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Show 6 TIMES January 13, 2011 PEDIATRIC DENTISTRY, P.C. HILLTOP TIMES Dale Hibbert, Pediatrics Jennifer Brown, Family Leland Pack, Orthodontist Officials: Health plan to remain free for troops By DONNA MILES American Forces Press Service W ASHINGTON — Though Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates seeks modest premium increases for workingage military retirees who use the TriCare Prime health plan, the benefit will remain free to service members, defense officials emphasized Jan. 7. Gates unveiled sweeping, costcutting initiatives Jan. 6, including a recommendation to increase TriCare Prime premiums for workingage retirees in fiscal year 2012, the first increase in the plan's 15-year history. "For some time, I've spoken about the department's unaffordable health costs, and in particular the benefits provided to workingage retirees under the TriCare program," he said. "Many of these beneficiaries are employed full-time while receiving their full pensions, and often forego their employers' health plan to remain with TriCare," he said. "This should not come as a surprise, given that the current TriCare enrollment fee was set in 1995 at $460 a year for the basic family plan, and has not been raised BUDGET From page 1 "Frankly, using the savings in this way was not my original intent or preference," Secretary Gates said, "but we have little choice but to deal with these so-called 'must-pay' bills, and better to confront them honestly now than through raiding investment accounts later." $70 billion in savings to reinvest Before You Retire PERS/CSRS, Get the Facts /2 hour Consultation at No Cost or Obligation 1 Over 23 Years experience in the Federal Retirement Community Robert K. Hall CFP® 801-728-9451 Layton, UT Retirement Professional/Advisor for over 23 Years Registered representative of and securities offered through OneAmerica Securities, Inc. Member FINRA, SIPC, a registered Investment Advisor, 1211 W. Myrtle, Suite 100, Boise ID 83702. Phone (208) 336-6099, Insurance Representative of American United Life Insurance Company (AUL) and other insurance companies. Allegis Financial Partners is not an affiliate of OneAmerica Securities or AUL and is not a broker dealer or registered Investment Advisor. 1 "VETERANS HELPING VETERANS" Buy or Sell a Home Programs with 0 Down • Residential • Short Sale • Bank Owned Kent Marchant 801-645-0075 KentMarchant@gmail. corn SERVICF ''--1UR MIDDLE NAME rib ' • ill ..., irt ,40 -:. 10:73 Cold! Install n, / . mz E . naDwg _n_ -u- ii 1 1 1 0 101b 'W i_ Lin o SI 331AI13' • 4 SERVICE IS OUR MIDDLE NAME Beat ''' 0)m Heat/no & Air Conditioning C 1 It Cl. urnaap and save money month after month year after year LASTS AND LASTS AND LASTS." c.) M 5 E a 0 .-m .., E .vey Kedr m cn xi < 0 m SERVICE CENTER - 5 0 C 520 South State • Clearfield 33 E a 0 Davis/Morgan Weber County 801-393-1265 801-773-4836 www.KearsleyService.com SERVICE IS OUR MIDDLE NAME your grocery budget -"- A third efficiency will trim the size of the defense work force and place more in areas with the most pressing need, he said. This should yield $4 billion in savings, he added. Gates also said he's initiating changes in the defense intelligence apparatus, and will eliminate or downgrade general and flag officer positions. Would you be willing to invest 30 minutes of your time to preserve a lifetime of work? 31111VN3 -movu Want to learn how loNstretch 2112 N. NILLFIELD RD. #1 • LAYTON Lin o SI 33IAH 3S Gates stressed the need to make cuts carefully and judiciously. "To maintain the kind of military needed for America's leadership role requires not only adequate levels of funding, but also fundamentally changing the way our defense establishment spends money and does business," Secretary Gates said. "That is why it is so important to follow through on the program of reform and overhead reduction. "This department simply cannot risk continuing down the same path, where our investment priorities, bureaucratic habits and lax attitude towards costs are increasingly divorced from the real threats of today, the growing perils of tomorrow and the nation's grim financial outlook," he added. 774-0770 - VICE IS OUR MID 1 Care and prudence CMHILDENRI MUIT2 MELCCM11 2VIVN3laawl But this still leaves the services with $70 billion to reinvest in higherpriority systems. In the Air Force, this will mean the service can buy more Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles and enable the service to move this capability from the war budget to the base budget. It will also allow the service to increase procurement of the evolved expendable launch vehicle and to modernize radars aboard the F-15 Eagle to keep the fighter jet flying and fighting longer. The Air Force also will be able to invest in development of a long-range, nuclear-capable bomber. The Army will invest in Soldiers by improving suicide-prevention and substance-abuse counseling. The service will also modernize its battle fleets of Abrams tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and Stryker wheeled vehicles. The service also will accelerate fielding of the newest tactical communications network and will invest in more unmanned Mon through Sat r---- aerial vehicles and a new unmanned helicopter. The Navy will accelerate procurement of electronic jamming gear and fund refurbishment of Marine Corps equipment. The service is also looking to develop a new generation of sea-borne unmanned strike and surveillance aircraft, and to buy more F-18 Super Hornets. The Navy also will be able to buy more ships, including a destroyer, a littoral combat ship and fleet oilers. Open of SI 33IAU3S Putting personnel where it counts He will also eliminate or downgrade 200 senior executive positions. The efficiencies will eliminate the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Network Intelligence and Information, the Business Transformation Agency and the U.S. Joint Forces Command, Gates said, though roughly 50 percent of Joint Forces Command will survive and be assigned to other organizations. In April, Secretary Gates instructed the services to find at least $100 billion over five years in overhead savings that they could keep and shift to higher-priority programs. They have done so. In addition, defense agencies have found $54 billion in possible efficiencies. Air Force officials have proposed efficiencies that will total $34 billion over five years. Army officials have proposed $29 billion in savings, and Navy officials look to savings of $35 billion over five years. Of the $100 billion in savings, the services will use about $28 billion to deal with higherthan-expected operating expenses. These costs include health care, pay and housing allowances, sustainment of weapons systems, depot maintenance, base support and flight hours, and other training. ment fee or premium. Instead, they pay a yearly deductible of $150 per person or $300 per family, as well as co-payments or cost shares for inpatient and outpatient care and medications, up to a $3,000 annual cap on out-of-pocket expenses. Military retirees aren't required to report whether they have jobs that offer insurance plans, Camacho said, noting that having other insurance does not take them off the TriCare rolls. Rather, he explained, TriCare becomes the "second payer" for health care, picking up co-payments and deductibles from the primary insurance plan. Meanwhile, the senior TriCare officer said the system is poised to support Secretary Gates' new efficiency measures and already is making progress as it strives to provide the best health care at the best cost. "All of these things help us work together to help us achieve the secretary's goals, and we are already starting to make progress," said Navy Rear Adm. (Dr.) Christine S. Hunter said. "We need to be very aware that there is a pressure (to improve efficiency and control costs) and the resources are not infinite. But we are all part of the solution." 3IIIVN3iaam in terms of performance, cost and schedule, then I believe it should be cancelled." The secretary said he also wants changes to the military's TriCare medical program, noting that fees have not risen since the program was introduced in 1995. He said he will propose modest increases to fees for working-age military retirees. These changes also will be part of the fiscal 2012 budget request. Army officials will cancel procurement of the surface-launched advanced medium range air-to-air missile and the non-line-of-sight launch system. The efficiencies will change the way the department uses information technology, consolidating hundreds of information technology centers to save more than $1 billion a year, Gates said. "At the same time," he added, "I am not satisfied with the progress we have made in this area since August, and expect to make a followon announcement with a specific plan of action by next month." The efficiencies will cut the number of contractors. "Overall, we will cut the size of the staff support contractor cadre by 10 percent per year for three years and realize nearly $3 billion in total savings," the secretary said. since." Gates noted the dramatic increase in insurance premiums during that period for private-sector and other government employees. Federal workers pay roughly $5,000 a year for a comparable health insurance program, he said. "Accordingly, with the fiscal year 2012 budget, we will propose reforms in the area of military health care to better manage medical cost growth and better align the department with the rest of the country," Secretary Gates said. "These will include initiatives to become more efficient, as well as modest increases to TriCare fees for ... working-age retirees, with fees indexed to adjust for medical inflation." These initiatives could save the department as much as $7 billion over the next five years, he said. Military retirees automatically are enrolled in one of two TriCare plans, explained program spokesman Austin Camacho. Retirees who join TriCare Prime, the system's managed-care option that covers active-duty members, pay an annual enrollment fee of $230 per year for an individual, or $460 for a family. 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