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DISABLED GIs SAY HIGHER CO-PAYS AND DEDUCTIBLES
ARE BLEEDING THEM DRY -- And if the federal
government
has its way, the fees will get dramatically
worse.
Story here...
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eX
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Story below:
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Disabled GIs say higher co-pays, deductibles
are bleeding them dry
By HEATHER HADDON
HERALD NEWS
The rifle butt hit his mouth so hard that he assumed he'd lost all his
teeth.
Dickson Perez's elite military platoon was on daytime patrol in Iraq
when he walked into a house and an ambush. His assailant had run out of
bullets for his AK-47, so he used it to smash Perez in the mouth.
Far worse was when Perez walked past a roadside bomb. He's still
uncertain about the immediate aftermath, but clearly recalls the agony
of waking in a hospital bed with internal bleeding. Several surgeries
had saved his teeth and Perez counted the days until his three-year tour
concluded.
He came back to Passaic in October, and since has suffered from chronic
headaches and nausea that result in emergency trips to the hospital.
"Everyone knows me there. Even the janitor," joked Perez, 35, after he
spent hours at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in East Orange on
Thursday.
His casual attitude fades when talk turns to TRICARE -- the federal
health benefit plan for veterans and soldiers on active duty. After
risking his life, Perez is irked that his insurance is riddled with
co-pays and high deductibles. And if the federal government has its way,
the fees will get dramatically worse.
"It's better to have something than nothing," said Perez, whose body is
covered with scars. "But it's partial insurance. And they are trying to
push a co-pay increase."
Indignation is running high among military families, advocates and
lawmakers over huge fee increases to TRICARE proposed by the Department
of Defense for October. A bill recently proposed by Sen. Frank
Lautenberg, D-N.J., would prevent the dramatic cost changes and would
require that future increases not outpace average military pay raises
The legislation nearly passed last year, and is again gaining steam.
"There are many people who are quite concerned about this," said Alex
Formuzis, a Lautenberg spokesman.
The Defense Department hopes to reduce $1.9 billion in TRICARE costs
primarily by quadrupling fees for vets. Annual premiums for retired
soldiers with family coverage would rise from $460 a year up to $1,400.
Pharmacy co-pays for active duty and retired soldiers would increase
from a low of $3 to a maximum of $15.
The move unleashed a firestorm of criticism when it was first proposed
last year, leading the Defense Department to drop it. But the proposal
surfaced again in the president's preliminary budget. Under this
incarnation, the cost increase would happen immediately, not phased in
as originally proposed.
Cynthia Smith, a Defense Department spokeswoman, said in a statement
Friday that the changes were necessary to put TRICARE "on a financially
sustainable path for the long-term."
The increase would be the first since TRICARE fees were set in 1995,
according to the military. It would offset the growing cost of health
care and the extension of TRICARE to National Guard members, the Defense
Department says.
But critics say the increase is unfair because many recruits join the
military for health benefits, said John Class of the Military Officers
Association of America, a group based in Washington, D.C.
"It's just felt that health care is a big part of the package," said
Class, a retired Navy officer. "It's definitely not the pay."
Currently, new recruits gross roughly $31,000 a year, less than New
Jersey's medium income of $36,500. Passaic County's 21,000 veterans had
a medium income of $34,100 in 2005, the Census found.
Private employees shell out more of their salaries for health insurance,
on average, but the burden is growing for soldiers. A new recruit with
comprehensive family benefits would pay roughly $1 of every $22 dollars
earned under the fee increase -- before taxes.
Perez, of Passaic, is now unemployed and searching for work. TRICARE is
already expensive, he says. Perez must reach a $3,000 deductible before
the full insurance coverage kicks in, and shells out co-pays for his
many prescriptions. Dental surgery has taken a back seat to the
headaches that doctors can't yet diagnose.
"Things can't get worse," he said despondently.
Paula Rogovin is similarly upset about the fee increase. Her 24-year-old
son shipped out for active duty on Thursday, and she's terrified that he
will come back hurt -- or not at all.
"My kid could get killed. My kid could get injured," said Rogovin, of
Teaneck, who struggles to keep from crying about her son at work.
The anger over the TRICARE increase comes as scrutiny intensifies over
the military's care of soldiers.
Francis Harvey, secretary of the Army, resigned last week, and Army Maj.
Gen. George W. Weightman, in charge of running Walter Reed Army Medical
Center in Washington, D.C., was fired after the Washington Post exposed
squalid conditions and a maze of bureaucracy in what is the nation's top
hospital for the critically wounded.
"Everything has been poorly managed," said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr.,
D-Paterson. "It's the epitome of insult."
Rogovin was one of 15 military families who met with Lautenberg last
week about the war. Lautenberg promised to provide better gear and
health services for troops, Rogovin says, but she is more concerned
about when the soldiers can return home.
"We're not interested in proper equipment," she said. "We're interested
in them being out of there immediately."
Perez refrains from commenting on the war. He still speaks in "sirs" and
"ma'am's", and keeps his hair closely cropped.
But the benefits issue stokes his anger. "People are just paralyzed for
life," he said. "There should at least be justice."
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Larry Scott --
