For those of us who don’t choose to live anywhere near a base, which is the majority of the country, Tricare Select was our only choice. Until next year, Tricare Select had been “free” with only the $3000 out of pocket cap. Not great, but not terrible by any stretch. The out of pocket cap will increase by $500 and there will now be a the deductible. The overall price could still be called reasonable, but now that it has been established that out of pocket costs will increase you can expect similar size increases in perpetuity. Tricare Select is NOT as good as my civilian job coverage (probably among the best in the private sector) so I may drop it since that will enable me to qualify to use a HSA that will provide a vehicle to hide more money from the tax man. For the average Joe who is retired military, Tricare will remain his best option. It will simply be a crappier best option than anticipated that will eat up an ever growing share of his retirement. The outrage is generated by the ex post facto changing of the “deal”.