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Leahy Unveils Bipartisan Plan
For Affordable Health Insurance
For On-Call And Activated Guard and Reservists
WASHINGTON (Thur., April 10) U.S. Sen. Patrick
Leahy (D-Vt.), co-chair of the 85-member Senate National Guard Caucus,
joined by a bipartisan coalition of senators Sens. Mike DeWine
(R-Ohio), Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) Thursday
introduced a bill to ensure that on-call or deployed members of the
National Guard and Reservists, and their families, will have access to
affordable health insurance.
The bill addresses problems cited in a September
2002 General Accounting Office (GAO) study which showed that more than
20 percent of the Selected Reserves those who are on call and ready
for deployment did not have access to affordable health insurance.
The current call-ups associated with the war in Iraq have underscored
the problem.
These men and women are ready to make the
ultimate sacrifice for their country, and so are their families, said
Leahy. They are performing as full-time soldiers with part-time
benefits. We need to ensure that they are healthy and that their
families are not forgotten by offering them full-time affordable
health insurance coverage whether they are drilling or at war. It
is the only way to maintain a healthy force ready to deploy at any
moment.
The National Guard and Reserve Comprehensive
Health Benefits Act of 2003 will make the 876,000 members of the
drilling Selected Reserve eligible under the TRICARE military health
insurance program. A single reservist would pay an annual premium,
around 30 percent of the annual cost of providing care, amounting to
about $420 annually for single reservists and $1450 annually for a
reservist and his or her family.
The legislation also allows families of activated
reservists to be reimbursed for keeping their civilian healthcare
coverage, helping them maintain consistent coverage. Returning
reservists and their families would also be eligible for the new
TRICARE premium-based program.
The bill has been supported by several leading
military associations, including the National Guard Association of the
United States (NGAUS), the Enlisted National Guard Association of the
United States (EANGUS), the Reserve Officers Association (ROA), the
Naval Reserve Association (NRA), the National Military Family
Association (NMFA), the Marine Corps Reserve Officers Association, the
National Association for Uniformed Services, the National Military
Veterans Alliance and the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA).
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