EANGUS strongly supports S.5142, the Healthcare for our Troops Act. This legislation would provide access to zero-cost TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS) insurance to Reserve Component (RC) servicemembers. Additionally, this legislation expands TRS eligibility to RC servicemembers currently working for the federal government in their civilian capacity.
S.5142, serves as a companion bill to HR 3512, which was introduced by Reps. Andy Kim (NJ-03) and Trent Kelly (MS-01) in 2021.ย
Servicemembers are required to meet medical deployability requirements. An estimated 130,000 National Guardsmen and Reservists do not have health insurance under the currently disjointed systems of third-party health contractors and Periodic Health Assessments (PHAs), which significantly impacts the Reserve Componentโs medical readiness. Inconsistent healthcare coverage for members of the Reserve Component makes meeting these requirements difficult to achieve.ย
S.5142, Healthcare for our Troops Act ensures servicemembers meet the medical standards required of a deployable force at no cost to them and their families. This change provides the Department of Defense (DoD) with a powerful recruiting and retention tool and a significant employer incentive to retain talented individuals in gainful civilian employment.
Under current law, National Guard and Reserve servicemembers who are federal employees in their civilian capacity are ineligible to enroll in TRS. This creates confusion in coordinating benefits for servicemembers and their families and prevents servicemembers from establishing continuity of care and treatment as they deploy or transition in or out of the federal government. S.5142, strikes the language that disallows servicemembers from accessing TRS simply due to working for the federal government in their civilian capacity.
Please contact your Senators and urge them to support S.5142, by responding to this Call-To-Action.
If you have further questions regarding the Health Care for Our Troops Act, please do not hesitate to contact Kevin Hollinger atย kevin@eangus.orgย or contact him direct at (202) 670-1826ย ย
