Bill to give retirees free health care reintroduced

By Rick Maze
NavyTimes staff writer
February 21, 2005


The Bush administration needs to stop pitting military retirees against active-duty members when it comes to benefits, said the chief sponsor of a bipartisan military retiree health care bill.Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who is championing the Keep Our Promise to America’s Military Retirees Act, said it is ironic that while U.S. troops are fighting and dying overseas, “American veterans and military retirees have to fight for health care to which they are rightfully entitled.

”Van Hollen’s bill, reintroduced Feb. 2, would provide the lifetime free medical care that military retirees say the government promised them in recruiting literature. This would be done by waiving health-care enrollment fees for World War II and Korean War-era retirees with Medicare Part B coverage, a requirement for those using Tricare for Life benefits. The bill also would open the Federal Employees Health Benefits program to retirees and reimburse any expenses under that plan that would not have been incurred under Tricare. Improvements in pharmacy benefits also are included.

Previous versions of the same legislation have been partly responsible for lawmakers approving the Tricare for Life benefits program for retirees age 65 and older.

Along with Van Hollen, other primary co-sponsors of the bill, HR 602, are Republicans Jeff Miller of Florida and Randy “Duke” Cunningham of California and Democrat Chet Edwards of Texas.

Because of its sweeping provisions, the bill falls under the jurisdiction of four separate House committees. The Armed Services Committee, responsible for military health care, and the Ways and Means committee, which oversees Medicare, have the greatest responsibility — and also are the panels most reluctant to approve the bill, congressional aides said.

In an effort to gain support for the bill, military retirees and their families have been mailing empty brown paper bags to lawmakers with a message that retirees expect the government to keep its promises. Van Hollen said about 20,000 bags have been received.

Passage of the bill is a high priority for military and veterans’ groups, which have orchestrated the paper-bag campaign.The Bush administration has opposed making the military health-care program more generous for retirees and their families, arguing that money spent on retiree care would have to be diverted from programs aimed at active-duty members — either pay and benefits, weapons modernization or ongoing operations.In congressional testimony last year and in interviews this year,

David S.C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said spending more money on veterans and retirees is hurting national security.

Van Hollen said he does not think it is wrong to provide retirees with benefits they were promised. “The implications of Dr. Chu’s words are undeniable — that keeping the promises our country made to our military veterans and retirees simply is not a priority,” he said.

The message for retirees, he said, is: “They have served their need to America and are no longer needed.

”Those who served a career in uniform “to protect our freedoms are now looked upon as a burden on society,” he said.