A top advocacy group for service members and military retirees is spending time this spring on Capitol Hill seeking to ward off any discussion of changes to Tricare for Life, to include enrollment fees for the program, which serves as a backstop to Medicare for senior retired personnel.
The Military Officers Association of America, or MOAA, has targeted Tricare for Life, the program used by retirees and military spouses 65 and older, as one of its top focus points this year in response to a Congressional Budget Office report that included program fees among the options for trimming the federal budget deficit.
The Biden administration's proposed fiscal 2025 budget does not include any changes to Tricare for Life. But the Alexandria, Virginia-based group believes this budget cycle was the right time to educate congressional offices on the importance of Tricare for Life for its users, even though it is not yet facing any changes.
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“Absolutely, this is an unconventional issue because there are no current legislative or administration proposals to cut Tricare for Life. However, we wanted to counter the messaging that CBO put out there through their report on ideas for reducing the deficit,” said Karen Ruedisueli, MOAA's director of government relations for health affairs, during an interview on Thursday.
Tricare for Life, or TFL,…
