Congressmen Pat Ryan and Marc Molinaro, former electoral opponents, are part of a bipartisan effort to revise the Health Care Fairness for Military Families Act.
According to Ryan’s office, TRICARE is the military health system that provides care to almost 10 million active-duty service members, retired personnel, and their families. The representatives say under current law TRICARE dependents can only remain on their parents’ policy until they are 21, five years earlier than what is offered by most private insurance plans and the Affordable Care Act. Once dependents turn 21, they have the option to enroll in the TRICARE Young Adult Program, but that results in an expensive monthly premium between $291 and $570.
Ryan, a Democrat who represents the 18th district and Molinaro, a Republican representing the 19th , are calling for action on the Health Care Fairness for Military Families Act.
Speaking in Saugerties Saturday, Ryan says military families are just as overburdened as most American households struggling with inflation.
“What this bill does is raise that TRICARE coverage age, which affects both active duty military, but also retirees, retirees still eligible for the good TRICARE health care coverage, raises it up to 26, making it the same as it is for other Americans," Ryan said. "And what would this mean for those 37,000 families? It's a significant difference, it's a significant financial impact, the scoring on the bill is it would save per child, $6,840 per child per year for those families. That's significant relief pressure off the shoulders of those families.”
Ryan is the legislation’s prime sponsor; Molinaro is a co-sponsor. Molinaro says the measure simply seeks parity, equity and fairness for military families.
“We are living in a time where frankly, everything seems to be divided where there is less gratitude for those who commit and serve this country than there ought to be," said Molinaro. "This nation is grateful to them. And the way that the nation shows that gratitude is to ensure that those men and women who served don't have to worry about their own care, access to health care, or of course, the care and access to health care for their children.”
Ryan introduced the bill January and it is currently in the House Committee on Armed Services.
"Military families, and especially kids really, really bear a tremendous burden, and drawn to that sacrifice, so the minimum that we can do is just make it even fair, that they would have the same health care coverage as other Americans currently have, under the Affordable Care Act," Ryan said.
Also lending his support is retired Republican Representative Chris Gibson, an Army vet. According to Ryan, the measure has backing from more than 50 lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
