Senior military officers place a high value on retirement benefits and health care for their families while junior enlisted personnel tend to favor increases in pay, according to new survey results from a nonpartisan policy research institute.
Active-duty service members at the lower end of the pay scale would prefer higher basic pay over other forms of compensation, even if it meant shelling out more for their health care in retirement, the survey from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments found. The lure of a pay boost is much more enticing to junior personnel than to those in the senior ranks: Increasing basic pay for those with less time and experience in the military had six times more impact per dollar than raising it for senior officers. “This finding calls into question the wisdom of across-the-board pay raises,” the report said.
Still, 89 percent of midcareer service members who participated in the survey said they would prefer a $350 boost in annual pay in exchange for higher TRICARE Prime fees once they retire.
Service members at all career levels did not value the free TRICARE for Life benefit commensurate to the program’s cost to the Defense Department, the survey found. TRICARE for Life beneficiaries do not pay enrollment fees but are responsible for Medicare Part B premiums. Those over 65 beneficiaries accounted for 48 percent of all Defense health care cost increases between 2000 and 2005.
“DoD could rebalance the allocation of resources to move funding from undervalued forms of compensation, such as free TRICARE for Life, to more highly valued forms of compensation, such as basic pay,” stated the CSBA report, released Thursday at the National Press Club. “Rebalancing the compensation system would reduce costs while maintaining or improving the perceived value for service members.”/.../