Military retirees spend 27 percent less for health care under TRICARE, the Defense Department’s managed-care provider, than they did in when the program began in 1996, according to a briefing prepared by the Congressional Budget Office. “In 2012, retiree families paid less than one-fifth as much for their care as civilian counterparts with employee-based insurance,” wrote Carla Tighe Murray, a CBO senior analyst, for an audience at the Western Economic Association Conference in Seattle on July 1. Murray outlined options for slowing the growth of health-care costs, including:
* Increasing fees, copayments, and deductibles for retirees and families;
* Preventing military retirees and families from enrolling in TRICARE Prime, but allowing them to enroll in Standard/Extra for an annual fee;
* Introducing minimum out-of-pocket costs for TRICARE for Life and Medicare-eligible retirees and their families;
* Expanding disease-management programs;
* Expanding scholarships and closing the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md.;
* Hiring additional auditors;
* And combining the services’ medical establishments.
