What will deficit-reduction TRICARE provisions mean for military?

In his deficit-reduction proposals, President Barack Obama proposed changes to military benefits.

Under that plan, service members would pay more for medicine co-pays for the TRICARE military health plan.

Todd Harrison, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Amy Morris to discuss how the proposals would affect military recruiting.

More immediately, Harrison addressed whether such proposals would even make it to the table of the Congressional supercommittee which, under the dictates of the August debt-ceiling deal, is tasked with cutting as much as $1.5 trillion from the deficit over 10 years.

Meanwhile, Congress still hasn’t agreed to a budget for 2012, and this could further affect DoD spending in the short term.

Harrison said the proposals to change military healthcare fit into a larger political discussion about reforming entitlement spending.

But he said making changes to military healthcare benefits remains a volatile issue.

“This proposal is stepping all over third rails,” Harrison said.

This story is part of Federal News Radio’s daily DoD Report. For more defense news, click here.

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