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Bill gives
military retirees
full health care

Tricare will kick in when
Medicare coverage ends

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

Hawaii's more than 15,000 military retirees received good news under a compromise U.S. House-Senate conference bill that should cover medical costs that Medicare doesn't.

House and Senate conferees agreed yesterday to provide all Medicare-eligible, military-service beneficiaries a permanent entitlement to military health coverage, said Marv Harris, spokesman for the Retired Officers Association.

This would be done either through a primary provider or as a secondary-payer supplemental to Medicare.

It would mean the military health care plan known as Tricare would be the secondary payer to Medicare and that Tricare would cover costs Medicare doesn't.

"This would put military retirees over the age of 65 back into the Tricare program for life and allow them to drop their gap insurance," said Harris, who expects the compromise Defense Authorization bill that contains the measure to pass both houses of Congress next week.

The change, to cost the government as much as $4 billion annually, is expected to put more dollars into the pockets of Hawaii's military retirees, who now have to dish out money to pay for Medicare-gap supplemental health care insurance.

Military retirees now lose benefits, such as access to military hospitals and Tricare, when they switch to Medicare at age 65.

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie greeted the news with delight, noting that the bill includes numerous military health care provisions he has been working on.

Abercrombie said the compromise bill would:

Restore access for Medicare-eligible retirees to the same pharmacy benefits they had before they reached 65. It would give Medicare-eligible military retirees and their families access to national mail order and network retail pharmacies and pay 80 percent of prescription drug costs.

Reduce military retirees' out-of-pocket catastrophic care costs from $7,500 to $3,000 a year.

Authorize reimbursement of travel expenses for military families who have to travel more than 100 miles to see a specialist.

Provide chiropractic care to active-duty personnel.

Abercrombie said: "We have unfulfilled obligations to active-duty personnel, retirees and their families. Military life makes heavy demands on those in uniform and their families. If we hope to recruit and retain the men and women we send in harm's way, they need to know that they and their families will receive quality health care -- now and during their retirement years."

In addition to 15,000 retirees, 47,000 active-duty personnel and 65,000 dependents live in Hawaii.