After forcing an 8.5-percent enrollment fee increase on drilling reservists in January, DoD leaders also plan to impose a $600 annual TRICARE Standard enrollment fee for officer retirees ($400 for enlisted servicemembers), double the TRICARE Standard deductible, and triple TRICARE Prime enrollment fees for retirees and survivors. These increases would be phased in over three years, starting Oct. 1, 2006.

Private-sector health cost increases are driving too many retirees to TRICARE, they claim. So they want TRICARE fee increases to drive them back.

Somebody’s missing a key point. Military health care and retirement are the main offsets for the unique demands and sacrifices of a military career.

Recruiting is already in trouble. Multiple, extended family separations for Iraq give us pause about future retention.

Currently serving and retired servicemembers and their families “already gave” in ways civilians don’t. If we can afford billions for pork, we can afford the cost of military health care.

Col. Steve Strobridge, USAF-Ret., director of MOAA government relations