By: Moncrief, et al. S.C.R. No. 7
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
1-1 WHEREAS, Military retirees who have served honorably for 20
1-2 or more years constitute a significant part of the aging population
1-3 in the United States; and
1-4 WHEREAS, These retirees were encouraged to make the United
1-5 States Armed Forces a career, in part by the promise of lifetime
1-6 health care for themselves and their families; and
1-7 WHEREAS, Prior to the age of 65, these retirees are provided
1-8 health services by the United States Department of Defense's
1-9 TRICARE Prime program, but those retirees who reach the age of 65
1-10 lose a significant portion of the promised health care due to
1-11 Medicare eligibility; and
1-12 WHEREAS, Many of these retirees are also unable to access
1-13 military treatment facilities for health care and life maintenance
1-14 medications because they live in areas where there are no military
1-15 treatment facilities or where these facilities have downsized so
1-16 significantly that available space for care has become nonexistent;
1-17 and
1-18 WHEREAS, The loss of access to health care services provided
1-19 by the military has resulted in the government breaking its promise
1-20 of lifetime health care; and
1-21 WHEREAS, Without continued affordable health care, including
1-22 pharmaceuticals, these retirees have limited access to quality
1-23 health care and significantly less care than other retired federal
1-24 civilians have under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program;
2-1 and
2-2 WHEREAS, It is necessary to enact legislation that would
2-3 restore health care benefits equitable with those of other retired
2-4 federal workers; and
2-5 WHEREAS, Several proposals to meet this requirement are
2-6 currently under consideration before the United States Congress and
2-7 the federal Department of Defense and Department of Health and
2-8 Human Services; of these proposals, the federal government has
2-9 already begun to establish demonstration projects around the
2-10 country to be conducted over the next three years, which would
2-11 allow Medicare to reimburse the Department of Defense for the costs
2-12 of providing military retirees and their dependents health care;
2-13 this project would allow a limited number of Medicare-eligible
2-14 beneficiaries to enroll in the Department of Defense's TRICARE
2-15 Prime program and receive all of their health care under that
2-16 program; now, therefore, be it
2-17 RESOLVED, That the 76th Legislature of the State of Texas
2-18 hereby memorialize the Congress of the United States to maintain
2-19 its commitment to America's military retirees by providing lifetime
2-20 health care for military retirees over the age of 65; to enact
2-21 comprehensive legislation that affords military retirees the
2-22 ability to access health care either through military treatment
2-23 facilities or through the military's network of health care
2-24 providers, as well as legislation to require opening the Federal
2-25 Employees Health Benefits Program to those uniformed services
2-26 beneficiaries who are eligible for Medicare, on the same basis and
3-1 conditions that apply to retired federal civilian employees; and to
3-2 enact any other appropriate legislation that would address the
3-3 above concerns; and, be it further
3-4 RESOLVED, That the Texas Secretary of State forward official
3-5 copies of this resolution to the President of the United States,
3-6 the president of the senate and speaker of the house of
3-7 representatives of the United States Congress, and all members of
3-8 the Texas delegation to the Congress with the request that this
3-9 resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to
3-10 the Congress of the United States.