I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4949 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to prohibit increases in fees for 

military health care. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 14, 2006 

Mr. EDWARDS (for himself, Mr. JONES of North Carolina, Mrs. 

CHRISTENSEN, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, 

Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. BISHOP of 

Georgia, Mr. ALLEN, Mrs. MCCARTHY, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. BERRY, Mr. 

DEFAZIO, Mr. FORD, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. 

ABERCROMBIE, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. HONDA, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mrs. MALONEY, Mrs. DRAKE, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. GENE GREEN

of Texas, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. FILNER, Mr. CHANDLER, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. GINGREY, Mr. BARROW, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. FARR, Mr. GOODE, Mr. SIMMONS, Mr. BONNER, Mrs. 

DAVIS of California, Ms. HERSETH, Mr. GORDON, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. 

HIGGINS, Mr. PAYNE, and Mr. BILIRAKIS) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to prohibit increases 

in fees for military health care. 

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 ‘‘Military Retirees’ 

3 Health Care Protection Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) Career uniformed service members and their 

7 families endured unique and extraordinary demands 

8 and sacrifices over the course of a 20- to 30-year ca9 reer in protecting freedoms for all Americans. 

10 (2) The extent of these demands and sacrifices 

11 are never so evident as in wartime—not only in to12 day’s Global War on Terrorism, but also over the 

13 last six decades of hot and cold wars when today’s 

14 retired service members were on continuous call to 

15 enter into harm’s way when and as needed. 

16 (3) The demands and sacrifices are such that 

17 few Americans are willing to accept them for a 

18 multi-decade career. 

19 (4) The primary offset for enduring the ex20 traordinary sacrifices inherent in a military career is 

21 a system of extraordinary retirement benefits, in22 cluding health care coverage considerably better than 

23 that afforded civilian workers, that a grateful Nation 

24 provides for those who choose to subordinate much 

25 of their personal life to the national interest for so 

26 many years. 


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1 (5) Many private sector firms are curtailing 

2 health benefits and shifting significantly higher costs 

3 to their employees. 

4 (6) One effect of such curtailment is that re5 tired members who work for such employers are 

6 turning to use of the TRICARE coverage they 

7 earned by their military service. 

8 (7) In some cases, civilian employers establish 

9 financial incentives for TRICARE-eligible employees 

10 to use TRICARE rather than the civilian employers’ 

11 coverage. 

12 (8) While the Department of Defense has made 

13 some efforts to constrain TRICARE program costs, 

14 a large part of the Department’s effort is to shift a 

15 larger share of cost burdens to retired service mem16 bers. 

17 (9) The cumulative increases in enrollment fees, 

18 deductibles, and co-payments being proposed by the 

19 Department of Defense far exceed the 31-percent 

20 growth in military retired pay since the retired mem21 bers’ fees were established 10 years ago. 

22 (10) The beneficiary cost increases being pro23 posed by the Department of Defense fail to recog24 nize adequately that career service members paid 


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1 enormous in-kind premiums through their extended 

2 service and sacrifice. 

3 (11) A significant share of the Nation’s health 

4 care providers refuse to accept new TRICARE pa5 tients because TRICARE pays them significantly 

6 less than commercial insurance programs and im7 poses unique administrative requirements. 

8 (12) The significant majority of the savings the 

9 Department of Defense associates with the proposed 

10 fee increases is expected to come from deterring a 

11 large portion of TRICARE beneficiaries from using 

12 their earned military health benefits. 

13 (13) The Department of Defense has chosen to 

14 count the accrual deposit to the Department of De15 fense Medicare-Eligible Retiree Health Care Fund 

16 against the Department of Defense’s budget, con17 trary to the amendments made by section 725 of 

18 Public Law 108–375. 

19 (14) Department of Defense leaders have re20 ported to Congress that counting such deposits 

21 against the Department of Defense’s budget is im22 pinging on other readiness needs, including weapons 

23 programs—an inappropriate situation which section 

24 725 of Public Law 108–375 was intended expressly 

25 to prevent. 


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1 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con2 gress that— 

3 (1) the Department of Defense and the Nation 

4 have a committed health benefits obligation to re5 tired uniformed service members that exceeds the 

6 obligation of corporate employers to civilian employ7 ees; and 

8 (2) the Department of Defense has many addi9 tional options to constrain the growth of health care 

10 spending in ways that do not disadvantage bene11 ficiaries and should pursue any and all such options 

12 rather than seeking large fee increases for bene13 ficiaries. 

14 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON INCREASES IN CERTAIN HEALTH 

15 COSTS FOR MEMBERS OF THE UNIFORMED 

16 SERVICES. 

17 (a) PROHIBITION ON INCREASE IN CHARGES UNDER

18 CONTRACTS FOR MEDICAL CARE.—Section 1097(e) of 

19 title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

20 end the following: ‘‘A premium, deductible, copayment, or 

21 other charge prescribed by the Secretary under this sub22 section may not be increased after December 31, 2005.’’. 

23 (b) PROHIBITION ON INCREASE IN AMOUNT OF COST

24 SHARING REQUIREMENT UNDER PHARMACY BENEFITS

25 PROGRAM.—Section 1074g of title 10, United States 


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1 Code, is amended by adding at the end of subsection 

2 (a)(6)(A) the following: ‘‘After December 31, 2005, the 

3 dollar amount of a cost sharing requirement (whether es4 tablished as a percentage or a fixed dollar amount) may 

5 not be increased.’’. 

6 (c) PROHIBITION ON INCREASE IN CHARGES FOR IN7 PATIENT CARE.—Section 1086(b)(3) of title 10, United 

8 States Code, is amended by inserting after ‘‘charges for 

9 inpatient care’’ the following: ‘‘, except that in no case 

10 may the charges for inpatient care for a patient exceed 

11 $535 per day.’’. 

12 (d) PROHIBITION ON INCREASE IN PREMIUMS

13 UNDER TRICARE COVERAGE FOR CERTAIN MEMBERS

14 IN THE SELECTED RESERVE.—Section 1076d(d)(3) of 

15 title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

16 end the following: ‘‘After December 31, 2005, the monthly 

17 amount of the premium may not be increased above the 

18 amount in effect for the month of December 2005.’’. 

Æ 


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