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Retired U.S. Guard/Reserve eligible for Tricare before 60


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This was supposed to take effect in October of 2009; the bill wasn't passed till after that, so Tricare is still scrambling on this. From what I've seen they won't have definite numbers (eligibility, costs, exclusions, etc...) till late this summer/early fall.

TRICARE Program for Gray Area Reservists On Its Way

December 17, 2009

No. 09-76

FALLS CHURCH, Va. - A new program will offer “gray area†reservists the opportunity to purchase TRICARE health care coverage.

While qualified members of the Selected Reserve may purchase premium-based coverage under TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS), retired National Guard and Reserve personnel did not have TRICARE health coverage options until they reached age 60.

Under a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2010, that’s all changed.

The new provision will allow certain members of the Retired Reserve who are not yet age 60 (“gray-area†retirees), to purchase TRICARE Standard (and Extra) coverage. TRICARE Extra simply means beneficiaries have lower out of pocket costs if they use a network provider.

“We’re working hard to coordinate all the details of eligibility, coverage and costs, and expedite implementation of this important program,†said Rear Adm. Christine Hunter, deputy director of the TRICARE Management Activity. “This is a major benefit program with implementation on the same magnitude as TRS. It will require detailed design, development and testing, but qualified retired reservists should be able to purchase coverage by late summer or early fall of 2010.â€

While the health care benefit provided for gray-area retirees will be TRICARE Standard and Extra – similar to TRS – the new program will differ from TRS in its qualifications, premiums, copayment rates and catastrophic cap requirements. The program is tentatively called TRICARE Retired Reserve.

The new statute requires premium rates to equal the full cost of the coverage. That is the major difference contrasted with TRS, where the statute provides that Selected Reserve members pay only 28 percent of the cost of the coverage. Premiums for the new gray area retiree program will be announced after program rules are published in the Federal Register.

This new program offers an important health coverage option for Reserve and National Guard members who served their country honorably before hanging up their uniforms at retirement, said Hunter. For more information about TRICARE benefits go to http://www.tricare.mil.

About TRICARE Management Activity and the Military Health System

TRICARE Management Activity, the Defense Department activity that administers the health care plan for the uniformed services, retirees and their families, serves more than 9.5 million eligible beneficiaries worldwide in the Military Health System (MHS). The mission of the MHS is to enhance Department of Defense and national security by providing health support for the full range of military operations. The MHS provides quality medical care through a network of providers, military treatment facilities, medical clinics and dental clinics worldwide. For more about the MHS go to www.health.mil.

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Don,t hold your breath if this Health Care bill passes. According to a friend who is an executive with the American Ieigon there are parts of the Health Care bill that will drastically cut Tricare benefits.

Edited by Phantom ordie
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Don,t hold your breath if this Health Care bill passes. According to a friend who is an executive with the American Ieigon there are parts of the Health Care bill that will drastically cut Tricare benefits.

Did he say specifically how Tricare woud be affected? Googling Tricare and the health bill, comes up with this link which says there will be no cuts, and even specifically mentions the American Legion's concerns:

Some veterans’ organizations, including the American Legion, wrote letters to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in July voicing concern that the legislation could impact health care for veterans. But the House Committee on Energy and Commerce said that the bill wouldn’t impact TRICARE beneficiaries:

Press Office of Energy and Commerce Committee, July 31: Several veterans’ organization wrote to Speaker Pelosi yesterday raising concerns that H.R. 3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, would limit care to veterans. We are writing to say that these concerns are already addressed in the legislative language and with an amendment accepted during our committee’s markup (Buyer).

Specifically, veterans’ health care will not be impacted by the House legislation. Section 202 (d)2(E) and (F) of the bill states that “members of the armed forces and dependents (including TRICARE)†and those who receive VA care will be considered as having acceptable minimum coverage – in other words, veterans will not subject to the 2.5% penalty if they are enrolled in TRICARE or VA care.

The Energy and Commerce Committee also accepted an amendment by Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN) during the markup of the legislation to further clarify that those who participate in the VA system will be exempt from the requirements of the legislation.

Furthermore, there are no proposed cuts to TRICARE programs in the recently passed "Affordable Health Care for America Act of 2009" (H.R. 3962), which combines three different House health care bills into one. And there is also no language in either the Senate Finance Committee or Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee health care bills that discusses eliminating coverage under TRICARE or TRICARE for Life. In fact, section 1922 of the Senate Finance Committee bill specifically states that "[n]othing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit, limit, or otherwise penalize eligible beneficiaries from receiving timely access to quality health care in any military medical treatment facility or under the TRICARE program."

Regards,

Murph

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Did he say specifically how Tricare woud be affected? Googling Tricare and the health bill, comes up with this link which says there will be no cuts, and even specifically mentions the American Legion's concerns:

Regards,

Murph

You could go to www.legion.org and tag Steve Robertson Director. He specifically mentioned certain pages of the bill that cut some Tricare benefits. Mabye this is not the place to carry this any further.

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Just an update from the the Military Officer's Association:

From MOAA President: National Health Reform and You

2010/03/25 00:00:00

Dear members and friends of the military community,

In recent days, we’ve seen a barrage of information (and misinformation, in many cases) about how national health reform legislation might affect currently serving and retired servicemembers and their families.

Now that President Obama has signed the initial legislation into law, I want to lay out for you what we know.

The biggest question on our members’ minds has been: “How will passage of national health reform legislation affect me?†For members under age 65, based on what we know so far, the answer appears to be, “Not much, if at all.â€

There are some changes to Medicare, but it remains to be seen what the real impact of those may be over time. The most significant of them is likely to be some reduction of availability of Medicare Advantage HMOs.

In the meantime, MOAA has prepared answers to the most-frequently asked questions that we hope you’ll find useful.

Unfortunately, there already are messages flying around the internet to the effect that “I heard this will end TRICARE†or “This will force military people to buy other coverage.†That’s simply not true. If you get such messages, please help educate the senders with MOAA’s answers.

As MOAA has said from the beginning, everyone we’ve talked to in the Administration or the House or the Senate, of either political party, supports protecting military and VA beneficiaries from adverse effects associated with national health reform.

Just to be sure, MOAA and loyal members like you generated more than 100,000 messages to Congress urging protection of the unique military and VA health benefits and protection against any taxation of those benefits. And your voices were heard.

In as clear an indication of that as anyone could ask for, the House unanimously passed separate legislation explicitly citing TRICARE as “qualifying health coverage†for purposes of the new law. The Senate is working now to pass the same legislation. VA care and TRICARE For Life already were explicitly designated in law. That means eligible beneficiaries of those programs won’t be subject to financial penalties that can be imposed on people who don’t have qualifying insurance.

That said, let’s be clear on another key issue.

Can anyone guarantee that there will never be any unfavorable changes to military and VA programs? No.

Do we know for sure how all the details will play out? No.

There’s always a potential for unintended consequences, and there’s always the potential for new initiatives to arise (see below).

But if you were worried that national health reform legislation is somehow aimed at whacking military beneficiaries’ health coverage, that’s just not so.

Frankly, we think the much more significant issue for Medicare – and for the military community and the rest of America -- is what proposed changes will be recommended by the new National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform that’s supposed to report by Dec. 1 on options to reduce the national debt.

You have my personal pledge that MOAA will continue to be vigilant as implementation of national health reform proceeds – and as the new debt commission proposals become known – and your association will continue to do everything in our power to protect your interests and your service-earned health benefits.

All the best,

VADM Norb Ryan Jr., USN (Ret)

President

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Air Force Times article

Senate votes to protect Tricare beneficiaries

By Rick Maze - Staff writer

Posted : Thursday Apr 15, 2010 15:06:42 EDT

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.â€

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