Initially expected to decline the program, House and Senate negotiators agreed to a Senate provision to the president’s $87 billion Iraq/Afghanistan supplemental bill to provide health care coverage to Guardsmen and Reservists on a cost-share basis. The NGAUS believes the agreement is the Guard’s biggest victory in Congress since passage of the Montgomery G.I. Bill nearly 20 years ago. The agreement reached Wednesday does not go as far as some proponents wanted, but its scope is unprecedented for citizen-soldiers. Guardsmen and Reservists who are unemployed or lack health insurance will be able to “buy-in” to Tricare at a rate starting at $420 for a year single enlisted personnel. The provision also allows those covered under an employer’s health-insurance program to switch to Tricare as soon as they receive activation orders to ease the transition into the military medical system. The effort still has hurdles to clear, however. First, it needs the signature of the president, who has opposed Tricare expansion but is likely to go along now. In addition, the provision is only a one-year pilot program. Inclusion in the fiscal 2005 defense authorization bill will be necessary to make the “buy-in” permanent. The NGAUS has already begun work on both hurdles.

1. Iraq Cost Could Mount to $100 Billion
Impact on Other Programs Feared By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 13, 2003

Senators Ask for Comprehensive Study on Guard, Reserve Equipment and Other
Issues

(April 10, 2003) -- Sens. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., and Mary Landrieu, D-La.,
announced they are requesting the General Accounting Office study equipment
and other needs of National Guardsmen and Reservists.

"As the war in Iraq progresses, our Guard and Reserve forces have served
proudly alongside our regular forces, placing their lives on the line to
protect our country and liberate the people of Iraq," Landrieu said. "It is
imperative that we provide adequate supplies for these units, and to do that,
we have to first find out specifically what their needs are."

The last time the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, conducted a study
on the Guard and Reserve's equipment inventory was in 1985. And while
reserve-component deployments have increased, equipment funding has
stagnated, they said.

Overall defense procurement increased from $42.6 billion in 1996 to $68.7
billion proposed for fiscal year 2004. At the same time, Guard and Reserve
procurement funding has risen only slightly. In 1996, Congress allocated
$1.52 billion to the reserves; President Bush has requested $1.56 for next
year.

The reserve component comprises 40 percent of the Total Force and receives 8
percent of the Defense Department's budget.

"It is important that we begin now to take a serious look at these issues and
determine the best course of action necessary to effectively prepare and
equip our Guardsmen and Reservists for the challenges that lie ahead,"
Chambliss said.

The study, which the senators want completed in the next six months, will be
comprehensive.

Chambliss and Landrieu are asking the GAO to examine how the Guard and
Reserve are used including how operations tempo has affected them since the
end of the Cold War. In addition, they want the GAO to look at benefits
issues, specifically why the Reserve Mobilization Income Insurance Program
failed and would it be feasible to create a pay-gap insurance program.

They are asking GAO to look at resource issues facing the reserve components
including whether it has sufficient funds to modernize and maintain forces in
a manner in keeping with their current missions. Also, they have asked if
shortfalls in equipment are hindering the readiness or the deployment of the
Guard and Reserve.

Regarding missions, the senators want the GAO to take a look at whether the
currently defined Guard and Reserve missions and force structure match how
they are actually being used.

They also want to know what alternative missions and force structures might
be more appropriate. In addition, they are asking if the Guard's involvement
in homeland security has an impact on its ability to participate in other
DOD-required missions. Finally, they asked which missions the two perform
well and which missions require improvement.

Bipartisan Bill Aims to Offer Low-Cost Medical Insurance to Traditional
Guardsmen and Reservists

(April 10, 2003) -- The more than 20 percent of traditional National
Guardsmen and Reservists and their families currently without medical
insurance would access affordable health-care coverage under a bipartisan
proposal introduced in the Senate today.

"These men and women are ready to make the ultimate sacrifice for their
country, and so are their families," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.,
co-chairman of the 85-member Senate National Guard Caucus and one of the
bill's four sponsors. "They are performing as full-time soldiers with
part-time benefits."

Sens. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, Tom Daschle D-S.D., and Gordon Smith, R-Ore., also
sponsored the legislation.

"We need to ensure that they are healthy and that their families are not
forgotten by offering them full-time affordable health insurance
coverage-whether they are drilling or at war," Leahy said. "It is the only
way to maintain a healthy force ready to deploy at any moment."

"The National Guard and Reserve Comprehensive Health Benefits Act of 2003"
addresses problems cited in a September 2002 General Accounting Office report
that found that one in five members of the Guard and Reserve lacked access to
affordable health insurance.

Under the proposal, part-time, drilling Guardsmen and Reservists would be
able to purchase medical care under Tricare, the military medical-care
program for about 30 percent of its actual cost. The military would pick up
the rest.

That means that a Guardsmen or Reservist would pay $420 annually for single
coverage and about $1,450 a year for a family.

The legislation also allows families of activated Guardsmen or Reservists to
be reimbursed for keeping their civilian health insurance, helping them
maintain consistent coverage.

Guardsmen and Reservists returning from active duty and their families would
also be eligible for the new Tricare premium-based program, under the plan.

The NGAUS, which has spent two years campaigning for health-care coverage for
traditional Guardsmen and Reservists, strongly endorses the proposal.

"This is an investment in readiness," said retired Col. Bill Goss, NGAUS
legislative director. "Our nation today needs its Guardsmen and Reservists to
be ready to go with little notice. We simply can't afford to have personnel
medically unable to deploy due to a lack of access to health care.

"It's also an investment in our people and their families," Goss said. "The
Guard and Reserve today is a part-time job with full-time responsibilities.
No one who can be sent to harm's way should have to be without medical
insurance. We simply owe today's citizen-soldiers and their families
affordable health care."

1.
(March 27, 2003) "The Senate unanimously approved an amendment to the
president's budget resolution that adds $1 billion to address National Guard
and Reserve equipment shortfalls.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., offered the amendment, which was rolled into a
larger amendment to increase hazardous duty pay and the family separation
allowance.

Funding would go to the most pressing Guard and Reserve priorities including
new radars, targeting systems, guided munitions, bio-chem suits, rifles,
helmets, tactical vests and bullet-proof inserts to narrow the capabilities
gap with the active component.

"The Guard and Reserve are integral to today's Total Force," Landrieu said in
fact sheet on her proposal. "Congress must ensure that they have the tools
for victory. We should not force Guardsmen and Reservists to bear any greater
risk than they already volunteered for simply because they are not
traditional full-time soldiers, marines, airmen and sailors."

Bringing National Guard equipment in line with the active component is
critical to enabling them to work more efficiently together, said Bill Goss,
NGAUS legislative director.

"We have more steps to take before we see this money, but this is very
important to the Guard," Goss said. "Equipment modernization is one of the
Guard's top priorities." "

2.
(March 26, 2003) -- The Senate rejected an effort to open the military's
health care system to members of the Guard and Reserve in a 51-to-46 vote
split mostly down party lines.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., had proposed an amendment to President Bush's
budget resolution that would have provided continuous health coverage for
reserve component members and their families. Lincoln proposed setting aside
$21 billion over the next decade so that reservists and their families could
sign on to Tricare even without being activated.

More than 20 percent of the country's Guard and Reserve personnel are without
health insurance when they are not on active duty. The war in Iraq and the
historic call up of citizen soldiers has caught the attention of lawmakers
and defense officials as a result.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs William Winkenwerder
announced recently that family members are eligible for Tricare Prime and
Tricare Prime Remote after 30 days of activation rather than 179.

In addition to Lincoln's legislative effort, Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.,
introduced S. 647, the "Reserve Health Insurance Coverage Bill" March 18 to
ensure Guard and Reserve members and their families have seamless health
coverage during activation.

Kennedy's bill closes a loophole through which reservists and their families
can fall in the early days of activation. Since private employers aren't
required to cover activated troops, his proposal would close that 30-day gap.

S. 647 also amends Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, or COBRA,
rules to specify that health coverage loss resulting from a military
activation would allow troops to use COBRA to maintain their health
insurance, and the government would pay the premiums.

The coverage period would begin "on the date of the call or order," and ends
if the member or dependents "become covered by another health benefits plan
that is not Tricare; or the member elects to terminate the continued
qualified health benefits plan coverage of the dependents of the member."

Kennedy's bill was forwarded to the Armed Services Committee for further
action, but isn't the only move in Washington to improve coverage and
benefits for activated Guard and Reserve troops.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., joined by Vermont Adjutant General Martha
Rainville, announced several Guard and Reserve initiatives in a press
conference March 14 that include a guarantee that reservists and families
have affordable health insurance if they lose their jobs and their private
employer insurance.

Leahy, co-chairman of the Senate National Guard Caucus didn't provide
specific details, but his plan would be "an affordable, premium-based plan
that could be offered through the military's existing Tricare plan."

He also offered proposals to "allow businesses to write off expenses incurred
when making up a called-up employee's missed salary," and proposed
protections "to ensure that students who are activated can maintain their
educational status and … receive a refund on tuition if called up in the
middle of an academic term."

Meanwhile, Kay Coles James, director of the U.S. Office of Personnel
Management, told directors of 43 Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans to "build in
flexibility so that Reservists and National Guard members can meet their
medium-term drug supply needs."

The Washington Post also reported that James called on federal agencies to
foot the bill for health care premiums of reservists and their families.

Columnist Stephen Barr reported that James, in a memo to government agency
department heads, told them to "implement a uniform policy in support of
Department of Defense contingency operations by waiving the requirement that
employees pay their share of the [Federal Employees Health Benefits] premiums
incurred when they are called to active military duty for more than 30 days."