An assumption in the Department of Defense's 2008 budget request that $1.9 billion will be saved by raising TRICARE fees on military retirees next year "poisons the water" for the work of the Task Force on the Future of Military Healthcare, a key lawmaker said.

The projected savings will reinforce a belief among retiree advocates that the task force is "stacked" and ready to meet DoD cost-cutting targets, said Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.), the new chairman of the House armed services' subcommittee on military personnel.

Snyder leveled that complaint at Dr. William Winkenwerder, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, during a Feb. 13 hearing on the proposed fiscal 2008 defense health budget.

"It was not our intent to poison the water in any way," Winkenwerder replied. "I hope that's not the case."

However, the $1.9 billion hole left in the defense health budget, he added, should be viewed by Congress as a sign of how committed defense leaders, especially military leaders, are to slowing retiree health costs.

Winkenwerder denied that the task force had been "stacked" with people who support raising fees for military retirees. Yet he also expressed confidence that task force recommendations will be endorsed by DoD and urged they be given serious consideration by Congress. Recommendations to control costs are expected to be in an interim task force report due in May.

Senior defense officials and top military officers, some of whom serve on the task force, made clear last year that they want fees, deductibles and co-payments raised sharply for retirees under age 65, their spouses or survivors. The aim is to slow healthcare spending that is encroaching on other defense budget priorities.

The department a year ago sought TRICARE fee increases that, over two years, would raise out-of-pockets costs for retirees E-6 and below by almost 50 percent, double them for senior enlisted retirees and triple them for officers. Beneficiary costs then would be indexed to rise annually by the percentage increase in health premiums for federal civilian employees.

Defense officials argued that TRICARE fees haven't been raised since they were set in 1995. Officials last year projected their plan would save $735 million in fiscal 2007 and $1.8 billion after a second stepped increase in 2008. But Congress voted to block fee increases for at least a year.

When the fiscal 2008 defense budget was unveiled Feb. 5, Winkenwerder told Military Update the $1.9 billion savings projected for retiree healthcare meant the department was abandoning its call for a two-year phase of higher fees and assuming they occur in a single year.

Snyder said he has advised task force leaders to ignore the projected savings and just "do your business. It's not the expectation of Congress that ... your goal is to buy the recommendations of (last) year."