The Nation - News from Dec. 16, 1988

Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci has scuttled a proposal by White House budget officials to charge military dependents and retirees a user fee for health care, Pentagon sources said. The sources, who spoke on condition they not be named, said Carlucci had intervened personally with officials at the Office of Management and Budget and made clear his opposition to the idea. “OMB is backing down,” one ranking official said. “This plan will be scrapped.” Dan Howard, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, declined to say whether OMB had agreed to discard the plan. But Howard made it clear that Carlucci had fought the budget office over the matter.