TRICARE GRAY AREA RETIREE BILL:
Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH) has sponsored
>> legislation (H.R.6185) that would let reservists who are enrolled in
>> Tricare Reserve Select (TRS) to continue that coverage after they
retire
>> until they reach age 60, when they become eligible for free Tricare
>> coverage under current law. Reservists and MOAA who worked closely with
>> Rep. Latta's staff in crafting the legislation believe strongly that
it's
>> unfair to extend Tricare coverage to drilling reservists, and then drop
>> them from coverage between the time they stop drilling and the time
they
>> attain age 60. Their career of service demands some option for
continuity
>> of coverage. Under the new bill, these "gray area"
retirees would pay
>> full-cost premiums to participate in Tricare, contrasted with those
>> currently drilling, who pay 28% of the premium, with the remaining 72%
>> subsidized by the military. How much the gray area retirees would have
to
>> pay is not quite clear yet. Under current TRS rules, it would be $289 a
>> month for a single person and $975 a month for a family. But a recent
GAO
>> report concluded that current TRICARE premiums are 45-75% too high
based
>> on actual program costs. As the excessive premiums charged by DoD do
not
>> accurately reflect the actual cost of coverage, GAO recommended an
>> Executive Order to correct the overcharging, which has not yet
occurred.
>> In the interim both the House and Senate versions of the FY2009 Defense
>> Authorization Bill direct the Pentagon to recompute the premiums based
on
>> actual costs. Reservists and veterans who would like to see this
inequity
>> corrected are encouraged to go to
>> http://capwiz.com/moaa/issues/bills/?bill=11460441
where they can find a
>> preformatted message urging their U.S. representative to cosponsor H.R.
>> 6185 and the means to send it to their legislators. [Source: MOAA
>> Legislative Update 6 Jun 08 ++]