[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 93 (Friday, June 29, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S7190]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HEALTH CARE FOR THE GUARD AND RESERVE

  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I rise today in support of S. 1119, a 
bill that would require the Secretary of Defense to conduct a study of 
the health care coverage of the military's Selected Reserve.
  Most South Dakotans know at least one of the 4,500 current members of 
the South Dakota Guard and Reserves--the so-called Selected Reserve--or 
the thousands of former Guardsmen and Reservists. Sometimes, the 
connection is even more direct. Before joining the Army, my oldest son 
was a member of the South Dakota Army Guard in Yankton. South Dakota's 
Guard and Reserve members have supported overseas operations, including 
those in Central America, the Middle East, Europe and Asia. Members of 
the South Dakota Air Guard are currently preparing for its mission 
later this year, where it will patrol the ``No-Fly Zone'' in Iraq.
  South Dakota's Guard and Reserve units consistently rank in the 
highest percentile of readiness and quality of its recruits. But 
keeping and recruiting the best of the best in the South Dakota 
National Guard and Reserves is becoming more of a challenge as our 
military's operations tempo has remained high while the number of 
active duty military forces has decreased. This tempo places 
significant pressure on the members of the reserve component, and has 
exposed possible health care deficiencies.
  Many deploying members and their families have experienced tremendous 
turbulence moving back-and-forth between their civilian health 
insurance plans and TRICARE Prime, the military's health care system. 
Some junior reservists have no health insurance at all. Some figures, 
for example, have shown that upward of 200,000 Selected Reservists 
nationwide do not possess adequate insurance. The exact nature of these 
disturbances and the broader shortfalls of this system are unclear 
because examinations have not completed.
  I am pleased to join with my colleagues in introducing this 
legislation, which will take a step towards understanding this problem 
and giving Congress direction on how to solve it. I know how poor 
health care and broken promises can reduce morale within our military 
and their families. A poor ``quality of life'' among our reserve 
component and active duty personnel has a direct impact on recruitment 
and retention of the best and brightest in our Armed Services. I will 
continue to do all I can to ensure our men and women in the military, 
veterans, and military retirees have the health care they deserve.

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