Bush drug proposal enrages veterans
Plan may alienate military retirees by imposing higher fees for prescriptions
By DALE EISMAN
Copyright 2004 The Virginian-Pilot
WASHINGTON -- The Bush
administration is considering dramatic
increases in the fees military retirees
pay for prescription drugs, a step that
would roll back a benefit extended 33
months ago and risk alienating an
important Republican constituency at
the dawn of the 2004 campaign
season.
Pentagon budget documents indicate
that retirees may be asked to pay $10
-- up from $3 -- for each 90-day
generic prescription filled by mail
through Tricare, the military's health
insurance program. Tricare's current
$9 co-pay for a three-month supply of
each brand-name drug would jump to
$20.
The proposal also would impose
charges for drugs the retirees now
receive free at military hospitals and
clinics. There would be a $10 fee for
each generic prescription and a $20
charge for brand-name drugs
dispensed at those facilities.
A Pentagon spokesman declined
Wednesday to comment on the drug
plan, calling it "pre-decisional." But
word of the proposal was being spread
at the speed of light by veterans service
organizations, who were urging their
thousands of members to send calls
and letters of protest to the White
House and members of Congress.
"It's something that we're going to look
at very closely when we return," said
Tom Gordy, chief of staff for Rep. Ed
Schrock, R-Va. The House is to
reconvene Jan. 20.
"You're tampering with a benefit that
was earned by people putting their
lives on the line," said James F.
Lokovic, a retired Air Force chief
master sergeant and deputy director of
the Air Force Sergeants Association.
Lokovic's 136,000-member
association already has sent Bush a
letter warning of "significant backlash
from millions of retired military voters"
if the plan is included in the 2005
defense budget the administration will
unveil in a few weeks.
"Somebody just isn't paying attention,"
the Military Officers Association of
America said in "special alert" sent to
its 390,000 members. "The war on
terrorism is reminding the nation of
servicemembers' sacrifices every night
on the evening news ... and yet the
administration seems to continue going
out of its way to penalize the military
community."
The officers association alert and an
Internet site run by the sergeants
association recall attempts by the
administration to impose a $1,200
deductible for care provided to most
military retirees at Veterans Affairs
hospitals and the Pentagon's
long-running opposition to bills
providing for "concurrent receipt" of
military pension and VA disability
payments.
Bush and lawmakers agreed earlier this
year on a concurrent receipt plan, a
move widely seen as an attempt to
shore up support for Republicans
among military-minded voters. Military
veterans and retirees are seen as
providing Bush with his 2000 margin of
victory in several key states, including
Florida.
The budget documents circulating
Wednesday gave no hint of the current
status of the plan or the thinking behind
it. Military retirees -- those who served
20 years or more -- had no
prescription drug coverage until April
2001.
But the documents indicate that the
proposed charges would considerably
ease the burden of prescription drug
costs on the defense budget. The new
co-pays would generate more than
$728 million in 2005, the Pentagon
estimated, and nearly $4.2 billion by
the end of 2009.
The proposed fees also would bring
the military's co-pays into line with
those imposed by the VA, the
documents assert.
But spokesmen for veterans groups
said the VA fills prescriptions for
service-related illnesses and injuries at
no charge. Its $7 co-pay applies only
for medications given to outpatients for
ailments unrelated to their service. And
even those prescriptions are free when
the veteran receiving them has an
annual income of less than $9,690 if
single and $12,692 if married.
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