DoD Budget Cutbacks: Veterans May Get Short End of Stick

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Those who got our budget into this mess think they can now get us out...what do you think?
Bloated government may try to cut veteran's benefits putting us on the short end of the stick

Cutbacks to the DOD budget-veterans may get the short end of the stick

by Ed Mattson

 

I began writing about a new website for veteran and active-duty military personnel to deal with the power of THE VOTE if we could get our collective house in order. I opened my discussion with Adm. Mullen’s statement regarding the current budget deficit talks in Washington, and that the Defense Department was a major target with its $650+billion dollar budget. He went on to say, “all options are on the table”…that by the way, includes our veterans’ benefits.

Ladies and gentlemen of past and present military duty, if we don’t wake up, we will surely be the ones to take it in the shorts. You all know the military-industrial complex, with their powerful lobbying efforts, pocket-padding campaign donations, and the power they wield in states where their manufacturing facilities create job, are on top of the issue and will do anything to protect their hallow place at the trough of government largess. Our military leaders, many of whom will retire from service and move into consulting positions with these same military suppliers, are going to be tempted to throw all of us under the bus. It just the natural order of things I guess.

Veteran’s benefits are administered by the Veterans Administration with a budget of about $132 billion. That in itself is a ripe target and we have already seen the way our promised benefits are eroding with the changes in TRICARE. There are some good folks at the VA. They too are in the cross-hairs and are trying to improve the quality and delivery of services to veterans, but they are no match for the special-interest military suppliers and the influence they can wield with dollars. The Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, is making the rounds talking about his proposed FY2012 budget which is light on details. On the surface, this seems good for military pay and benefits, but not-so-good for military retirees who rely on benefits like TRICARE.

According to TRICARE, beneficiary costs per enrollee for major programs are as follows:

  • TRICARE Prime, the managed-care option that covers all active-duty members and many retirees, costs the government $4,202 per beneficiary per year.
  • TRICARE Standard, the program’s fee-for-service plan, costs $3,584 per beneficiary per year.
  • TRICARE for Life, for beneficiaries age 65 and older, costs the government $3,874 per patient per year.

Secretary Gates has been stressing that troop level cuts are targeted for 2015, and feel that those cuts are preferable to cutting pay and benefits…Thank you Secretary Gates! The focus instead are veteran’ benefits like TRICARE, which has, like medical costs in the civilian sector, risen drastically over the last few years, noting that costs haven’t risen since around 1995.

Gates has continuously sought TRICARE fee increases for retirees as means of addressing military health care costs, and it appears he is determined to get it done before he leaves office. It is hard to argue that something shouldn’t be done, but are targeted fee increases the DOD’s only option? After all, veterans’ benefits were a promised part of the benefits we would receive for our service, but let’s just say we agree that something must be done to lower the Defense Department budget. The US , thanks to the reckless spending by Congress and all their crazy “hand-out” government programs, have us backed into a financial corner to where we have little choice but to downsize.

In coming articles I’ll present Department of Defense budget cuts that do not require cutting promised benefits to veterans. While Secretary Gates called the military’s future health care costs “unaffordable”, he said the department could save up to $7 billion over the next five years with modest increases in TRICARE fees for working-age retirees. Instead of cutting $7 billion from the cost of TRICARE with increased fees, why not look at weapons programs like the HAWK missile. I was trained back in 1966 on this program and we knocked down dozens of drones (in training), but it had never been used by the US in war and was finally phased out in 2002.

There has to be a lot that can be trimmed without touching our veterans’ benefits. If Secretary Gates was looking at a savings of $7 billion with TRICARE (1.1% of the DOD budget of $680 billion), maybe they should focus on 2-5% savings on the military procurement and weapons development programs and save REAL money, after all, every American family has had to cut back in these tough economic times, why not the military!

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Following his service in the Marine Corps Ed Mattson built a diverse career in business in both sales/marketing and management. He is a medical research specialist and published author. His latest book is Down on Main Street: Searching for American Exceptionalism Ed is currently Development Director of the National Guard Bureau of International Affairs-State Partnership Program, Fundraising Coordinator for the Warrior2Citizen Project, and Managing Partner of Center-Point Consultants in North Carolina. Mr. Mattson is a noted speaker and has addressed more than 3000 audiences in 42 states and 5 foreign countries. He has been awarded the Order of the Sword by American Cancer Society, is a Rotarian Paul Harris Fellow and appeared on more than 15 radio and television talk-shows.