Senate votes to protect Tricare beneficiaries - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Senate votes to protect Tricare beneficiaries

Although military and congressional leaders insisted it wasn’t necessary, the Senate gave final approval Monday to a bill intended to reassure Tricare beneficiaries that national health care reform won’t require them to buy additional health insurance or to pay a penalty if they do not.

Called the Tricare Affirmation Act, the bill now on its way to the White House says Defense Department health coverage will be treated as minimal essential coverage under the new national health care law, which means that Tricare beneficiaries would not be subject to the $750 penalty created by Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act if they do not have private health insurance.

The bill also says that health care coverage provided to non-appropriated fund employees of the Defense Department also satisfies the requirement of being minimal coverage.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., the Senate armed services personnel subcommittee chairman who shepherded the bill through the Senate, said he hoped passage quelled doubts. “Following months of confusion surrounding military health care programs, we can now definitively tell our service members and their families today that their health care is secure,” Webb said in a statement.

“As one who grew up in the military, served as a Marine in Vietnam and spent five years in the Pentagon, I know the special obligation we have to provide our military service members, their families, and our veterans with the very finest health care coverage available. Today, we can tell them that we’ve continued to make good on that promise,” said Webb, who grew up in an Air Force family.

The Senate passed the bill, HR 4887, by voice vote and with no debate on its first day back after a two-week recess that followed passage of the historic health reform law. The House of Representatives passed the Tricare Affirmation Act on March 20 by a 403-0 vote, on the eve of its passage of the health reform law, after questions were raised about whether military families and retirees might be hurt by the new law.

The acting head of Tricare, Charles Rice, and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius both issued statements saying Tricare met the definition of essential coverage. But concerns have continued, fueled in part by some Republicans who are trying to get the reform law repealed, which is what led the Senate to pass the House bill.

While the bill addresses the narrow question of “essential” coverage, it does not answer every concern about whether health reform, Public Law 111-148, will affect military members and retirees. Rice said in an April 2 statement that his agency was battling “misinformation” and was working to squelch rumors that Tricare benefits will be lost as a result of the new law.

Passage of the Tricare Assurance Act was praised by representatives of major military and veterans’ group. Retired Navy Vice Adm. Norbert Ryan Jr., Military Officers Association of America president, said his group accepted assurances from congressional and administration leaders that Tricare was not going to be harmed, but “the lack of statutory clarity was a source of concern to many.” The bill, Ryan said, provides “clarity beyond any doubt.”

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