“A House panel wants to put the Defense Department’s plans to cut its medical force and restructure its facilities on hold for a year.”
“The House Armed Service Personnel Subcommittee’s 2021 defense authorization language prohibits the realignment or reduction of authorized military medical end strength and delays moving military family member and retiree medical treatment from military treatment facilities (MTFs) to the TRICARE network.”
“If the provisions make it into law they would put a stop to the Defense Department’s plan to cut as many as 18,000 medical staff and close or restructure up to 50 MTFs.”
“A House Armed Services Committee aide said Monday that lawmakers’ concerns over the information they’ve been provided on the cuts partly led to the provision. Congress asked for a breakdown of what billets would be cut, but never received it from DoD.”
“’The numbers keep changing and we don’t have analysis behind it,’ the aide said. ‘It’s supposed to be based on operation requirements. The department has not completed updating all their operational plans, so our question to them is ‘How can you make cuts if you don’t know what your operational requirements are?’’” Read the full article here.
Source: House panel wants to slow military cuts to medical staff and facilities – By Scott Maucione, June 22, 2020. Federal News Network.
