and, in fact, have developed the proposal and have been working very closely with tricare and samhsa to try and move that forward. the two issues that you really see are peer support and in-home care. it's peer support because you must build the network of veterans, how they felt like they were in the service. you must have your brothers in arms, you must have your fellow service members standing beside you to overcome stigma, to get through this and to feel that camaraderie that you once felt. and you must get in the home. because pulling a veteran out of home, treating them, and then putting them back in their home is treating a very small portion of the problem. we recognize that consumers in our system often would really be able to provide support to their peers. yet, there really wasn't a mechanism to do that. we decided to start a recovery support institute to train and certify persons who had been through treatment in our system, that then could come out as certified recovery support specialists and work at our providers and provide services. hope stands for helping ourselves

and i'd say a little bit the same with tricare. i don't think tricare is the number one hidden source of all evils. we have to come to grips with larger issues, but let's not let ourselves get distracted. let's not run in the wrong direction as we all work hard on the choices ahead. >> i would similarly echo that and say that, you know, the defense capableties and budget cuts have been underway now for three years. the budget control act is not the first round of kcuts so tha pick ma makes it a lot harder. he just went right after modernization accounts, primarily procurement. he cancelled 40-50, depending on how he calculated it, major programs delayed. reduced the buying extended period in which you buy them. and 240 major minor ones. it's down to all the way, like, the radio. so that's the easy stuff. you kill programs, big win. although, again, the savings here is a really, big, kwisquis number. and then next year, low-hanging fruit. it's easy. it wins you a bumper sticker. you can show immediate savings. but actually, the numb

we also have work going on with tricare, working to try to expand behavioral health provider capacity and do some pilots there. so there's a lot of work going on between samsa and the military parts of the federal government. we have a strong commitment to military families as one of our strategic initiatives and i'm very pleased with the interrelationship that we have on these issues. there's much more i could say but my joy and job is to introduce the secretary. and i think i see her down there. i think secretary, we got the memo about the colors today. so this is a good thing. i do want to introduce my boss. i've worked for lots of governors and mayors and political leaders in my career and none of them are more committed or more energetic and focused on the right things than secretary sebelius. as part of the historic affordable care act, she's implementing reforms that have ended many of the insurance industry's worst abuses and is going to help 34 million uninsured americans get health coverage. she's also working with all of us, and with doctors, nurses, hospital leaders, emplo

i pay for my own health care through tricare. i was medically retired from the army and my costs have gone up. my wife and i completely agree. we have a daughter finishing school and we believe in keeping your kids -- she had a procedure done. talking us even more, i can't even get a break on property taxes which have increased every year but with very little pay increase. i make less than the average american makes. i pay all my bills and pay for my health care and my dental for my family. i have even in the military we still have to pay for tricare. but why are they going to tax me to pay for somebody else's stuff? there are things we ought to do to bring down our medication cost and tort reform. >> thanks. next up is brian, a democratic who's watching us. >> caller: thanks for taking my call. i just wanted to voice my opinion with all the rhetoric over this issue for a long time, you can see how well constructed people can make this or or against. i have been envisions throughout the debate that the scenario if tens of million

and so that means that tricare has to go into the community and have relationships with those community providers. that's all continuing to move, ivette, and shift dramatically, as each state then has to make its own health exchange and health insurance plans. so, yes, you're correct, it is dramatic. well when we come back, i want to continue on the thought of the cost to society of not meeting the needs of all of these individuals as well as some of the programs that are available to...have families continue to access treatment. we'll be right back. for more information on national recovery month , to find out how to get involved, or to locate an event near you, visit the recovery month web site at recoverymonth.gov. i had no idea it was going to be so hard. i didn't know what to expect. you hear the stories, but i never took any of it seriously until i found myself here. and then i realized i was going to have to work hard for my recovery. if you or someone you know has a drug or alcohol problem, you are not alone. call 1-800-662-help. recovery was the hardest job i ever had... and th

pretty quickly, military compensation, not just tricare, the entire whole thing. it requires a new system for a new group of people probably dual tracked in the future. it's not easy to do. but it can be done. it's going to sieve you money or hurt national security. it's not sexy. that's the problem. everyone wants the program kills. the kinds of things that have to happen now are the slow, bureaucratic, boring things, behind the scenes, over multiple years of leadership at the secretary of defense level. >> i'm just going to take this here. it was 5 # years ago last january that dwight eisenhower delivered his farewell address from the oval office. i got wonderful insight to it. he gave me a few thoughts on crafting the thing. his old colleague at the heritage foundation describes the speech as one cited and seldom read. it coins the phrase military industrial complex. and there is this enduring image that the industry i'm representing is a small thing with long assembly lines. in fact, it's not at all what we are. when dwight eisenhower gave the speech, the defe

when is the last time to try care premiums were adjusted -- tricare premiums were adjusted? >> 1993. >> is it unsustainable if we do not bring this program into a sustainable footprint? you are having to compete with retiring health care against modernization, benefits for today's force, against the ability to fight and win wars. is that correct? >> we are paying $50 billion in health care. if we do not control those costs, it will eat up other areas. >> you are telling congress it is unsustainable. you are having to make choices between the retired health care costs and fighting this war and future work. >> correct. >> i hope we can find a way to be fair to the retired force but also maintain a sustainable military budget. you are talking about reshaping retirement benefits in the future and not for those that exist today. >> correct. if you retire at 38 and at half pay for the rest of your life, maybe that is something we need to revisit. i want to be generous but i want to be sustainable. that is the message to congress. your message about sequestration is you are doing y

you are telling us about tricare that you have a budget problem. when is the last time the premiums have been adjusted for the entire force? >> 93. >> members of this committee, i know we all of our retired military members and i hope to be 11 day. but isn't it unsustainable for you if we do not bring this program into some kind of a sustainable footprint you are having to compete with a retiree health care against modernization and against benefits for today's force against ability to fight and win a war is that correct? >> we are paying $50 billion now in the health care arena and if we don't control those costs is going to eat up other areas. >> you were telling the congress is unsustainable. you are having to the trees is between the retired health care cost and fighting this war. and i hope that we can find a way to be fair to their retired force but also to maintain a sustainable military budget. when it comes to the retirement you are talking what reshaping the retirement benefits in the future and not for people that exist today because if