I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4551 

To restore health care coverage to retired members of the uniformed services, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 27, 2010 

Mr. VAN HOLLEN (for himself, Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Mr. 

WOLF, Ms. BORDALLO, Ms. SHEA-PORTER, Mr. BARTLETT, Mr. BRADY

of Pennsylvania, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. ELLISON, Mrs. 

CAPPS, Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, Mr. BOSWELL, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. 

SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. JONES, Mr. TAYLOR, Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Mr. PAUL, Ms. 

JACKSON LEE of Texas, Mr. SESTAK, Mr. KAGEN, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. 

GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. HARE, Mr. 

MCINTYRE, and Mr. GORDON of Tennessee) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition 

to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to 

be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 

concerned 

A BILL 

To restore health care coverage to retired members of the 

uniformed services, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Keep Our Promise to 

3 America’s Military Retirees Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) No statutory health care program existed 

7 for members of the uniformed services who entered 

8 service prior to December 7, 1956, and retired after 

9 serving a minimum of 20 years. 

10 (2) Statutes enacted in 1956 allowed those who 

11 entered service on or after December 7, 1956, and 

12 retired after serving a minimum of 20 years or by 

13 reason of a service-connected disability to medical 

14 and dental care in any facility of the uniformed serv15 ices, subject to the availability of space and facilities 

16 and the capabilities of the medical and dental staff. 

17 (3) Recruiters, re-enlistment counselors, and of18 ficers at all levels of the uniformed services, and 

19 other government officials, as agents of the United 

20 States Government, continued to allow members who 

21 entered the uniformed services to believe they would 

22 be entitled to fully paid lifetime health care upon re23 tirement, despite enactment of statutes in 1956, 

24 subsequent statutes, and the issuance of regulations 

25 that defined and limited the availability of medical 

26 care to retired members of the uniformed services. 


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1 (4) After 5 rounds of base closures between 

2 1988 and 1995 and further drawdowns of remaining 

3 military medical treatment facilities, access to 

4 ‘‘space available’’ health care in a military medical 

5 treatment facility is difficult for many military retir6 ees and virtually nonexistent for some. 

7 (5) Although provisions in the Floyd D. Spence 

8 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 

9 2001 (as enacted into law by Public Law 106–398) 

10 extended coverage under the TRICARE program to 

11 medicare eligible military retirees age 65 and older, 

12 those provisions did not address the health care 

13 needs of military retirees under the age of 65. 

14 (6) The United States should make good on the 

15 promises recruiters made in good faith and reestab16 lish high quality health care for all retired members 

17 of the uniformed services. 

18 SEC. 3. COVERAGE OF MILITARY RETIREES UNDER THE 

19 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES HEALTH BENEFITS 

20 PROGRAM. 

21 (a) COVERAGE FOR RETIREES AND DEPENDENTS.— 

22 (1) Section 1108 of title 10, United States 

23 Code, is amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘§ 1108. Health care coverage through Federal Em2 ployees Health Benefits program 

3 ‘‘(a) FEHBP OPTION.—The Secretary of Defense, 

4 after consulting with the other administering Secretaries, 

5 shall enter into an agreement with the Office of Personnel 

6 Management to provide coverage to eligible beneficiaries 

7 described in subsection (b) under the health benefits plans 

8 offered through the Federal Employees Health Benefits 

9 program under chapter 89 of title 5. 

10 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE BENEFICIARIES; COVERAGE.—(1) An 

11 eligible beneficiary under this subsection is— 

12 ‘‘(A) a member or former member of the uni13 formed services described in section 1074(b) of this 

14 title; 

15 ‘‘(B) an individual who is an unremarried 

16 former spouse of a member or former member de17 scribed in section 1072(2)(F) or 1072(2)(G); 

18 ‘‘(C) an individual who is— 

19 ‘‘(i) a dependent of a deceased member or 

20 former member described in section 1076(b) or 

21 1076(a)(2)(B) of this title or of a member who 

22 died while on active duty for a period of more 

23 than 30 days; and 

24 ‘‘(ii) a member of family as defined in sec25 tion 8901(5) of title 5; or 

26 ‘‘(D) an individual who is— 


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1 ‘‘(i) a dependent of a living member or 

2 former member described in section 1076(b)(1) 

3 of this title; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) a member of family as defined in sec5 tion 8901(5) of title 5. 

6 ‘‘(2) Eligible beneficiaries may enroll in a Federal 

7 Employees Health Benefit plan under chapter 89 of title 

8 5 under this section for self-only coverage or for self and 

9 family coverage which includes any dependent of the mem10 ber or former member who is a family member for pur11 poses of such chapter. 

12 ‘‘(3) A person eligible for coverage under this sub13 section shall not be required to satisfy any eligibility cri14 teria specified in chapter 89 of title 5 (except as provided 

15 in paragraph (1)(C) or (1)(D)) as a condition for enroll16 ment in health benefits plans offered through the Federal 

17 Employees Health Benefits program under this section. 

18 ‘‘(4) For purposes of determining whether an indi19 vidual is a member of family under paragraph (5) of sec20 tion 8901 of title 5 for purposes of paragraph (1)(C) or 

21 (1)(D), a member or former member described in section 

22 1076(b) or 1076(a)(2)(B) of this title shall be deemed to 

23 be an employee under such section. 

24 ‘‘(5) An eligible beneficiary who enrolls in the Federal 

25 Employees Health Benefits program under this section 


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1 shall not be eligible to receive health care under section 

2 1086 or section 1097. Such a beneficiary may continue 

3 to receive health care in a military medical treatment facil4 ity, in which case the treatment facility shall be reim5 bursed by the Federal Employees Health Benefits pro6 gram for health care services or drugs received by the ben7 eficiary. 

8 ‘‘(c) CHANGE OF HEALTH BENEFITS PLAN.—An eli9 gible beneficiary enrolled in a Federal Employees Health 

10 Benefits plan under this section may change health bene11 fits plans and coverage in the same manner as any other 

12 Federal Employees Health Benefits program beneficiary 

13 may change such plans. 

14 ‘‘(d) GOVERNMENT CONTRIBUTIONS.—The amount 

15 of the Government contribution for an eligible beneficiary 

16 who enrolls in a health benefits plan under chapter 89 of 

17 title 5 in accordance with this section may not exceed the 

18 amount of the Government contribution which would be 

19 payable if the electing beneficiary were an employee (as 

20 defined for purposes of such chapter) enrolled in the same 

21 health benefits plan and level of benefits. 

22 ‘‘(e) SEPARATE RISK POOLS.—The Director of the 

23 Office of Personnel Management shall require health bene24 fits plans under chapter 89 of title 5 to maintain a sepa25 rate risk pool for purposes of establishing premium rates 


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1 for eligible beneficiaries who enroll in such a plan in ac2 cordance with this section. 

3 ‘‘(f) REIMBURSEMENT FOR EXPENSES FOR HEALTH

4 CARE SERVICES NORMALLY PROVIDED BY THE DEPART5 MENT OF DEFENSE UNDER TRICARE STANDARD.—The 

6 Secretary of Defense shall develop and implement a sys7 tem to reimburse an eligible beneficiary who enrolls in a 

8 health benefits plan under chapter 89 of title 5 in accord9 ance with this section for health care costs incurred by 

10 the beneficiary that are not paid under the health benefits 

11 plan but would have been paid by the Department of De12 fense under TRICARE Standard.’’. 

13 (2) The item relating to section 1108 at the begin14 ning of such chapter is amended to read as follows: 

‘‘1108. Health care coverage through Federal Employees Health Benefits program.’’. 

15 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

16 this section shall take effect on October 1, 2010. 

17 SEC. 4. REIMBURSEMENT FOR TRICARE PHARMACY BENE18 FITS AT TRICARE NETWORK PHARMACY LEV19 ELS TO CERTAIN MILITARY RETIREES AND 

20 DEPENDENTS IN HARDSHIP CASES. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an eligible person 

22 who has a certification described in subsection (b), the 

23 Secretary shall reimburse such person for pharmacy bene24 fits received from a pharmacy that is not a TRICARE 


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1 network pharmacy in the same manner and in the same 

2 amounts as the Secretary would reimburse such person 

3 for such benefits received from a pharmacy that is a 

4 TRICARE network pharmacy. 

5 (b) CERTIFICATION.—The certification referred to in 

6 subsection (a) is a certification from an eligible person’s 

7 physician— 

8 (1) stating that the person does not have access 

9 to a TRICARE network pharmacy due to physical or 

10 medical constraints; and 

11 (2) meeting such other criteria as the Secretary 

12 of Defense considers appropriate. 

13 (c) ELIGIBLE PERSON.—In this section, an eligible 

14 person is an eligible beneficiary as described in section 

15 1108(b) of title 10, United States Code, who has another 

16 insurance plan or program that provides primary coverage 

17 for health benefits. 

Æ 


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