[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 43 (Wednesday, March 28, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3050-S3051]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            CHAMPVA FOR LIFE

  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I am proud to be the author of the 
CHAMPVA for Life Act of 2001.
  Last year, Congress finally enacted legislation to restore the 
promise of providing lifetime health care to our military retirees. 
TRICARE for Life, as it is known, is long overdue. However, an equally 
worthy group has been left out of the reform.
  The Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs, CHAMPVA, provides health care coverage to several categories 
of individuals who have paid dearly for that right: dependents of 
veterans who have been rated by VA as having a total and permanent 
disability; survivors of veterans who died from VA-rated service-
connected conditions; and survivors of servicemembers who died in the 
line of duty. As such, CHAMPVA provides a measure of security to a 
group of persons who have indisputably given a great deal to our 
country.
  CHAMPVA is intended to serve as a safety net for dependents and 
survivors of severely disabled veterans who, because of their 
disabilities, were unable to provide health insurance benefits to their 
families through employment. The safety net mission of CHAMPVA has not 
changed, but this law must change, since under current law, CHAMPVA 
beneficiaries lose their eligibility for coverage when they turn 65.
  The TRICARE for Life law passed last year specifically allows 
military retirees and their dependents to remain in the TRICARE program 
after they turn age 65, as long as they are enrolled with Part B of 
Medicare. TRICARE will cover those expenses not covered under Medicare. 
It also provides for retail and mail-order pharmaceutical coverage for 
Medicare-eligible military retirees.
  There is no doubt that TRICARE and CHAMPVA beneficiaries should 
retain similar eligibility for health care coverage. What TRICARE does 
for the families of military retirees should be no less readily 
available to the survivors and dependents of severely disabled veterans 
and those service-members who died in the line of duty. Simple justice 
and equity demand this. Just last week, I received a letter from a 
constituent from Nutter Fort, WV, that hammered home this very point. 
She asked in her letter, ``Why aren't the CHAMPVA beneficiaries offered 
the same program recently approved for those on TRICARE who are now 
eligible for Medicare?''
  Indeed, title 38 of the United States Code reflects this view by 
requiring the Secretary to provide medical care ``in the same or 
similar manner and subject to the same or similar limitations as 
medical care furnished to certain dependents and survivors of active 
duty and retired members of the Armed Forces.'' And up until enactment 
of the new, highly valued TRICARE for Life provisions just last fall, 
the two programs were, indeed, similar.
  An argument could be made that since TRICARE was modified to remove 
the limitation on eligibility, legislation is not necessary to equate 
the two programs. However, VA has not yet embraced CHAMPVA for Life.
  The bill simply clarifies that the CHAMPVA and TRICARE programs 
should continue to operate in a similar manner, with similar 
eligibility. This would mean that Medicare-eligible CHAMPVA 
beneficiaries who enroll in Part B of Medicare would retain secondary 
CHAMPVA coverage, and beneficiaries would receive the same pharmacy 
benefit as CHAMPVA beneficiaries who are under age 65.
  The failure of Congress to enact prescription drug coverage under 
Medicare only underscores the need to enact this CHAMPVA reform. 
However serious a gap it was for Medicare to lack prescription drug 
benefit in 1965, incredible advances in drug therapy, combined with 
staggering inflation in prescription drug costs, have made the need for 
affordable prescription drug coverage even more important today. 
CHAMPVA beneficiaries who have sacrificed so much already should not be 
forced to sacrifice anything more to purchase needed prescription 
drugs.
  Nothing brings this closer to home for me than another letter I 
received

[[Page S3051]]

recently, this one from a Korean War veteran and his wife in Alderson, 
WV. They were upset to learn that when the wife turned 65, she lost all 
of her CHAMPVA benefits. As a result, she was forced to pay more than 
$300 per month for her diabetes and heart medications, in addition to 
all the other new costs for care not covered by Medicare. With Social 
Security and disability compensation as their only income, this couple 
is struggling to absorb this enormous new expense in their modest 
budget. The husband, a 100-percent disabled veteran, wrote poignantly 
to me, ``. . . it would help us out so much if CHAMPVA would continue 
to cover my wife's medical care.''
  In closing, I thank the Gold Star Wives Association for their 
dedication and for bringing this issue to my attention. We must never 
forget that the costs of military service are borne not only by the 
servicemember alone, but by their families as well.
  I hope the Committee on Veterans' Affairs will expedite passage of 
this bill out of committee. CHAMPVA beneficiaries are depending upon 
it.

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