Mark Begich

So why not just cut through it all and create a Medicaid waiver program for military that will actually go into play anyway?

I think I had my co-payment premiums at $6,000 last year.

Because the evidence is telling you something, and it is worthwhile to ask the question for policyholders to consider, correct?

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

I've long been an advocate for eliminating assignment restrictions for women in the military.

This year DOD's proposal for TRICARE Prime enrollment fees is for a first-year increase of 30 percent to 78 percent.

I may better understand it, as it will have a tremendous impact on all men and women in uniform, but especially on constituents in Alaska, as we don't want to go backwards with progress that has been made in the State.

I appreciate that answer. But I would have expected that from our personnel department in the city would have done that.

Dr. Woodson, I understand you made a decision recently on the TRICARE contract in the West Region, which serves my home State of Alaska.

So you accept because they go through this kind of chain, to a certain extent, I am not saying all the time.

I will not belabor it more than that, to say the response was not as thoughtful as I thought it would be.

To be very frank with you, we are not changing any of the prioritization.

I come from being a former mayor where if I have a CFO, they know all, and at the end of the day, they have to sign off on money things.

Would you agree Alaska and Hawaii--two States strategically located to enable the basing, staging, and training of forces to promote U.S. interests in the Asia-Pacific region--are critical and significant to the new guidance?

I appreciate the Army's initial attempt to utilize voluntary measures to implement the reductions.

We should have made the decision last year and honestly talked about all three pieces, but we did not.

The reality is you cannot cut your way out of this problem, there is no possible way.

Also from the Air Force end, the alternative fuel development, all your technologies now making sure that you are not just on a certain type of aviation fuel, but new technologies so you can become more self-sufficient and less dependent…

In an efficient and ready way too. You move quicker with less of those batteries, for example.

We have to deal with revenues. No one wants to talk about it. It scares everyone to death here.

We have invested billions in these ports around the country and around the world, and it is in our interest to make sure if there is--we can argue over the science and all that.

I think we are game to find those savings. But let us make sure they are sustainable savings, and that is how we look at this.

I see this as a back door base realignment and closure without all the public process and the need.

Thank you for your service and for the Alaskans that are now starting to come back from Afghanistan.

I appreciate that. Here is the feedback, just so we have it on the record, from many people who met with the team that was up there.