Punish the sick retirees, most of which don't have a high retirement anyway due to not having served under the higher wages since 2000

Postmortem produce, who is suppose to eat that?

"Remember this article from the Army Times about the Tricare surplus?

DoD explains, defends health care surplus: Aug 12, 2012
The Defense Department's top budget officer Wednesday defended Pentagon efforts to shift $708 million in health funding to other military budget accounts, saying the surplus money — the result of conservative cost projections made two years ago — cannot go to new initiatives or be saved for the future.

The Pentagon came under fire from military advocacy groups this week after lawmakers revealed that defense officials want to use Tricare funds to cover unexpected budget needs such as increased transportation costs caused by Pakistan's shutdown of ground supply routes to Afghanistan and movement of an extra carrier strike group to the Persian Gulf.

House Armed Services Committee members sent a letter to Defense Secretary Panetta July 24 asking for an explanation, given that the Pentagon has argued for the past two years that beneficiaries must bear more of their health care costs in order to sustain the benefit.

DoD Comptroller Robert Hale and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Jonathan Woodson told reporters that the excess $708 million — 2 percent of Tricare's total private-care budget for the current fiscal year — resulted from lower-than-expected cost growth and "better management controls," including initiatives to promote mail-order pharmacy use and generic brands as well as rebate negotiations.

By law, the funds must be used or will expire at the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30.

"The result is, we were about 2 percent high in terms of our estimate — a huge amount of money," Hale said. "But looked at another way, we were 98 percent correct. … Back over 10 years, we've often underestimated the amount, so we're not perfect, but 98 percent, two years in advance, that was an ‘A' when I went to school."

The Pentagon must request permission from lawmakers to transfer funds between accounts, because the practice essentially alters spending allocations already approved by Congress.

Last year, Congress approved $12 billion and $15 billion in transfers, including more than $500 million out of the Tricare account.

This year, the Pentagon has sent about 25 reprogramming requests to Congress.

In their letter to Panetta, House lawmakers questioned the new Tricare transfer request, given DoD's insistence this year that fees needed to be raised for retirees. Lawmakers also worry about research funding opportunities being lost.

"We have concerns about this reprogramming request because we believe there are serious health issues that our military service members and military retirees are currently facing that are of the highest priority," wrote Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee's military personnel panel.

Hale and Woodson said DoD views the Tricare fee increases as a separate issue from the reprogramming request.

They noted that at current spending rates, the Congressional Budget Office estimates the defense health budget, currently $53 billion for fiscal 2012, will rise to $65 billion in 2015 and $90 billion in 2030.

Tricare fee increases are needed to "bend the curve" of these rising costs, they said.

"From 2001 to 2012, the overall military health care budget went up 175 percent," Hale said. "I's that trend line that has caused us to look at issues like changing the Tricare fees as a way to reduce the growth in health care costs."

Military advocacy groups such as the Military Officers Association of America and the National Association of the Uniformed Services expressed outrage that the Tricare account is showing a surplus when the Pentagon has argued that without fee increases, military readiness will be affected.

"For months, the Defense Department has defended its proposals to punish beneficiaries with thousands [of dollars] a year in higher Tricare fees by claiming fast-rising Tricare costs are ‘eating us alive,'" retired Vice. Adm. Norb Ryan, president of MOAA. "But the reprogramming memo the Pentagon just sent to Congress indicates these claims were flatly untrue and DoD leaders should have known it."

In response to the House letter, the Pentagon has briefed lawmakers and is working toward a solution, Hale said, adding that he expects Congress to respond to the request within a week.

In May, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he would block any reprogramming requests from the Pentagon unless he received a detailed report on all such transfers over the past two years.

The chairmen and ranking minority-party members of the House and Senate armed services committees and defense appropriations subcommittees all must approve such requests."

Amen!

Would there not be more money saved by not having to prosecute petty little 'crimes' of users in possession since pot is legal? What about the revenue from pot sales?

60% of the Tricare costs (free to active duty) is generated by active duty, so yes, any treatment on active duty is part of the Tricare budget. Retirees paid for it by making less (years ago before the GI bill transfers to spouses etc, huge retention bonuses etc....The 1.7% COLA raise is way more for a retired O-6 than for a retired E-7 for example). Glad it doesn't affect you. It still is plain wrong to use 700 mil for something other than the intended cause.

Transfering for something that is not health care is wrong.
Cost increases are mainly due to increased volume of war related trauma. That means veterans paid already dearly. Raising Tricare fees or pushing veterans out is utterly wrong.

Have you read what they wanted to do with the surplus?

Surplus in TRICARE and they still screw the veterans http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/08/military-health-care-surplus-reprogramming-hale-080212w/

Tricare made lots of money, had a surplus, they actually don't know what to do with it and still raised Tricare fees: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/08/military-health-care-surplus-reprogramming-hale-080212w/