I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4554 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to ensure that certain members 

of the National Guard serving on full-time National Guard duty and 

dependents remain eligible for the TRICARE program during periods 

in which the member is responding to a disaster. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 

Ms. DELBENE (for herself, Mr. PALAZZO, Mr. WALZ, Ms. MCSALLY, Mr. 

MCGOVERN, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. NUGENT, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, 

Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. BRIDENSTINE, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. JONES, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. CARNEY, Mrs. TORRES, Mr. 

HONDA, Mr. REICHERT, Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. HECK of 

Washington, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. SERRANO, and Ms. MCCOLLUM) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed 

Services 

A BILL 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to ensure that certain members of the National Guard serving on fulltime National Guard duty and dependents remain eligible 

for the TRICARE program during periods in which the 

member is responding to a disaster. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. EXTENDED TRICARE PROGRAM COVERAGE 

2 FOR CERTAIN MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL 

3 GUARD AND DEPENDENTS DURING CERTAIN 

4 DISASTER RESPONSE DUTY. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 55 of title 10, United 

6 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1076e 

7 the following new section: 

8 ‘‘§ 1076f. TRICARE program: extension of coverage 

9 for certain members of the National 

10 Guard and dependents during certain 

11 disaster response duty 

12 ‘‘(a) EXTENDED COVERAGE.—During a period in 

13 which a member of the National Guard is performing dis14 aster response duty, the member shall be treated as being 

15 on active duty for a period of more than 30 days for pur16 poses of the eligibility of the member and dependents of 

17 the member for health care benefits under the TRICARE 

18 program if such period immediately follows a period in 

19 which the member served on full-time National Guard 

20 duty under section 502(f) of title 32, including pursuant 

21 to chapter 9 of such title. 

22 ‘‘(b) CONTRIBUTION BY STATE.—(1) The Secretary 

23 shall charge a State for the costs of providing coverage 

24 under the TRICARE program to members of the National 

25 Guard of the State and the dependents of the members 

26 pursuant to subsection (a). Such charges shall be paid 


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1 from the funds of the State or from any other non-Federal 

2 funds. 

3 ‘‘(2) Any amounts received by the Secretary under 

4 paragraph (1) shall be credited to the appropriation avail5 able for the Defense Health Program Account under sec6 tion 1100 of this title, shall be merged with sums in such 

7 Account that are available for the fiscal year in which col8 lected, and shall be available under subsection (b) of such 

9 section, including to carry out subsection (a) of this sec10 tion. 

11 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

12 ‘‘(1) The term ‘disaster response duty’ means 

13 duty performed by a member of the National Guard 

14 in State status pursuant to an emergency declara15 tion by the Governor of the State (or, with respect 

16 to the District of Columbia, the mayor of the Dis17 trict of Columbia) in response to a disaster or in 

18 preparation for an imminent disaster. 

19 ‘‘(2) The term ‘State’ means each of the several 

20 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 

21 of Puerto Rico, and any territory or possession of 

22 the United States.’’. 

23 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

24 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 


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1 after the item relating to section 1076e the following new 

2 item: 

‘‘1076f. TRICARE program: extension of coverage for certain members of the 

National Guard and dependents during certain disaster response duty.’’. 

Æ 


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