The Briefing Room

General Category => Politics/Government => Topic started by: Elderberry on February 11, 2020, 12:46:29 pm

Title: Pentagon budget calls for ‘civilianizing’ military hospitals
Post by: Elderberry on February 11, 2020, 12:46:29 pm
Military Times by Patricia Kime 2/10/2020

 The Pentagon’s fiscal 2021 budget request supports ongoing, sweeping changes to the military health system that will reduce the number of uniformed medical personnel and send non-active duty beneficiaries to contractors or civilian providers for their health care.

The $50.8 billion proposed Department of Defense medical budget released Monday continues reforms initiated in 2017 that place the service medical commands in charge of providing health care for uniformed personnel and gives oversight and responsibility of all military hospitals and clinics to the Defense Health Agency, to include staffing decisions.

According to the budget documents, this means some non-uniformed beneficiaries — active-duty family members, retirees and their family members — will continue receiving care at military treatment facilities from civilian staff or contractors, while others, “where feasible …. will be transitioned to a local network provider.”

The budget documents affirm what Defense Health Agency officials have said for months: the military health system must right-size the military medical forces to support operational medicine, while roughly 8 million non-uniformed beneficiaries will receive health care from civilian federal employees, contract care or in the community, via Tricare.

More: https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/02/10/pentagon-budget-calls-for-civilianizing-military-hospitals/ (https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/02/10/pentagon-budget-calls-for-civilianizing-military-hospitals/)
Title: Re: Pentagon budget calls for ‘civilianizing’ military hospitals
Post by: txradioguy on February 11, 2020, 03:20:16 pm
Another promise to those of us serving that is turning out to be a lie.
Title: Re: Pentagon budget calls for ‘civilianizing’ military hospitals
Post by: ArneFufkin on February 11, 2020, 05:08:17 pm
Another promise to those of us serving that is turning out to be a lie.

Who made the "promise"?   And, what was it?
Title: Re: Pentagon budget calls for ‘civilianizing’ military hospitals
Post by: ArneFufkin on February 11, 2020, 05:21:45 pm
Military Times by Patricia Kime 2/10/2020

 The Pentagon’s fiscal 2021 budget request supports ongoing, sweeping changes to the military health system that will reduce the number of uniformed medical personnel and send non-active duty beneficiaries to contractors or civilian providers for their health care.

The $50.8 billion proposed Department of Defense medical budget released Monday continues reforms initiated in 2017 that place the service medical commands in charge of providing health care for uniformed personnel and gives oversight and responsibility of all military hospitals and clinics to the Defense Health Agency, to include staffing decisions.

According to the budget documents, this means some non-uniformed beneficiaries — active-duty family members, retirees and their family members — will continue receiving care at military treatment facilities from civilian staff or contractors, while others, “where feasible …. will be transitioned to a local network provider.”

The budget documents affirm what Defense Health Agency officials have said for months: the military health system must right-size the military medical forces to support operational medicine, while roughly 8 million non-uniformed beneficiaries will receive health care from civilian federal employees, contract care or in the community, via Tricare.

More: https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/02/10/pentagon-budget-calls-for-civilianizing-military-hospitals/ (https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/02/10/pentagon-budget-calls-for-civilianizing-military-hospitals/)

The Executive Editor of "Military Times" considered the SOTU re-uniting of the Soldier's family as "Reunion Porn'.

So, I'm a BIT skeptical about ANYTHING this internet site reports.  She hates Trump, so be it.

I do wonder, however, how she squares her bile-fulll screed with what I observed last night:  I said "This is a bit short for a Trump rally!  Usually, he's smoothly hitting 4th gear at the 70 minute mark."

Turns out he left the rally early to join the families of the two heroes who died in Afghanistan as their coffins were received at Dover AFB.   

I DO NOT expect the "people" on this site who relentlessly slur him for his moral treachery to EVER recognize this.  EVER.

Sad.  But, predictable.   I shall comport myself with that awareness going forward.

Title: Re: Pentagon budget calls for ‘civilianizing’ military hospitals
Post by: txradioguy on February 11, 2020, 05:21:57 pm
Who made the "promise"?   And, what was it?

Part of this civilianizing of the hospitals is around three dozen military treatment facilities are going to stop seeing retirees and their family members.

The promise is made when you sign up as part of our commitment to serve..."give us 20 years of your life and we'll take care of you medically wen you retire".

Well that started fading when they introduced TriCare for active duty membersin 1996 and started sending us off post for medical care as a "cost saving" measure.

Retirees now have TriCare for Life which is supposed to allow us to go to an MTF if we live nearby and not have any co-pays or if we want to pick our doc we can do that with some out of pocket expenses.

With these military hospitals now dropping the option of seeing retirees the only option we have is to pay out of pocket for something we were told a long time ago that the military would take care of.

They lied.  And it's not the first time either.
Title: Re: Pentagon budget calls for ‘civilianizing’ military hospitals
Post by: txradioguy on February 11, 2020, 05:23:16 pm
The Executive Editor of "Military Times" considered the SOTU re-uniting of the Soldier's family as "Reunion Porn'.

So, I'm a BIT skeptical about ANYTHING this internet site reports.  She hates Trump, so be it.

I do wonder, however, how she squares her bile-fulll screed with what I observed last night:  I said "This is a bit short for a Trump rally!  Usually, he's smoothly hitting 4th gear at the 70 minute mark."

Turns out he left the rally early to join the families of the two heroes who died in Afghanistan as their coffins were received at Dover AFB.   

I DO NOT expect the "people" on this site who relentlessly slur him for his moral treachery to EVER recognize this.  EVER.

Sad.  But, predictable.   I shall comport myself with that awareness going forward.

Military Times publications (Army Times etc) are not run by the military.  They are owned and published by Gannett News...the same people that put out USA Today. 

They are not our friends.

And this editorial is just mirroring the one in the WaPo saying pretty much the same thing.
Title: Re: Pentagon budget calls for ‘civilianizing’ military hospitals
Post by: ArneFufkin on February 11, 2020, 05:33:39 pm
Part of this civilianizing of the hospitals is around three dozen military treatment facilities are going to stop seeing retirees and their family members.

The promise is made when you sign up as part of our commitment to serve..."give us 20 years of your life and we'll take care of you medically wen you retire".

Well that started fading when they introduced TriCare for active duty membersin 1996 and started sending us off post for medical care as a "cost saving" measure.

Retirees now have TriCare for Life which is supposed to allow us to go to an MTF if we live nearby and not have any co-pays or if we want to pick our doc we can do that with some out of pocket expenses.

With these military hospitals now dropping the option of seeing retirees the only option we have is to pay out of pocket for something we were told a long time ago that the military would take care of.

They lied.  And it's not the first time either.

Texas might be a decent venue to be listened to!

Maybe??
Title: Re: Pentagon budget calls for ‘civilianizing’ military hospitals
Post by: mystery-ak on February 11, 2020, 05:44:20 pm
Part of this civilianizing of the hospitals is around three dozen military treatment facilities are going to stop seeing retirees and their family members.

The promise is made when you sign up as part of our commitment to serve..."give us 20 years of your life and we'll take care of you medically wen you retire".

Well that started fading when they introduced TriCare for active duty membersin 1996 and started sending us off post for medical care as a "cost saving" measure.

Retirees now have TriCare for Life which is supposed to allow us to go to an MTF if we live nearby and not have any co-pays or if we want to pick our doc we can do that with some out of pocket expenses.

With these military hospitals now dropping the option of seeing retirees the only option we have is to pay out of pocket for something we were told a long time ago that the military would take care of.

They lied.  And it's not the first time either.

I have Tricare for life and Medicare....I know you are too young for Medicare.

I can go to any local hospital and doctor and whatever Medicare doesn't pay Tricare does....I never get a bill.

I also have Express Scripts where I get 3mos of my blood pressure meds for $10 ea...it used to be free..then it was $3, $7 and now $10

Mike served over 40 years so he earned this imo
Title: Re: Pentagon budget calls for ‘civilianizing’ military hospitals
Post by: ArneFufkin on February 11, 2020, 05:53:04 pm
Military Times publications (Army Times etc) are not run by the military.  They are owned and published by Gannett News...the same people that put out USA Today. 

They are not our friends.

And this editorial is just mirroring the one in the WaPo saying pretty much the same thing.

Same company that - amazingly - had around 55 of their 56 'local property" Gannett "shit-sheets"- that's all they are - endorse Hillary Clinton.

I think the Las Vegas Journal endorsed someone like Evan McMullen or equally STOOPID.

Gannett?  It's a lousy organization with lousy DC people.

It's the brainchild of that nutjob Al Neureth.   The old "USA Today?":  Grab the great Sports section and discard the rest.  Don't even try to use it to line the bird cage, the crap production of bleeding poisoned ink scared the Parakeets.
Title: Re: Pentagon budget calls for ‘civilianizing’ military hospitals
Post by: txradioguy on February 11, 2020, 06:25:46 pm
I have Tricare for life and Medicare....I know you are too young for Medicare.

I can go to any local hospital and doctor and whatever Medicare doesn't pay Tricare does....I never get a bill.

I also have Express Scripts where I get 3mos of my blood pressure meds for $10 ea...it used to be free..then it was $3, $7 and now $10

Mike served over 40 years so he earned this imo

You've got TFL Prime. I'm assuming you guys are near a military hospital then.  But as part of this civilianizing of the MTF's...you might want to keep an eye out to make sure the military hospital near you doesn't stop seeing retirees in the near future.  The new "clinic" they built at Ft. Knox isn't seeing retirees anymore...so I'm gonna have to look for options.

What kills me about some of the things they are doing is that they were part of the 2016 NDAA.  It seems to me that they could reverse it or put a stop to this Obama era time bomb.
Title: Re: Pentagon budget calls for ‘civilianizing’ military hospitals
Post by: mystery-ak on February 11, 2020, 06:31:55 pm
You've got TFL Prime. I'm assuming you guys are near a military hospital then.  But as part of this civilianizing of the MTF's...you might want to keep an eye out to make sure the military hospital near you doesn't stop seeing retirees in the near future.  The new "clinic" they built at Ft. Knox isn't seeing retirees anymore...so I'm gonna have to look for options.

What kills me about some of the things they are doing is that they were part of the 2016 NDAA.  It seems to me that they could reverse it or put a stop to this Obama era time bomb.

No where near a military hospital...closet one was Scott AFB but they shut that hospital down years ago...
Title: Re: Pentagon budget calls for ‘civilianizing’ military hospitals
Post by: Bigun on February 11, 2020, 06:44:02 pm
The VA should consist of two or three state of the art hospitals that specialize in treating injuries not regularly dealt with by civilian hospitals.  Everything else needs to be privatized.

Members of the military should receive the exact same healthcare benefits every other employee of the federal government receives and those who served in wartime and were injured should have those for life as well as all the care necessary to deal with those war injuries at one of the above mentioned VA facilities.
Title: Re: Pentagon budget calls for ‘civilianizing’ military hospitals
Post by: txradioguy on February 11, 2020, 06:47:05 pm
No where near a military hospital...closet one was Scott AFB but they shut that hospital down years ago...

Then I'm guessing it's the Medicare that's taking care of most if not all of the medical stuff now.  I'll have to switch to it when I hit 65 and TriCare will become the third option for health insurance...for what the VA won't cover with me.
Title: Re: Pentagon budget calls for ‘civilianizing’ military hospitals
Post by: txradioguy on February 11, 2020, 06:48:50 pm
The VA should consist of two or three state of the art hospitals that specialize in treating injuries not regularly dealt with by civilian hospitals.  Everything else needs to be privatized.

Members of the military should receive the exact same healthcare benefits every other employee of the federal government receives and those who served in wartime and were injured should have those for life as well as all the care necessary to deal with those war injuries at one of the above mentioned VA facilities.

I think they've chipped away at even what is offered most places for active duty folks to do what you've suggested. 
Title: Re: Pentagon budget calls for ‘civilianizing’ military hospitals
Post by: Bigun on February 11, 2020, 06:55:10 pm
I think they've chipped away at even what is offered most places for active duty folks to do what you've suggested.

Sorry. I'm not following you there @txradioguy. Can you explain further?
Title: Re: Pentagon budget calls for ‘civilianizing’ military hospitals
Post by: txradioguy on February 11, 2020, 07:04:53 pm
Sorry. I'm not following you there @txradioguy. Can you explain further?

I'm not sure how GS employees healthcare works...but they keep chipping away at what is offered via TriCare to the active duty force...I'm not sure there would be enough "want to" in Congress or in the DoD to spend the money to bring it up to federal civilian employee levels.

I've had more than one civilian doctor tell me I could get better treatment with Medicare than what I have with TriCare.  They had to adjust the language in Obamacare at the last minute to allow TriCare to be considered "acceptable" under the guidelines of the ACA.

So while bringing our level of care up to what the civilian employees get...I think it would be too much $$$ to get it there.
Title: Re: Pentagon budget calls for ‘civilianizing’ military hospitals
Post by: Bigun on February 11, 2020, 07:25:39 pm
I'm not sure how GS employees healthcare works...but they keep chipping away at what is offered via TriCare to the active duty force...I'm not sure there would be enough "want to" in Congress or in the DoD to spend the money to bring it up to federal civilian employee levels.

I've had more than one civilian doctor tell me I could get better treatment with Medicare than what I have with TriCare.  They had to adjust the language in Obamacare at the last minute to allow TriCare to be considered "acceptable" under the guidelines of the ACA.

So while bringing our level of care up to what the civilian employees get...I think it would be too much $$$ to get it there.

OK! Thanks @txradioguy.  I stand by my original statement.   If there is anything we can't afford not to do it's this.
Title: Re: Pentagon budget calls for ‘civilianizing’ military hospitals
Post by: Fishrrman on February 12, 2020, 01:47:44 am
Pardon my ignorance folks (I was never that smart), but...

... with all the unflattering tales I've read about military/veterans hospitals in recent years, wouldn't it be preferable to get care at "civilian" hospitals?

Jes' askin'...
Title: Re: Pentagon budget calls for ‘civilianizing’ military hospitals
Post by: txradioguy on February 12, 2020, 02:28:20 am
Pardon my ignorance folks (I was never that smart), but...

... with all the unflattering tales I've read about military/veterans hospitals in recent years, wouldn't it be preferable to get care at "civilian" hospitals?

Jes' askin'...

If they didn’t require the co-pays maybe. I’ve always gotten better than average care in a military hospital.   The issue now is how much less they keep offering us in the way of care.