Senate Approves Charter
For Leahy-Led Healthcare Guarantee
For National Guard And Reserves

… bill authorizing new insurance coverage goes to President’s desk

WASHINGTON (Wed., Nov. 12) – The U.S. Senate late Wednesday approved the Department of Defense 2004 Authorization bill which included the original charter of a new healthcare guarantee for all members of the drilling National Guard and Reserves, led by Sen. Patrick Leahy and his allies.  Passage comes just days after Leahy and his colleagues succeeded in including funding for the plan in the spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan.  That bill was signed into law last week by President Bush, after initial opposition by the Administration to the plan.

To date more than 200,000 members of the National Guard and Reserves have been activated as a result of military action in Iraq.  The Administration has announced that many of these citizen soldiers could face longer deployments, as long as 18 months, including training.  Despite the fact that these soldiers have been recognized as critical elements to the military’s Total Force concept, many members of the Guard and Reserves and their families lack adequate healthcare coverage prior to deployment.  A 2002 General Accounting Office report showed that 20 percent of Guard members and Reservists who are drilling and ready to deploy do not have adequate health insurance.

Leahy and others worked to include the measure to make the 876,000 members of the drilling Selected Reserve eligible under the TRICARE military health insurance program.  The provision allows a single reservist to pay an annual premium, around 30 percent of the annual cost of providing care.

“Today the Senate approved a bill that does more than fund the Department of Defense,” said Leahy, co-chair of the Senate National Guard Caucus and a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.  “It supports the soldiers of our Guard and Reserve and their families by guaranteeing that no soldier willing to leave for active duty at the drop of a hat will be without health insurance, and that no soldier’s family will be forgotten back home.  It’s the second time the Senate voted in favor of this legislation, and that also sends a strong message that we will not let down our Guard.”

The Department of Defense Authorization Bill was drafted in May.  Leahy and others included the healthcare guarantee charter in that legislation, but also included similar legislation in the faster-moving spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan, to ensure that Guard members and Reservists will have health insurance as soon as possible.

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