no one mentions that when they talk about tricare. try to get a doctor to take tricare. it is not that good of a deal. we were promised health care and the deal was if you will live in poverty in the beginning, but in the end, we will take care of you. by 40 years old -- i do not know about other marines, but by 40 years old i have several broken vertebrae, two hearing aids, he busted right ankle, etc. no big deal to me, but when the government bought me a piece of equipment, which they did, they said they would maintain it later, and they destroyed it. host: does that mean the amount of money that you should put into it should remain steady? caller: we were told we would never put any money into it. dow was the verbal agreement. of course, that is the -- that was the verbal agreement. of course, that is the great thing about verbal agreements with the government. they do not have to live by a code of honor in washington d.c. host: curious an article in "the wall street journal,." the "new york times" has made it its lead today as well, citing reductions of 47,000. also

acquisition technology logistics office between them will cut nearly tor hundred 70 contractors, defense tricare agency more than 780 anp missile defense agency more than 360.on? overall we will cut the size of the staff support contractor cadre by ten per cent per yearle for three years and realize nearly $6 billion in total savings. third, since the beginning of this fiscal year which beganalue october 1st we've been operating under a freeze in the number of. positions with very limited exceptions such as the acquisition work force. within the office of the. secretary defense, the defense agency and field activities and the combatant command. these entities were also directed to conduct a clean sheet review to rebalanced resources, staff and functions ithin and across the components to reflect the department's most pressing priorities. resulting review produced a dege number of opportunitiess, to trm the size of the workforcek, yielding more than $4 billion in savings over the next fivehese years. i will recommend to theces the u president that wee hold to thesh limits seemed over all dod staf

affordable health costs and inee particular the benefits provided to working age retirees under the tricare program.ed t manywo of these beneficiaries ae in employed full-time while full pensions andthat i now often forgo their employers' health plans to remain with tricare. this shouldn't come as a con surprise given the current tricare enrollment fee was set in 1995 with ordered $60 a year for the basic family planning and hasn't been raised since. during this time insurance premiums paid by private sector and other government workers have risen dramatically. for example, the fees for a comparable health insurance aga program for federal workers cost roughly $5,000 a year. accordingly with the fiscal year 2012 budget, we will propose the area of military health care to better manage medical cost growth and better align the department with the pe rest of the country. these linwood initiatives to become more efficient as well as modest increases to tricare fees' for working area, working age retirees with fees indexed adjust for medical inflatio. potential savings from thesetu w initiatives

these will include initiatives to become more efficient, as well as modest increases to tricare fees for working area -- working-age retirees, with fees indexed to adjust for medical inflation. potential savings from these initiatives could amount to nearly $7 billion over the next five years. so now let me turn to the areas -- having identified $100 billion in savings in the services, let me turn to the areas where they are now going to invest those savings from overhead and weak programs. to recap, approximately $100 billion was identified by the services through shedding excess overhead, improving business practices or troubled programs. another $54 billion in savings was generated by dod-wide overhead efficiencies and freezes and civilian positions and salaries. of the $100 billion identified by the military departments, approximately $28 billion will be used over the next five years by the army, air force, navy and marine corps to deal with higher than expected operating costs. these costs include health care, pay and housing allowances, sustainment of weapon systems, depot main

tricare is fine if you live near a military base, but if you are away from a military base they will not even pay 50% of the cost of medical services. i did not use tricare because it was so good until 65 and then it combines with medicare and then it provides a good service. i'd like to make another, the retirement. yes, military people get 50% of their base pay when they retire, but that is not compatible with policeman orired firefighters pay. they get more than 50% of their retirement because they have separate accounts for uniforms, rations, and what not. it is not compatible at all. you are right that the system forces people out because they reach limitation and they are senior grade enlisted. after 10 years, it does no good to move up into commissioned service because then you have to stay in 30 yeras. guest: he retired in 1918 and he is getting 50% of that salary for 1980. -- he retired in 1980. i do believe there are cost-of- living increases, but i did not want to make it seem like he is living off of a 1980-based salary. the military and does not pay like they'v did back

the non-military things like retirement and non- combat pay, and particularly the health system and tricare but the acquisition, i think, i do not know where 15% came from, but in the bowles-simpson commission there was a lot of focus on waste in the procurement process. political interference and weapons systems that the military has said time and time again they do not want and congress puts back because they're made in everybody's congressional district. and so that is how the acquisition number came in there. >> we will come back to the politics of this in the third round, because that becomes important. >> i'll mention a couple. one is there is one method -- methodological difference occur. if you are talking about established bases in a major allied countries, that is incorrect. the only place where you can save that kind of money to overseas base cuts is in the war zones because we do not have allies who are paying the lion's share of our local costs. in germany and japan and britain we do. . or we are so established that the facilities are not that much more expensive than what we h

while receiving their full pensionsre and often forgo their employers' health plan to remain with tricareis should not come as a surprise given that the current enrollment fee was set at $460 e year for the basic family plan and has not been raised since.i during this time, insurancein premiums paid by the private sector and other government workers have risen dramatically. for example, the fees for ax comparable insurance program for federal workers costs roughly $5,000 a year.a accordingly, with the fiscal year 2012 budget, we willp propose reforms in the area ofao military health care to betterae manage medical cost growth and better align the department with the rest of the country. these will include initiatives to become more efficient as wele as modest increases for working-age retirees with feesi index to adjust for medical inflation.al i potential savings from these initiatives could amount tont nearly $7 billion over the nexty five $ years. so now let me turn to the areas having identified $100 billion in savings on the services, let me turn to the areas wherea they're now going

. >> host: well, in the open, i also mentioned the veterans health care program called tricare. the defense department is proposing what? >> guest: well, gates has said for a long time they have to reform the entire system. it's broken and almost too generous. the proposal that he through out yesterday are aids retirees. people that are were in the military, have retired, still under the age of 65. they have civilian jobs that can get health care coverage. they are paying as little as $500 a year for a family of four for the insurance through the tricare program. that's a rate that hasn't been touched since 1995. gates said, you know, in the civilian sector that would be as much as $5,000 for our federal workers. is that logical and fair. no, he throws this out there as a major money saver to increase these premiums. but he's tried this before and congress has never tolerated it. any program that would benefit, you know, military retirees has always been protected by congress. we'll see if that's successful. >> host: let's segue into the politics of this. the timing of the annou