In response to details released Monday, Feb. 13 about President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2013 budget proposal, Dr. Jonathan Woodson, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs and director of TRICARE Management Activity, explained the impact on the military health system. In an interview broadcast on the Pentagon Channel, Woodson said that the MHS is in a transformative period and that there would be minimal changes in coverage and costs for beneficiaries.
Changes include adjustments to pharmacy co-pays for some beneficiaries. For example, military retirees and families would see an increase in existing TRICARE Prime enrollment fees and TRICARE Standard deductibles, new enrollment fees for TRICARE Standard and TRICARE for Life - and the removal of enrollment fees from catastrophic cap calculations.
Retirees and their families as well as active duty families would see increased co-payments for certain prescription drugs when filled from retail or mail order pharmacies (not from MTFs). The proposals would exempt medically retired service members and their families; and survivors of military members who died on active duty.
Watch the full Pentagon Channel report or read the American Forces Press Service story.
Learn more about the proposed budget at TRICARE.mil.