I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 179
To restore health care coverage to retired members of the uniformed services.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 3, 2001
Mr. SHOWS (for himself and Mr. NORWOOD) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform, and in ad-
dition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subse-
quently 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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Keep Our Promise to
America’s Military Retirees Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) No statutory health care program existed
for members of the uniformed services who entered
service prior to June 7, 1956, and retired after serv-
ing a minimum of 20 years or by reason of a service-
connected disability.
(2) Recruiters for the uniformed services are
agents of the United States Government and em-
ployed recruiting tactics that allowed members who
entered the uniformed services prior to June 7,
1956, to believe they would be entitled to fully-paid
lifetime health care upon retirement.
(3) Statutes enacted in 1956 entitled those who
entered service on or after June 7, 1956, and retired
after serving a minimum of 20 years or by reason
of a service-connected disability, to medical and den-
tal care in any facility of the uniformed services,
subject to the availability of space and facilities and
the capabilities of the medical and dental staff.
(4) After 4 rounds of base closures between
1988 and 1995 and further drawdowns of remaining
military medical treatment facilities, access to
‘‘space available’’ health care in a military medical
treatment facility is virtually nonexistent for many
military retirees.
(5) The military health care benefit of ‘‘space
available’’ services and medicare is no longer a fair
and equitable benefit as compared to benefits for
other retired Federal employees.
(6) The failure to provide adequate health care
upon retirement is preventing the retired members
of the uniformed services from recommending, with-
out reservation, that young men and women make a
career of any military service.
(7) Although provisions enacted in the Floyd D.
Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fis-
cal Year 2001 (Public Law 106–398) extended cov-
erage under the TRICARE program to medicare eli-
gible military retirees age 65 and older, those provi-
sions did not address the health care needs of mili-
tary retirees under the age of 65.
(8) The United States should establish health
care that is fully paid by the sponsoring agency
under the Federal Employees Health Benefits pro-
gram for members who entered active duty on or
prior to June 7, 1956, and who subsequently earned
retirement.
(9) The United States should reestablish ade-
quate health care for all retired members of the uni-
formed services that is at least equivalent to that
provided to other retired Federal employees by ex-
tending to such retired members of the uniformed
services the option of coverage under the Federal
Employees Health Benefits program.
SEC. 3. COVERAGE OF MILITARY RETIREES UNDER THE
FEDERAL 
EMPLOYEES 
HEALTH 
BENEFITS
PROGRAM.
(a) EARNED COVERAGE
FOR CERTAIN RETIREES
AND DEPENDENTS.—Chapter 89 of title 5, United States
Code, is amended—
(1) in section 8905, by adding at the end the
following new subsection:
‘‘(i) For purposes of this section, the term ‘employee’
includes a retired member of the uniformed services (as
defined in section 101(a)(5) of title 10) who began service
before June 7, 1956. A surviving widow or widower of
such a retired member may also enroll in an approved
health benefits plan described by section 8903 or 8903a
of this title as an individual.’’; and
(2) in section 8906(b)—
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘para-
graphs (2) and (3)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraphs
(2) through (5)’’; and
(B) by adding at the end the following new
paragraph:
‘‘(5) In the case of an employee described in section
8905(i) or the surviving widow or widower of such an em-
ployee, the Government contribution for health benefits
shall be 100 percent, payable by the department from
which the employee retired.’’.
(b) COVERAGE FOR OTHER RETIREES AND DEPEND-
ENTS.—(1) Section 1108 of title 10, United States Code,
is amended to read as follows:
‘‘§ 1108. Health care coverage through Federal Em-
ployees Health Benefits program
‘‘(a) FEHBP OPTION.—The Secretary of Defense,
after consulting with the other administering Secretaries,
shall enter into an agreement with the Office of Personnel
Management to provide coverage to eligible beneficiaries
described in subsection (b) under the health benefits plans
offered through the Federal Employees Health Benefits
program under chapter 89 of title 5.
‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE BENEFICIARIES; COVERAGE.—(1) An
eligible beneficiary under this subsection is—
‘‘(A) a member or former member of the uni-
formed services described in section 1074(b) of this
title;
‘‘(B) an individual who is an unremarried
former spouse of a member or former member de-
scribed in section 1072(2)(F) or 1072(2)(G);
‘‘(C) an individual who is—
‘‘(4) For purposes of determining whether an indi-
vidual is a member of family under paragraph (5) of sec-
tion 8901 of title 5 for purposes of paragraph (1)(C) or
(1)(D), a member or former member described in section
1076(b) or 1076(a)(2)(B) of this title shall be deemed to
be an employee under such section.
‘‘(5) An eligible beneficiary who is eligible to enroll
in the Federal Employees Health Benefits program as an
employee under chapter 89 of title 5 is not eligible to en-
roll in a Federal Employees Health Benefits plan under
this section.
‘‘(6) An eligible beneficiary who enrolls in the Federal
Employees Health Benefits program under this section
shall not be eligible to receive health care under section
1086 or section 1097. Such a beneficiary may continue
to receive health care in a military medical treatment facil-
ity, in which case the treatment facility shall be reim-
bursed by the Federal Employees Health Benefits pro-
gram for health care services or drugs received by the ben-
eficiary.
‘‘(c) CHANGE OF HEALTH BENEFITS PLAN.—An eli-
gible beneficiary enrolled in a Federal Employees Health
Benefits plan under this section may change health bene-
fits plans and coverage in the same manner as any other
Federal Employees Health Benefits program beneficiary
may change such plans.
‘‘(d) GOVERNMENT CONTRIBUTIONS.—The amount
of the Government contribution for an eligible beneficiary
who enrolls in a health benefits plan under chapter 89 of
title 5 in accordance with this section may not exceed the
amount of the Government contribution which would be
payable if the electing beneficiary were an employee (as
defined for purposes of such chapter) enrolled in the same
health benefits plan and level of benefits.
‘‘(e) SEPARATE RISK POOLS.—The Director of the
Office of Personnel Management shall require health bene-
fits plans under chapter 89 of title 5 to maintain a sepa-
rate risk pool for purposes of establishing premium rates
for eligible beneficiaries who enroll in such a plan in ac-
cordance with this section.’’.
(2) The item relating to section 1108 at the begin-
ning of such chapter is amended to read as follows:
‘‘1108. Health care coverage through Federal Employees Health Benefits pro-
gram.’’.
(3) The amendments made by this subsection shall
take effect on January 1, 2002.
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