Senator Tom Coburn Hearts the Military

This is one example why, as a military brat, I become incensed when I hear Republicans are best at taking care of the military. It's just simply untrue... And ANY cuts in expenditures, that go the care of our military, should be fought with a vengeance! - Dee Austin

Tom Coburn's Cuts: Military's Tricare Prime Health Care Program Targeted - by Walter Pincus, The Washington Post

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) wants to cut taxpayer funding for non-military elements of the Defense Department, starting with making retired, uninjured service members pay more for what he described as “extremely low-cost health care for life” for themselves, their wives and dependents under the Tricare Prime system.

For military retirees eligible for Medicare, he also wants to raise the co-payments that they are charged to be in Tricare for life, the second payer for health care after Medicare. In addition, he wants to increase low fees that Tricare beneficiaries pay for pharmaceuticals purchased at their local drugstores.

Former defense secretary Robert M. Gates proposed raising Tricare Prime enrollment fees for single retirees from $230 a year to $260 a year and fees for retiree families from $460 a year to $520 a year. Coburn wants the fees to be much higher and more in line with private-sector health plans.

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