[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 43 (Tuesday, March 26, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H2844]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 KEEP HEALTH CARE PROMISES TO VETERANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from Colorado [Mr. Hefley] is recognized during 
morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to announce the introduction of 
H.R. 3142, a bill known as the Uniform Services Medicare Subvention 
Demonstration Project Act. This bill is intended to be a companion to 
Senator Phil Gramm's bill, S. 1487.
  Mr. Speaker, when we ask men and women to serve in our Nation's Armed 
Forces, we make them certain promises. One of the most important is the 
promise that, upon the retirement of those who serve 20 years or more, 
a grateful Nation will make health care available to them for the rest 
of their lives. Unfortunately, for many 65-and-over military retirees, 
this promise is being broken.
  When the military's Civilian Health and Medical Program of the United 
States [CHAMPUS] was established in 1966, just 1 year after Medicare, 
65-and-over military retirees were excluded from CHAMPUS because it was 
felt they could receive care on a space-available basis from local 
military hospitals and they would not require health care services from 
the private medical community. For many years, there were few problems 
and plenty of available space, but as military bases and their 
hospitals have closed, more and more retirees are finding it 
increasingly difficult to receive the care they were promised.
  Mr. Speaker, on January 19, 1995, I introduced, along with 
Congressmen Geren, Barton, Condit, and Sam Johnson, H.R. 580, which is 
a bill to allow the reimbursement to the Department of Defense by the 
Department of Health and Human Services for care rendered to Medicare 
eligible retirees and their families in military treatment facilities. 
This is better known as Medicare subvention.
  Over the course of the past year, H.R. 580 has received broad, 
bipartisan support and currently has 248 cosponsors. But despite the 
overwhelming support for this bill it does not look likely to be able 
to move it out of the Ways and Means Committee or the Commerce 
Committee. If this bill did not make it to the floor, the cost of $1-2 
billion that CBO has attached to this bill will hurt its chances of 
passage in the House and the Senate.
  As many of my colleagues who have cosponsored this bill realize, H.R. 
580 shouldn't increase cost to the Federal Government at all. In fact, 
it may even save money. It would allow the same military retirees with 
the same health problems to use the same doctors, so it should cost no 
more to the Federal Treasury regardless of whether DOD or Medicare pays 
the bill. But, because it is a shift from discretionary spending to 
entitlement spending, the budget numbers reflect an increase in 
spending.
  Mr. Speaker, the bill I introduced on Thursday, March 21, 1996, takes 
care of this problem. This bill will create a demonstration project of 
Medicare subvention to DOD to prove the budget neutral stance I, and 
the 248 cosponsors, have taken on H.R. 580. This new bill, H.R. 3142 
attempts to correct the shortcoming of H.R. 580 while at the same time 
building upon its strengths. This bill should solve the problem we have 
had in the past with the large CBO pricetag by requiring that DOD 
maintains the current level of support that it is currently providing 
military retirees, and having Medicare pick up coverage of additional 
Medicare-eligible military retirees once DOD has reached its obligated 
level.

  This demonstration will not increase cost to the taxpayer because it 
will ensure that DOD cannot shift costs to HCFA, and that the total 
Medicare cost to HCFA will not increase. In fact, this too should 
actually save money. The Retired Officers Association, in a letter of 
December 15, 1995, reports that:

       Using 1995 as a baseline, the eligible Medicare population 
     will grow by 1.6 million beneficiaries by 2000. This will 
     increase Medicare's cost by $7.7 billion if new beneficiaries 
     rely on Medicare as their sole source of care. But, with 
     subvention and DOD's 7 percent discount to the Health Care 
     Financing Administration (HCFA), the aggregate cost increase 
     can be reduced by $361 million over that same time frame. 
     Because health care will be managed, further savings could be 
     realized which could be passed on by DOD to Medicare through 
     reduced discounts.

  Mr. Speaker, this new legislation makes a good attempt to solve the 
problems brought on by the CBO cost estimate of Medicare subvention. As 
DOD's managed health care program, TRICARE, is implemented throughout 
the country, many military retirees within many of my colleagues' 
districts will be affected, so I urge my colleagues to support this 
bill and to become cosponsors.

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