With the 2016 defense authorization bill close to becoming law, Senate and House lawmakers are looking ahead to fiscal 2017, with a focus on transforming the $48 billion military health care system, congressional aides say.
Members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees decided in April against tackling health care reform as part of the fiscal 2016 defense bill, saying they wanted to focus on significant changes to the military retirement system, defense acquisition process and other programs.
But with that legislative cycle ending, leaders of both committees are promising "a major oversight and reform effort" to the military health care system.
"There is a lot of appetite on the part of the big four [Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.; Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas; and Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash.] as well as a lot of other members of the HASC and SASC, to take a systemic look at the health system," SASC Staff Director Chris Brose said Monday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Global Security Forum 2015 in Washington, D.C.
No oversight hearings have yet been scheduled, but congressional briefings are underway in anticipation of a health care overhaul effort, according to legislative staff.
Earlier this year, the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission recommended major changes to the military health system, to include moving non-active-duty Tricare beneficiaries to civilian health insurance plans and making military hospitals and clinics competitive with civilian facilities.
The commission also argued in favor of creating a four-star Joint Readiness Command that would lead the personnel responsible for readiness, including a subordinate joint medical command.
Commission members said the changes would improve access to health care and solve problems related to providing care to reserve and National Guard members who transition between the military and private health care systems.
A 2013 Government Accountability Office study found that more than a third of Tricare Standard beneficiaries had trouble finding a doctor who would accept Tricare and the situation is worse for Standard beneficiaries living in regions served by Tricare Prime.
Fourteen percent of doctors said they did not take Tricare because of its low reimbursement rates, and 10 percent cited past problems with claims as reasons for severing their relationships with Tricare.
House Armed Services Committee spokesman Claude Chafin said the goal of military health care reform would not be to save money but to "create a better system to serve military personnel and military families."
The fiscal 2016 defense bill, expected to be signed by President Obama this week, does include some changes to the military health system, including increases to pharmacy co-payments for prescriptions not filled at a military hospital or clinic and a coordinated pharmacy formulary between the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments for pain medications, sleep disorders and psychiatric conditions.
Patricia Kime is a senior writer covering military and veterans health care, medicine and personnel issues.
