Senator Tom Coburn, physician, of Oklahoma, wants to drastically reduce the health care benefits of retired military personnel and their families.
Senator Coburn, who never himself served in the military, according to his bio, has decided to aim his budget cutting axe at military benefits for active duty and retired military personnel and retirees. Under his axe are Tricare Prime and Tricare for Life, the military's medical care system that covers some active duty personnel as well as retirees and their families. His proposals would increase enrollment costs by as much as eight times and add thousands of dollars to fees charged to Medicare-eligible retirees. "It's a matter of fairness," he says.
Coburn would also raise the cost of pharmaceuticals by three to five times, and he would target prices in commissaries as well.
Walter Pincus of the Washington Post describes Senator Coburn's plan here.
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6 comments:
Senator Coburn, you are like Barack Obama, you never serve your country, you take from it and from us REAL Americans who served OUR country deeply! You steal from us to fill your pockets, just like your lover in the White House.
There is an old saying: "They also serve who only stand and wait." Not sure what that means, except there are many ways to serve. Not all of them require wearing a uniform and going into battle. I would not say that Senator Coburn is not serving. I would say that he has no personal experience with the repeated family separations and the personal peril faced by those who serve in the military. He talks of fairness. What is fair payment and a fair set of benefits for someone who has left his loved ones and gone into harm's way for his (or her) country? I think he has a distorted perspective.
I think that The legislative and executive branches should get all the cuts they propose to medical care, raises,and perks. They are only lining their pockets. they have no need to the retirement they get after 4 or years. It is from my understanding their full pay.
Anonymous' understanding of legislative and executive retirement is inaccurate. Here is a summary of the actual benefits:
Members of Congress receive retirement and health benefits under the same plans available to other federal employees. They become vested after five years of full participation.
Members elected since 1984 are covered by the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS). Those elected prior to 1984 were covered by the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). In 1984 all members were given the option of remaining with CSRS or switching to FERS.
As it is for all other federal employees, congressional retirement is funded through taxes and the participants' contributions. Members of Congress under FERS contribute 1.3 percent of their salary into the FERS retirement plan and pay 6.2 percent of their salary in Social Security taxes.
Members of Congress are not eligible for a pension until they reach the age of 50, but only if they've completed 20 years of service. Members are eligible at any age after completing 25 years of service or after they reach the age of 62. Please also note that Members of Congress have to serve at least 5 years to even receive a pension.
The amount of a congressperson's pension depends on the years of service and the average of the highest 3 years of his or her salary. By law, the starting amount of a Member's retirement annuity may not exceed 80% of his or her final salary.
Davie you are missing the point, those of us that have server in the Military started out with nothing and still have most of that left.
My first pay from the Army was $53.20, after 23 years service my retirement $928.00 a month and now I should spend more for what was called free medical for my wife and I for life, that changed too. I retired a chief warrant officer, if I had it to do over again, well may be not.
Sir, I am responding to your office regarding your position on TriCare for active duty and retired military. Since you chose not to serve in our nation's military, I don't think you truly appreciate just what it is to have served. Our 'health subsidy' known as TriCare is a far cry from what we were promised. You bellow about how no one should receive such low-cost health care, yet you receive some really great health care for being an elected representative to Washington. You haven't served in combat, gone in harm's way, nor conducted yourself in a way that would bring credible honor to your character. Instead, you chose to seek a ways to amend the deficit by trying to increase health care costs to those who are not in the financial position to absorb additional increases because you and your 'fellow members' can't produce a working budget and spending 'plan'. Shame on you for singling out those of us who have chosen to serve our nation. I challenge you to get out of your fancy office with your dutiful train of aides and spend some time in a VA hospital, spend some time with folks on the ground overseas, spend some time with families whose spouses are deployed or working 24/7 to help protect our nation from harm. Meet with those of us who have already committed 20+ years of our lives to doing the same. Then stand up and look at all of us in the eye and tell us to a person that we don't deserve what little bit we do get from our government that we swore to protect and defend with our very lives. You sir are a despicable and hateful two-faced individual who receives a very nice salary and subsidized health benefits among many others from tax dollars provided by the very group you seek to decimate.
You might want to re-think just how you can adjust the budget without further lies and deceitful 'plans' that are nothing but an insult to those of us who are man enough to serve.
You sir, are not.
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