May 2, 2000

The Honorable John Warner

225 Russell Bldg.

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Warner:

We, the undersigned retired general and flag officers, all residents of the Commonwealth of Virginia, would like to personally thank you for your expression of concern for military retirees and your recent introduction of a bill that makes a start at redressing the broken promise of health care. As you well know, this is a vital issue, affecting not only the morale and welfare of our retired service personnel, but by implication, the strength of our Armed Forces both today and for the future.

On careful examination of S.2087, we must, regretfully, say that this bill falls woefully short of

fixing the problem. We had hoped for more from our Senator, a highly respected leader who

knows and understands our Armed Forces, and someone to whom we look for leadership. We would expect you, of all people, to do the right thing when it comes to supporting those men and women, officers and enlisted, who selflessly made the military a career.

All of us entered the Armed Forces certain of one thing. We knew we couldn’t count on promotions, couldn’t always expect decent housing, and couldn’t count on pay comparable to our civilian counterparts. We knew that we couldn’t count on being around for the birthdays of our loved ones or on being there when our loved ones were sick and needed our support. And we knew that some of us would never come home at all. But one thing we did know. We knew that we could count on good medical care for ourselves and for our dependents, both while on active duty and in retirement. We were promised this, we believed it, and we used this as an incentive to retain the men and women who were our Non-Commissioned Officers, the backbone of our Armed Forces. We believed that our government and its Congress would do what was right and honor that commitment. Now we have found that what we were promised, what we believed, and what we told others, was not true.

You are an honorable man and you may believe that you are doing the right thing by introducing S.2087. We respectfully, but strongly, disagree.

First, S.2087 is wrong because it is inequitable. Our retired federal civilian colleagues receive much better treatment. The federal government pays almost $4500 of the $6300 annual BlueCross/Blue Shield standard fee-for-service health insurance premium for these civilians under FEHBP. For those over 65, FEHBP acts as a medigap policy. It is second payer after Medicare. Most often, the only out-of–pocket costs are in the form of copayments for prescriptions, since Medicare does not cover prescriptions.

By comparison, the military retiree has no federal subsidy once he reaches 65, when his TRICARE eligibility is terminated. Prior to age 65 he must make do with one of the substandard TRICARE alternatives. So he goes to the market place to find the best supplementary policy he can afford. Few can afford to purchase the kind of coverage enjoyed by their subsidized civilian counterparts. The military retiree must pay most of the medical insurance cost out of his own pocket---at very high annual premiums for vastly inferior coverage. He then faces additional out of pocket costs in the form of deductibles and copayments.

For the typical retired NCO with retirement pay of only $13,000-15,000 per year, it is very often hopeless. These are the ones who were the backbone of the nation’s Armed Forces in their youth. Now, in their seniority, they are the nation’s shame. When the health afflictions of old age inevitably arrive, they are often unable to meet the financial load. Those over 65 default into the Medicaid safety net. Commendable as Medicaid may be in the circumstances for which it was intended, it is an unacceptable and demeaning resort for those who served at great personal sacrifice and risk----but always with confident assurance and expectation of quality treatment for themselves and their dependents. Not only do military retirees not want to accept "charity" in lieu of what they earned and were promised, but Medicaid, administered as a joint Federal and state program, varies considerably from state to state. Our civilian federal employees have been served very well by their union and by the Congress. We in our country’s Armed Forces have no union.

Of course, we have omitted in this comparison the health care that Congress has opted to provide for itself. We leave that for the members to compare.

Second, S.2087 also falls woefully short of fixing the total problem. Your proposal would only commit limited funds for near-term improvements. While we certainly want to commend you for expanding your proposed prescription benefit for military retirees to provide both mail order and retail coverage, we remain concerned about some of the provisions. For example, if a $150 deductible per participant remains in the proposal, the retiree and his spouse would pay up-front more than one-sixth of the total $1736 annual premium for the full schedule of FEHBP coverage. That would simply not be acceptable.

S.2087 would also extend the TRICARE Senior Prime and FEHBP-65 demonstrations to run through 2005 and at additional sites---but with no increase whatsoever in the previously authorized 66,000 participants. Tests and demonstrations are not commitments! They will only delay and postpone resolution, produce statistical information for further study, and delay restoring the promise of health care for another six years! What the bill does mean is that more retirees will be dead (more than 1500 are dying monthly) and that those who put budget cutting ahead of the country’s retired soldiers will have won the day.

You said in a letter to one of us on March 15, "I would like to emphasize that unlike other military health care bills, recently introduced in the Congress, S.2087 is a realistic, executable first step to real improvement". You went on to say that "Some of the other military health care bills offer grandeur solutions to this dilemma, but are beyond the Armed Services Committee’s ability to pay the estimated costs at this time." We understand that the price tag for S.2087 is about $600 million---less than 4 percent of the approximate $16 billion annual cost of the Defense Health Program. We presume that is what you and your colleagues have concluded is affordable and doable in the first step. Our nation and its Congress should remember that there would be no budget surplus had it not been for those who "saved the world" in World War II and helped to win the Cold War. Funding the medical care earned by and promised to our retired military should be one of the first priorities of our government before any new tax cuts or programs are initiated and paid for out of the surplus or "peace dividend."

You also said in your letter of March 15 "I have stated publicly that I am anxious to work with others in the Congress to improve my bill". We urge you to work with your colleagues to produce a bill that will fix the retired military medical care problem fully once and for all. There will never be a better time to right this terrible wrong!

Senator Warner, we know that you are a strong and courageous leader. You have proven this time and again, in the Navy during World War II, as a Marine in Korea, as Secretary of the Navy, and now as a

Senator. On behalf of all retired military, we are asking for your support. We are confident that you enjoy the personal stature required to successfully carry this vital issue to the floor of the Senate, and, in

concert with other key Chairmen, lead the Senate to approve the necessary legislation to do what is right for our nation’s service men and women. Can we count on you to do this?

We would very much like to meet with you to discuss this at a time and place of your choosing, and respectfully request that you have your staff contact Brigadier General (Ret) Clarke Brintnall at 703-644-6869 to arrange for such a meeting.

Sincerely,

[Signed by 23 general and flag officers]