Something On The Radar, Sir

There's talk going around among the military and military retirees about a Congressional Budget Office study showing three options the Department of Defense could use to save money spent on health care. One option by far has the largest impact with a potential savings of $90 billion from 2015-2023.

Option 2: Make working-age retirees and their families  ineligible for TRICARE Prime, the most costly program for DoD, but allow them to continue using  other TRICARE plans after paying an annual fee.

Needless to say, that option is not sitting too well with many retirees and those near retirement age.

So why did the CBO, a nonpartisan agency, prepare this report? Have a look at the last page.

This Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report was prepared at the request of the Chairman of the House Committee on the Budget. In keeping with CBO’s mandate to provide objective, impartial analysis, the report makes no recommendations.

The Chairman of the House Budget Committee is Congressman Paul Ryan. It will be interesting to see how this plays out especially since he has some former generals supporting the cause of reducing retirement benefits.