President Donald Trump has rejected the proposal that called for budget cuts to be made for health care among members of the U.S military.
Pentagon officials had originally put forth the said plan calling for a £2.2 billion cut in the health care budget for the military. In a twitter post, Trump confirmed he firmly rejected the proposal and will not do anything under his presidency to cause harm to U.S military professionals and heroes.
Pentagon officials had proposed the cost-cutting venture as part of a larger collective departmental view to look at budgetary ineffectiveness as per orders from Defense Secretary Mark Esper. The cut was expected to take place over a time period of about five years.
During the global health crisis, critics say however that making such a cut to the health care system will most evidently negatively affect members in service. Since the pandemic is a particularly sensitive period, this might further adversely affect service members.
Earlier this year Esper had put forth a memo asking for serious and aggressive plans to reform military departments. He also called for budget reviews and the important need for more cost-effective ways of carrying out business.
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Trump made such comments just as the first night of the Democratic National Convention came around featuring speakers from the likes of Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, Former first lady Michelle Obama, and Senator Bernie Sanders.
Around 9.5 million active-duty personnel including military retirees and their dependents rely heavily on the military health care system. The government-run military healthcare network is sprawled across the globe, operating in hundreds.
Officials have however refused to disclose any further information regarding the proposal. Only tweets from Hoffman and Esper provide any further information for the public in general.
The spokespersons say that there is no guarantee for whether health care programs will be spared from the budget cuts that are to follow. Esper’s statement does however hint at some future possible budget cuts in the pentagon’s health system. The system includes hundreds of clinics and military hospitals among other facilities of treatment and medical training programs. Tricare and the military’s health insurance program is also part of the system.
A report has cited many unnamed defense officials and identified the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences as one of the possible areas that could receive a cut in the budget. The Bethesda, Md., institution has a medical school as well as a graduate-level training program in fields related to medicine for nurses and scientists.
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The medical students from this school are usually commissioned into military service or the U.S. Public Health service. Such students are obligated to serve as long as seven years in their positions of work. The budget cut might mean a slow death for the institution.
According to restructuring assessments mandated by the Congress in the year 2017, the Pentagon’s medical system will face certain changes in the years to come as a result.
A plan submitted by Congress in February might mean a budget cut could prevent military retirees and family access to about 37 military hospitals and clinics. This cut could, therefore, affect a military retiree and family’s quality of life in the chance occurrence of any health-related adversities.
