From: FRA NewsBytes [Newsbytes@fra.org]
Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2010 03:01
To: fra@fra367.org
Subject: FRA NewsBytes -- 04-02-10
In this week's NewsBytes:
Doc Fix Stalls in Senate Again
President Signs Health Care "Fix It" Bill into Law
Extended Health Care Coverage for Dependents
Banking Unused Leave in TSP at Retirement
Active Duty Prescription Drug Use is "Stunning"

Doc Fix Stalls in Senate Again
Congress began its Spring Recess without deferring cuts to Medicare and TRICARE reimbursement rates that took effect on April 1, 2010.  The Senate passed a measure (H.R. 4213) several weeks ago that would delay the cuts for six months and the House passed separate legislation that would defer the rate cuts until May 1, 2010, but neither measure has been signed into law.  

Lawmakers will hopefully vote to extend the deadline when Congress reconvenes on Monday, April 12th.  In the meantime, Medicare (the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or CMS) and TRICARE (TRICARE Management Activity or TMA) will try to delay processing payments for medical services provided after April 1st until the matter can be resolved.

A cut in these reimbursement rates may force providers to stop seeing Medicare and TRICARE patients. Readers are strongly urged to use the Action Center at www.fra.org to contact their U.S. Representative asking them to pass H.R. 4213, which will defer the cuts until January 1, 2011.

Hot Topic:  Should this have been resolved as part of recent health care reform legislation? Visit www.fra.org/hottopics to discuss how reimbursement rate cuts may affect you.


President Signs Health Care "Fix It" Bill into Law
Sweeping health care reform legislation was signed into law last week and, as enacted, does not specifically reference TRICARE or Veterans' Affairs (VA) health care programs. The subsequent "Fix It" bill, enacted this week, fine-tuned the original legislation, but also fails to specifically reference military or veterans' health care programs, despite efforts to add a TRICARE/VA amendment.

To affirm that TRICARE meets the requirement for individual health care coverage, the House unanimously passed "The TRICARE Affirmation Act" (H.R. 4887), sponsored by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Ike Skelton (Mo.). Senator James Webb (Va.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee and member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, introduced companion legislation in the Senate (S. 3148) to make a similar TRICARE clarification. Senator Daniel Akaka (Hawaii), chairman of the Senate VA Committee, introduced S. 3162 that includes similar clarifications for VA health care coverage. These measures merely spell out the legislative intent of the original bill and are expected to pass easily when Congress returns from its Spring Recess.


Extended Health Care Coverage for Dependents
FRA encourages shipmates and others to visit the Action Center at www.fra.org and ask their U.S. Representative to pass "The TRICARE Dependent Coverage Extension Act" (H.R. 4923), a bill that would extend health care coverage to children up to age 26. This expanded coverage is addressed in the recently passed national health care legislation, and since TRICARE was not part of the reform effort, this provision does not apply to TRICARE beneficiaries. Until this or similar legislation is passed, TRICARE will continue to cover eligible dependent children up to the age of 21, or up to age 23 if they are enrolled full time at an accredited institution of higher education and are reliant on the sponsor for more than 50 percent of their financial support.  

Hot Topic:  FRA worked to ensure TRICARE and VA health care benefits were not impacted by national health care reform legislation, but many shipmates are in favor of the new provisions to extend health care coverage to dependent children until age 26. What do you think? Visit www.fra.org/hottopics to join the discussion on health care reform.


Banking Unused Leave in TSP at Retirement
Rep. Stephen Lynch (Mass.) introduced "The Federal Employees and Uniformed Services Retirement Equity Act" (H.R. 4865), a measure that would allow Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) participants to deposit some or all of the cash value of their unused annual leave into their accounts when they retire.  FRA supports this legislation and believes retirees should also have the option of continuing contributions to their Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) as they did when they were on active duty.  Members are urged to use the Action Center at www.fra.org to ask their US Representative to support the bill.


Active Duty Prescription Drug Use is "Stunning"
Stress on service members has been a key issue during recent congressional hearings and during a hearing on the Administration's FY2011 budget request for the Military Health System, Senator Jim Webb (Va.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee, called the sharp increase in prescription drug use among the nation's military service members "stunning."  The subcommittee also discussed the care and treatment of wounded service members and access to health care under TRICARE.

Webb speculated that the past nine years of our nation's War on Terror have stressed our military in ways that were not considered at the start of the All Volunteer Force. "We are in uncharted territory as the result of past rotation cycles, multiple combat deployments, and an unsatisfactory deployment-to-dwell ratio."

Webb cited a Military Times  study on the significant growth in prescription drug use in the military since 2001 that concluded at least one in six service members is on some form of psychiatric-related drug.  To examine the matter properly, Senators Webb and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) requested that each service provide detailed statistics and a historical timeline of prescription drug usage from 2001 to the present.

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