II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5142 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to eliminate certain health care 

charges for members of the Selected Reserve eligible for TRICARE 

Reserve Select, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 29, 2022 

Ms. BALDWIN (for herself and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to eliminate certain 

health care charges for members of the Selected Reserve 

eligible for TRICARE Reserve Select, and for other purposes. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Healthcare for Our 

5 Troops Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF CERTAIN HEALTH CARE CHARGES 

2 FOR MEMBERS OF THE SELECTED RESERVE. 

3 (a) TRICARE RESERVE SELECT.—Section 1076d of 

4 title 10, United States Code, is amended to read as fol5 lows: 

6 ‘‘§ 1076d. TRICARE program: TRICARE Reserve Se7 lect coverage for members of the Selected 

8 Reserve 

9 ‘‘(a) MEMBERS OF SELECTED RESERVE.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A member of the Selected 

11 Reserve of the Ready Reserve of a reserve compo12 nent of the Armed Forces is eligible for health bene13 fits under TRICARE Reserve Select as provided in 

14 this section. 

15 ‘‘(2) TERMINATION OF COVERAGE.—Eligibility 

16 for TRICARE Reserve Select coverage of a member 

17 under this section shall terminate upon the termi18 nation of the member’s service in the Selected Re19 serve. 

20 ‘‘(b) TRICARE RESERVE SELECT FAMILY COV21 ERAGE.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—While a member of a re23 serve component is covered by TRICARE Reserve 

24 Select under this section, the members of the imme25 diate family of such member are eligible for 


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1 TRICARE Reserve Select family coverage as de2 pendents of the member. 

3 ‘‘(2) CONTINUATION OF COVERAGE.—If a mem4 ber of a reserve component dies while in a period of 

5 coverage under this section, the eligibility of the 

6 members of the immediate family of such member 

7 for TRICARE Reserve Select family coverage shall 

8 continue for six months beyond the date of death of 

9 the member. 

10 ‘‘(c) PREMIUMS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) NO PREMIUMS FOR INDIVIDUAL COV12 ERAGE.—A member of a reserve component covered 

13 by TRICARE Reserve Select individual coverage 

14 shall pay no premium for such coverage. 

15 ‘‘(2) FAMILY COVERAGE.— 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A member of a re17 serve component covered by TRICARE Reserve 

18 Select under this section shall pay a premium 

19 for any member of the immediate family of 

20 such member covered under TRICARE Reserve 

21 Select family coverage. Such premium shall 

22 apply instead of any enrollment fees required 

23 under section 1075 of this title. 

24 ‘‘(B) UNIFORM APPLICATION.—The Sec25 retary of Defense shall prescribe for the purVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:16 Nov 30, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5142.IS S5142

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1 poses of this section one premium for 

2 TRICARE Reserve Select family coverage of 

3 immediate family members of members of the 

4 reserve components, that shall apply uniformly 

5 to all such immediate family members. 

6 ‘‘(C) PREMIUM AMOUNT.— 

7 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The monthly 

8 amount of the premium in effect for a 

9 month for TRICARE Reserve Select family 

10 coverage under this section shall be the 

11 amount equal to 28 percent of the total 

12 monthly amount determined on an appro13 priate actuarial basis as being reasonable 

14 for that coverage. 

15 ‘‘(ii) APPROPRIATE ACTUARIAL

16 BASIS.—The appropriate actuarial basis 

17 for purposes of clause (i) for each calendar 

18 year after calendar year 2009 shall be de19 termined by utilizing the actual cost of 

20 providing benefits under this section to de21 pendents of members of the reserve compo22 nents during the calendar years preceding 

23 such calendar year. 

24 ‘‘(D) PAYMENT OF PREMIUMS.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The premiums for 

2 TRICARE Reserve Select family coverage 

3 payable by a member of a reserve compo4 nent under this subsection may be de5 ducted and withheld from basic pay pay6 able to the member under section 204 of 

7 title 37 or from compensation payable to 

8 the member under section 206 of such 

9 title. 

10 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENTS AND PROCE11 DURES.—The Secretary shall prescribe the 

12 requirements and procedures applicable to 

13 the payment of premiums under this sub14 section. 

15 ‘‘(E) COLLECTION OF PREMIUMS.— 

16 Amounts collected as premiums under this sub17 section shall be credited to the appropriation 

18 available for the Defense Health Program Ac19 count under section 1100 of this title, shall be 

20 merged with sums in such account that are 

21 available for the fiscal year in which collected, 

22 and shall be available under subsection (b) of 

23 such section for such fiscal year. 

24 ‘‘(d) COST-SHARING AMOUNTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) NETWORK INDIVIDUAL COVERAGE.—Ex2 cept as provided in paragraph (2), a beneficiary cov3 ered by TRICARE Reserve Select individual cov4 erage shall pay no charge for any health care service 

5 to which the beneficiary is entitled pursuant to such 

6 coverage. 

7 ‘‘(2) OUT-OF-NETWORK INDIVIDUAL COV8 ERAGE.—With respect to out-of-network health care 

9 services, a beneficiary covered by TRICARE Reserve 

10 Select individual coverage shall be subject to the 

11 same out-of-network cost-sharing requirements as 

12 those to which beneficiaries described in section 

13 1075(c)(1) of this title in the active-duty family 

14 member category are subject to for the cor15 responding year. 

16 ‘‘(3) FAMILY COVERAGE.—A beneficiary cov17 ered by TRICARE Reserve Select family coverage 

18 shall be subject to the same cost-sharing require19 ments as those to which beneficiaries described in 

20 section 1075(c)(1) of this title in the active-duty 

21 family member category are subject to for the cor22 responding year. 

23 ‘‘(e) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of Defense, in 

24 consultation with the other administering Secretaries, 


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1 shall prescribe regulations for the administration of this 

2 section. 

3 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 ‘‘(1) The terms ‘active-duty family member cat5 egory’, ‘network’, and ‘out-of-network’ have the 

6 meanings given such terms in section 1075(i) of this 

7 title. 

8 ‘‘(2) The term ‘immediate family’, with respect 

9 to a member of a reserve component, means all of 

10 the member’s dependents described in subpara11 graphs (A), (D), and (I) of section 1072(2) of this 

12 title. 

13 ‘‘(3) The term ‘TRICARE Reserve Select’ 

14 means— 

15 ‘‘(A) medical care, excluding dental care, 

16 at facilities of the uniformed services to which 

17 a dependent described in section 1076(a)(2) of 

18 this title is entitled; and 

19 ‘‘(B) health benefits under the TRICARE 

20 Select self-managed, preferred provider network 

21 option under section 1075 of this title made 

22 available to beneficiaries by reason of this sec23 tion and subject to the cost-sharing require24 ments set forth in subsection (d). 


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1 ‘‘(4) The term ‘TRICARE Reserve Select fam2 ily coverage’ means coverage under TRICARE Re3 serve Select of any members of the immediate family 

4 of a member of a reserve component, as described in 

5 subsection (b). 

6 ‘‘(5) The term ‘TRICARE Reserve Select indi7 vidual coverage’ means coverage under TRICARE 

8 Reserve Select of a member of a reserve component, 

9 as described in subsection (a).’’. 

10 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO TRICARE SE11 LECT.—Paragraph (3) of section 1075(c) of title 10, 

12 United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

13 ‘‘(3) With respect to beneficiaries in the reserve 

14 and young adult category— 

15 ‘‘(A) for beneficiaries covered by section 

16 1076e or 1110b of this title, the cost-sharing 

17 requirements shall be calculated pursuant to 

18 subsection (d)(1) as if the beneficiary were in 

19 the active-duty family member category or the 

20 retired category, as applicable, except that the 

21 premiums calculated pursuant to section 1076e 

22 or 1110b of this title shall apply instead of any 

23 enrollment fee required under this section; and 

24 ‘‘(B) for beneficiaries covered by section 

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1 ments shall be calculated pursuant to sub2 section (d) of such section.’’. 

3 (c) APPLICABILITY.—This section shall apply with re4 spect to the provision of health care under the TRICARE 

5 program beginning on the date that is one year after the 

6 date of the enactment of this Act. 

7 SEC. 3. FORMS AND STUDY RELATING TO IMPROVED COV8 ERAGE FOR MEMBERS OF THE SELECTED RE9 SERVE. 

10 (a) FORMS.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

12 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec13 retary of Defense shall develop forms to be used by 

14 civilian health care providers under the purchased 

15 care component of the TRICARE program for med16 ical care for members of the Selected Reserve of the 

17 Ready Reserve of a reserve component of the Armed 

18 Forces eligible for TRICARE Reserve Select. 

19 (2) INFORMATION TO INCLUDE.—Forms devel20 oped under paragraph (1) shall include opportunities 

21 for a civilian health care provider to indicate, with 

22 respect to a member of the Selected Reserve, the fol23 lowing information: 

24 (A) Medical Readiness Classification. 

25 (B) Fitness for deployment. 


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1 (C) Any other information the Secretary 

2 determines necessary. 

3 (b) STUDY.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense 

5 shall conduct a study on— 

6 (A) the phasing out of mass medical events 

7 and periodic health assessments for members of 

8 the Selected Reserve eligible for TRICARE Re9 serve Select; and 

10 (B) the replacement of such events and 

11 processes with the new TRICARE Reserve Se12 lect coverage model under section 1076d of title 

13 10, United States Code, as amended by section 

14 2(a), and the use of forms by civilian health 

15 care providers as specified in subsection (a). 

16 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after 

17 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

18 shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services of 

19 the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of 

20 the House of Representatives a report containing the 

21 findings of the study conducted under paragraph 

22 (1). 

23 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms 

24 ‘‘TRICARE program’’ and ‘‘TRICARE Reserve Select’’ 


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1 have the meanings given those terms in section 1072 of 

2 title 10, United States Code. 

Æ 


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