FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 4, 1999
CONTACT: Lisette McSoud Mondello at (202) 224-9767
SENATOR HUTCHISON INTRODUCES PLAN
TO UPGRADE MILITARY HEALTH-CARE
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- To ensure America's military personnel get the medical care they need and deserve, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison has introduced legislation to improve the health-care benefits available to active duty military personnel, their families and retirees. Joining Senator Hutchison as co-sponsors of the bill are Senators Wayne Allard (R-CO), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, and Chuck Hagel (R-NE).
"We are trying to recruit and retain the best people for our nation's military," Senator Hutchison said. "To do this, we must pay them better, maintain good retirement benefits and improve the health care we provide them and their families."
"America's fighting forces are the best in the world, and my amendment is designed to keep it that way," the Senator said.
"While military hospitals have been closed as a result of base closures and downsizing over the past decade, the number of personnel who rely on the military health-care system has remained constant," she said. "Today our armed forces have more married service members with families than ever before. Those who have served and are now retired were promised quality health care, as well."
"This bill will help break down the bureaucracy in the existing system," she said. "There is no single solution to the problem, but we must begin now to ensure that we honor our commitments. This is a critical issue to recruiting and retaining first-rate military personnel -- which in turn is crucial to the security of our country."
The Hutchison legislation would:
- Permit increased reimbursement levels for Tricare, the military health-care delivery system, to attract and retain more participating doctors to the program.
- Expedite and reduce the costs of Tricare claims processing, which has been a thorn in the side of both beneficiaries and providers.
- Require portability of benefits between regions. This would make it easier for military personnel to get their health-care needs met as they move from one duty station to another.
- Bring the Tricare fee structure more in line with comparable civilian HMOs and bring Tricare co-payments more in line with civilian health-care options as well.
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