Service members would receive a 1.7-percent increase in basic pay on Jan. 1, 2013, under the administration’s proposed 2013 defense spending bill. The military health-care system would receive $48.7 billion, while family-support programs such as Defense Department schools, commissaries, counseling, child care, and other services, would receive $8.5 billion. Also, active-duty service members and their families would see no increases in fees for coverage under any programs offered by TRICARE, the armed forces’ managed-care program. Retirees and their beneficiaries, however, would see their TRICARE copayments rise.
