 trillion in debt, and the debt clock is spinning like an airplane propeller. Business and personal income taxes aren't enough to pay the annual interest on that debt. Expecting our elected officials to give up their "income and benefits for life" or their automatic raises is like asking somebody to make fun of his own haircut. It ain't gonna happen. Their solution is to raise the debt ceiling.
I've heard that the IRS 1040 tax form in the near future will be reduced to just two lines.
1. How much did you make last year?
2. Send it in.
Personally, I have no living relatives and I'm an old man, but the young people in this country are going to have to pay the piper down the road. And the end of the road is in sight.