Title: Strengthening Preventive Health Care for Service Members Act
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
Strengthening Preventive Health Care for Service Members Act
This bill expands preventive health care services under the Department of Defense's (DOD) TRICARE program to include services comparable to coverage provided by a group health plan and a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage under the Public Health Service Act, including certain: (1) evidence-based items or services; (2) immunizations; (3) evidence-informed preventive care and screenings for infants, children, and adolescents; and (4) additional preventive care and screenings for women.
Persons entitled to such medical care shall also be entitled to other evidence-based preventive health care services and screenings, as DOD may prescribe.
DOD shall prescribe regulations to: (1) waive certain copayments for preventive services for beneficiaries, and (2) ensure that a beneficiary pays nothing for such preventive services without regard to whether the beneficiary has reached his or her annual deductible.
The bill makes immunizations and health promotion and disease prevention visits available to all dependents. (Currently, different health care provisions apply to dependents based upon whether they are under, or at least, six years old.)

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1433 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1433

To amend title 10, United States Code, to expand preventive health care 
                  services under the TRICARE program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 8, 2017

  Mr. Carbajal (for himself, Mrs. Davis of California, Ms. Titus, Ms. 
    Moore, Mr. Langevin, Ms. Lee, Ms. Bordallo, Ms. Rosen, and Mr. 
  Garamendi) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 10, United States Code, to expand preventive health care 
                  services under the TRICARE program.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Strengthening Preventive Health Care 
for Service Members Act''.

SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF TRICARE-COVERED PREVENTIVE HEALTH CARE SERVICES.

    (a) Expansion of Preventive Health Care Services.--Section 1074d of 
title 10, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection (c); and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(b) Additional Preventive Health Care Services.--(1) In addition 
to the preventive services provided under subsection (a), persons 
entitled to medical care under this chapter shall also be entitled, to 
the extent practicable, to the coverage of preventive health services 
comparable to the coverage required to be provided by a group health 
plan and a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health 
insurance coverage under section 2713 of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 300gg-13). Such entitlement shall supersede any otherwise 
applicable exclusions to the contrary.
    ``(2) Persons entitled to medical care under this chapter shall 
also be entitled to other evidence-based preventive health care 
services and screenings, as may be prescribed in regulations by the 
Secretary of Defense.
    ``(3) The Secretary shall prescribe regulations to--
            ``(A) waive all copayments under sections 1074g, 1075, 
        1075a, 1079(b), and 1086(b) of this title for preventive 
        services provided pursuant to this subsection for all 
        beneficiaries who would otherwise pay copayments; and
            ``(B) ensure that a beneficiary pays nothing for such 
        preventive services during a year without regard to whether the 
        beneficiary has paid the amount necessary to cover the 
        beneficiary's deductible for the year.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 1077(a) of title 10, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph:
            ``(18) The additional preventive health services described 
        in section 1074d(b) of this title.''.
    (c) Expanded Well Child Care and Access to Health Promotion and 
Disease Prevention Visits.--Section 1079(a)(2) of title 10, United 
States Code, is amended by striking ``schedule of immunizations'' and 
all that follows through subparagraph (B) and inserting ``schedule of 
immunizations, health promotion and disease prevention visits and 
immunizations (including the preventive care and screenings required 
pursuant to section 1074d(b) of this title) may be provided to 
dependents.''.
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