by law, the tricare program has to follow the same rules as the medicare program. we are not only talking about medicare, we are also talking tricare and military. to your specific question, yes. although the headline is about the sgr illumination -- elimination in this bill, there is more than just the elimination in the sgr. it is in place a number of programs and policies that will offer us as physicians and the entire medicare program to take better care of the medicare and tricare patients who are our responsibility. some of the things that it does is that it harmonizes some of the many programs in the centers for medicare and medicaid, such that when we take care of her medication -- medicare patient right now, we often have to report the same information multiple times slightly differently now. by harmonizing programs, you will decrease the administrative burden on reporting. you report once and medicare can use information multiple times. it we authorize the chip program for children. though we are talking medicare and tricare patients primarily this bill w

though we are talking medicare and tricare patients primarily this bill will provide additional years of coverage for children under the chip program. that is another major component of the legislation. it also does a number of things i think will alleviate the uncertainty and therefore provide stability in the medicare program. with the current system of patches at the last minute every year there is a high degree of uncertainty in physician offices where they do not know what their revenue will look like from medicare. it looks like it will be 21% down now, or it may be the same or a small increase. that does not allow a physician's office to plan or innovate or make the kind of changes they would like to improve the care of their patients. >> you mentioned that there have been 17 short-term patches for this. last year, everyone was optimistic that there may be a permanent exit when the committees came together and agreed on the policy parameters to it again got kicked over. when did you realize this year that it could happen? dr. wah: you bring up a good point. last year, both hous

tricare nobody complains about it. va everybody hates it t. tricare. >> for 18 months post deployment. they're getting good treatment. and the department of defense, why interrupt that care. while they're transigdstioningening into civilian life let us extend tricare for 18 months. we can reduce the suicide rate. most people commit suicide between 0 and three years when they get out. if we can made it smoother. when you go to the va those meds are not available always that you were taking in dod. it seems crazy. not all antidepressants are the same. when you go to the va we don't have wellbutrin, anymore you have to have something else. it takes a long time for the service member to get that on the place. and then to mess that up and they're not seeing the same physician they were. they get an point a month and every month they go in and see another counselor. >> will you stay involved? >> absolutely. this is just the beginning. i'll be in d.c. a lot more often. >> that's great. if you can keep up with patricia who conducts this whole night. d

there are discussions of cutting back tricare the health insurance for the military.t is very uncertain. we have never had a professional force used this much in such a hard fashion and then tried to move towards a period of peace and do cutbacks. these troops who have done so much now face these kind of changes. it is all new territory. it should be surprising. there is a tremendous amount of uncertainty and it can impact morel. -- morale. host: gregg zoroya here has written a piece called army morale low despite six-year tour to $87 million optimism program. it says more -- we go to illinois, veteran caller. caller: good morning. my thing i would like to touch on is substance abuse. there is a lot of drinking and partying going on when you are a soldier. when you're back in the rear in your barracks, whatever, a lot drinking and partying goes on. that comes with depression and all kinds of other things. when a guy gets in trouble for that, there is no offer of counseling -- at least not when i was in. this was several years back. anyway, i think you get my point. ca