Skelton: Health reform will not touch Tricare

By Rick Maze

Trying to squelch a persistent rumor that a health reform bill sponsored by Democrats would cut Tricare benefits for military retirees, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee vows to introduce legislation that explicitly exempts defense programs from any new health care requirements.
That would include health benefits for service members and their families, military retirees and their families, and employees of nonappropriated-fund activities such as military exchanges.

Democratic leaders have said military and veterans programs are not affected by pending legislation. But concerns remain, fed partly by some vague legislation language and partly by Republican opponents of health care reform.
The concerns of retirees were expressed by representatives of military associations at a March 10 hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s personnel panel, and in a letter to Congress that asked for a guarantee that military and veterans health benefits would not be touched.
In his statement, Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., the armed services committee chairman, said it was too late to amend the health care package before Sunday’s vote to include specific language exempting Tricare and direct military health care benefits. But he said no one should worry.

“I will introduce legislation this week to explicitly state that Tricare and the [nonappropriated fund] health plans meet all requirements for individual health insurance,” he said, promising that the language will be included in the 2011 defense authorization bill that his committee will approve later this year.
Skelton said there may be partisan bickering about health reform, but there is bipartisan support for protecting military health care benefits.
“While some of this committee’s members may disagree on overall health care reform, we are united in our commitment to ensuring that any measure signed into law will not have any unintended consequences that adversely impact the military health care programs for our men and women in uniform and their families,” he said in his statement.
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House votes to exempt TRICARE from health reform bill

By Katherine McIntire Peters

House lawmakers over the weekend voted to protect TRICARE and Defense non-appropriated fund health care beneficiaries from unintended consequences of national health reform.

The exemption (H.R. 4887) applies to the health care coverage provided by the Defense Department to military service members, retirees and their families. It clarifies the tax code to stipulate that coverage provided by Defense is treated as minimal essential coverage, ensuring that service members and their families will not need to purchase additional coverage to meet new health insurance requirements.
The legislation was introduced late Friday by Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. The full House approved it by a vote of 403-0 on Saturday afternoon.

Skelton opposed the health reform bill and planned to vote against it Sunday. In a floor speech Saturday, he acknowledged that the bill under consideration in Congress was unlikely to have any negative effect on military personnel or their dependents.