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More Changes
in the FY 2017 Defense Authorization Act until after the election. But we can be fairly certain about some of the new changes because they were in- cluded in both of the bill versions passed by the House and Senate. Here is what we ex- pect the new defense bill will require. TRICARE Standard will have a new name (possibly TRICARE Preferred) and be reconstituted as a preferred provider network, which means some charges will be higher for visits with doctors who aren’t in the new TRICARE network. The new version of TRICARE Standard/ Preferred will require an annual enroll- ment. If you’re under age 65 and in TRI- CARE Standard now, you’ve never had to explicitly enroll. If you didn’t enroll in the HMO-style TRICARE Prime, you automatically were covered under Stan- dard. Starting in 2017, retirees and family members under 65 will have to sign a docu- ment to enroll in either the new Standard/
C
Preferred or TRICARE Prime. If you don’t actively enroll in one or the other, you and your family won’t be covered by TRICARE.
Pay attention to notices about the annual enrollment period, starting next year. No later than January 2020, retired en- rollees in the new version of TRICARE Standard/Preferred will have an annual enrollment fee. This will be new, as Stan- dard currently has no enrollment fee. If the House plan prevails in the final bill, the annual enrollment fee for 2020 will be $100/$200 for individual/family. It could
36 MILITARY OFFICER DECEMBER 2016
Coming Final action on key issues awaits the lame-duck session.
ongress has put off final deci- sions on force levels, pay raises, TRICARE fees, and other changes
be more, depending on continuing negotia- tions between the House and Senate. Military medical facilities will be imple- menting a variety of initiatives to improve access to and quality of care, including a standardized appointment system, more use of telehealth services, and adoption of
common quality/performance measures. Survivor Benefit Plan/Dependency and
Indemnity Compensation (SBP/DIC) Sur- vivors: We fully expect the current Special Survivor Indemnity Allowance (SSIA) — $310 a month for FY 2017 — won’t be allowed to expire next year. It will be ex- tended for at least one year, which gives us another shot at seeking a further exten- sion and continued increases in the SSIA amount to make more progress toward eliminating the SBP/DIC offset, which is
our ultimate goal. Commissaries: The commissary system will be testing “house brands” and a vari- able pricing system. This means shoppers at some locations might see increases and others might see decreases, although Con- gress still requires commissaries to main- tain the same overall levels of beneficiary
savings and satisfaction. Reimbursement for Drill-Related Travel:
Both bills give the services more flexibility to pay higher reimbursements, on a case- by-case basis, for travel beyond normal commuting distance.
CVS Leaves T
TRICARE But Walgreens is set to return to network.
RICARE Pharmacy contractor Express Scripts Inc. announced CVS pharmacies, including those
in Target stores, no longer will process prescriptions for TRICARE as of Dec. 1.
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