Post by peterd on May 31, 2012 3:34:54 GMT -8
Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter defended the Pentagon's request to increase the costs borne by some TRICARE customers on Wednesday, arguing that sacrifice has to come from everywhere as the U.S. struggles to get control of its finances.
"We did not believe compensation could be exempt in this climate," Carter told an audience at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. Health care amounts to 10 percent of DoD's budget -- a percentage expected to keep growing -- and as such the department must get control over it as well as weapons or other costs.
"We need these savings," he said. "This is a difficult step to take, but it's an important one."
Congress did not agree. House Republicans and Senate Democrats both separately rejected DoD's proposal to increase TRICARE fees in their different versions of this year's defense authorization act. Carter's speech, one of the first by a top Pentagon official since the Senate Armed Services Committee's action last week, was a signal to Congress that DoD continues to stand by its earlier proposals.
www.military.com/daily-news/2012/05/30/official-defends-proposed-tricare-fee-hikes.html?comp=1198882887570&rank=1
"We did not believe compensation could be exempt in this climate," Carter told an audience at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. Health care amounts to 10 percent of DoD's budget -- a percentage expected to keep growing -- and as such the department must get control over it as well as weapons or other costs.
"We need these savings," he said. "This is a difficult step to take, but it's an important one."
Congress did not agree. House Republicans and Senate Democrats both separately rejected DoD's proposal to increase TRICARE fees in their different versions of this year's defense authorization act. Carter's speech, one of the first by a top Pentagon official since the Senate Armed Services Committee's action last week, was a signal to Congress that DoD continues to stand by its earlier proposals.
www.military.com/daily-news/2012/05/30/official-defends-proposed-tricare-fee-hikes.html?comp=1198882887570&rank=1