Seniors who decline Part B enrollment when they first become eligible do face a 10 percent penalty on premiums for each year they delay past age 65. Arcari said about 84,000 Medicare-eligible beneficiaries lack Part B coverage. Military associations have pressed Congress for legislation to waive the late fee penalty for military retirees. In 1999, Army Gen. Henry H. Shelton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, began to raise expectations of major health care reform for the year 2000 by acknowledging broken promises of lifetime health care to retirees and encouraging formation of an oversight panel on military health care run by the Joint Staff. Besides establishing Tricare for Life, the latest defense bill enhances pharmacy benefits for the Medicare-eligible retiree population.
Seniors living near a military installation can continue to use base pharmacies at no charge.
Besides the mail order plan, they also will have access to Tricare's retail pharmacy network, which requires 20 percent co-payment on each prescription. The roughly 800,000 Medicare-eligibles who live far from bases won't be left out. Other provisions of the bill will provide new benefits to younger beneficiaries. The new law will extend Tricare Prime Remote coverage to families of 80,000 active duty members living more than 50 miles away from a military treatment facility. By January 2000, however, it had become clear that the Joint Chiefs had failed to persuade the Clinton Administration to raise the topline on defense spending to accommodate far-reaching and expensive health benefit reform.