[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 66 (Monday, May 19, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E956]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    MILITARY HEALTH CARE CHOICE ACT

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                           HON. JOHN L. MICA

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 15, 1997

  Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, today I will introduce the Military Health 
Care Choice Act of 1997. Under this bill, the families of our service 
men and women and military retirees and their families will be able to 
choose a health plan in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program 
in lieu of military health care.
  This reform is necessary, Mr. Speaker, because for these individuals 
the military health care system is broken. In 1994, General 
Shalikashvili acknowledged this. He said the military health care 
system covering them is--and I quote--``headed toward a cliff.''
  Last year, the Civil Service Subcommittee, which I chair, held a 
hearing on improving access to health care for military families. We 
heard horror stories describing the problems the current military 
health care system has caused military families. One witness was the 
wife of an Air Force Master Sergeant. When she became pregnant, she 
chose the hospital at Andrews Air Force Base to care for her and 
deliver her baby. But just 5 weeks before her due date, she was told 
that Andrews would no longer treat her or deliver her baby. There was a 
quota on deliveries at Andrews, and hers would be over the limit. She 
was left on her own to find doctors who were qualified under CHAMPUS 
and would accept CHAMPUS fees and to make arrangements for the 
delivery.
  Another witness, the widow of a retired marine major, described the 
substandard care her husband had received under the system for military 
retirees. Her terminally ill husband was initially denied cancer 
medication because the VA hospital treating him said it would rather 
spend $3,000 on aspirin for 3,000 men than on chemotherapy for one. 
When the witness herself needed surgery for possible breast cancer, she 
needed the permission of the military base near her home. The base said 
no, but provided no military alternative. She had the surgery done, but 
she and her husband had to foot the bill.
  Mr. Speaker, the hearing record contains many more such examples. I 
urge my colleagues to read it.
  Just yesterday, Mr. Speaker, I learned of yet another atrocious 
example from a military retiree. For 3 years, his wife had been treated 
by a VA hospital for a series of debilitating brain tumors. Then, on a 
cold, wet, windy night, that hospital refused to treat her when she was 
seriously ill, and demanded that she go to an army hospital 12 miles 
away. The VA hospital refused to call an ambulance, and even threatened 
to have her and her husband arrested for trespassing when he resisted 
leaving. Her husband drove her the 12 miles to the Army hospital 
through a raging rain storm.
  The Army hospital also refused to treat her, sending her back to the 
very VA hospital that had turned her away. She was then admitted to 
that hospital and spent 3 weeks in intensive care.
  This retiree also points out that his copayments under the military 
health care systems can reach as high as $7,500--pretty tough medicine 
on his $13,000 annual income
  When we needed them, these individuals did not ration their devotion 
to duty and to the Nation. When they need us we must not ration their 
health care.
  I urge Members to join me in making this benefit available to those 
whom we owe so much.

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