Noteboom The Law Firm

Health Care Reform Affects Veterans and Dependents

April 16, 2010 - Military health care has undergone many recent and critical changes with many more changes likely coming. The country's health care reform made unanticipated changes to veteran health care and emergency measures had to be taken to protect veterans and their dependants.

HR 4923, or The Tricare Dependent Coverage Extension Act, extends Tricare benefits to dependents; as the health care reform has made it possible for all other Americans to do so. More specifically, HR 4923 defines dependents as:

• 26 years-of-age living with their parents; and
• Not eligible to enroll in an eligible employer-sponsored plan.

 HR 3590, or The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, is the main health care reform bill. The bill failed to endorse the VA's ability to treat Vietnam Veterans' children suffering from such birth defects as spina bifida. The bill also failed to recognize such people as meeting the minimum care standard. The bill does, however, cover 31 million uninsured Americans through various means.

HR 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, saw Congress attempting to find a way to pay for the newly expanded health care reform. At the same time, they attempted to stop spending so much money on Medicare by cutting 21% of payments to doctors serving patients covered by Medicare. The cuts, however, were not limited to Medicare but applied to all government-sponsored health insurance - including Tricare. Congress ended up passing HR 4851, The Continuing Extension Act of 2010 which ensured doctors serving under Medicare received full payment until the end of April.

April 1^st saw the expiration of Match 1309, run by the Social Security Administration (SSA). This program cross-checked veterans' eligibility for financial support for prescription drugs as well as Medicare with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) website. Under the Social Security Act, Section 1144 of Title XI, the SSA uses the cross-check to employ a Medicare outreach program.