washingtonscene
LEGISLATIVE NEWS THAT AFFECTS YOU TRICARE Changes
Now that the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act has passed, MOAA analyzes how changes coming to TRICARE will affect roughly 1.5 million military retirees and survivors.
M
OAA successfully worked with Congress to avoid the majority of TRICARE fee hikes for current
beneficiaries. That means we dodged the bullet on proposals to: impose an annual TRICARE For Life en- rollment fee of up to 2 percent of retired pay; raise annual fees by 50-100 percent for TRICARE Prime and TRICARE Standard over several years; and double pharmacy copayments over the next 10 years. Congress opted to (mostly) grandfather
currently serving and retired military bene- ficiaries against these hikes. However, some lesser changes will affect roughly 1.5 million retired military and survivor beneficiaries who get their health care under TRICARE Standard. Those changes include: As of Jan. 1, 2018, TRICARE Standard has been renamed TRICARE Select. Also starting in 2018, you will need to go through a formal enrollment process (sign- ing an enrollment form) to participate in TRICARE Select. Currently, you have to enroll to get care under TRICARE Prime, but your ID card is all you need under TRI- CARE Standard. That will change in fall 2017, when Standard users will get a notice about needing to enroll in TRICARE Select if they want coverage in 2018. MOAA lobbied for a grace period for
that first year of enrollment, recognizing there always will be people who don’t get the word about big changes like this. During that first year, if you haven’t enrolled and
have to go to a doctor or hospital, you will be charged the out-of-network fee for that first incident of care but then must enroll in TRI- CARE Select to get further care. For 2018-19, there won’t be any enrollment fees for TRICARE Select. But beginning Jan. 1, 2020, there will be an annual TRICARE Select enrollment fee of $150 (individual) or $300 (family). Cur- rently serving families, Chapter 61 (medi- cal) retirees, and military survivors whose sponsors died on active duty will be exempt from paying the fee. For subsequent years after 2020, the enrollment fee will be increased by the same annual percentage as the annual retired pay COLA. At the same time the TRICARE Select enrollment fee is established in 2020, the annual catastrophic cap on out-of-pocket expenses for retired families will be raised to $3,500 (versus the current $3,000). In subsequent years, the cap will be increased by the same percentage as the annual re- tired pay COLA. The cap will remain at $1,000 a year for currently serving families. While minimal compared to what was
threatened earlier this year, these changes still represent administrative and fiscal ad- justments for current TRICARE Standard users who have never been subjected to any enrollment requirements. MOAA has worked hard to protect
retired Standard beneficiaries from inad- vertent adverse experiences during the transition to the new enrollment system.
FEBRUARY 2017 MILITARY OFFICER 31
Take Action Visit
capwiz.com/moaa/ home to send your legislators a MOAA- suggested message on key issues affecting the military community.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88
