1-1 By: Moncrief S.C.R. No. 7 1-2 (In the Senate - Filed January 20, 1999; January 27, 1999, 1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Veteran Affairs and 1-4 Military Installations; April 13, 1999, reported favorably by the 1-5 following vote: Yeas 4, Nays 0; April 13, 1999, sent to printer.) 1-6 SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1-7 WHEREAS, Military retirees who have served honorably for 20 1-8 or more years constitute a significant part of the aging population 1-9 in the United States; and 1-10 WHEREAS, These retirees were encouraged to make the United 1-11 States Armed Forces a career, in part by the promise of lifetime 1-12 health care for themselves and their families; and 1-13 WHEREAS, Prior to the age of 65, these retirees are provided 1-14 health services by the United States Department of Defense's 1-15 TRICARE Prime program, but those retirees who reach the age of 65 1-16 lose a significant portion of the promised health care due to 1-17 Medicare eligibility; and 1-18 WHEREAS, Many of these retirees are also unable to access 1-19 military treatment facilities for health care and life maintenance 1-20 medications because they live in areas where there are no military 1-21 treatment facilities or where these facilities have downsized so 1-22 significantly that available space for care has become nonexistent; 1-23 and 1-24 WHEREAS, The loss of access to health care services provided 1-25 by the military has resulted in the government breaking its promise 1-26 of lifetime health care; and 1-27 WHEREAS, Without continued affordable health care, including 1-28 pharmaceuticals, these retirees have limited access to quality 1-29 health care and significantly less care than other retired federal 1-30 civilians have under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program; 1-31 and 1-32 WHEREAS, It is necessary to enact legislation that would 1-33 restore health care benefits equitable with those of other retired 1-34 federal workers; and 1-35 WHEREAS, Several proposals to meet this requirement are 1-36 currently under consideration before the United States Congress and 1-37 the federal Department of Defense and Department of Health and 1-38 Human Services; of these proposals, the federal government has 1-39 already begun to establish demonstration projects around the 1-40 country to be conducted over the next three years, which would 1-41 allow Medicare to reimburse the Department of Defense for the costs 1-42 of providing military retirees and their dependents health care; 1-43 this project would allow a limited number of Medicare-eligible 1-44 beneficiaries to enroll in the Department of Defense's TRICARE 1-45 Prime program and receive all of their health care under that 1-46 program; now, therefore, be it 1-47 RESOLVED, That the 76th Legislature of the State of Texas 1-48 hereby memorialize the Congress of the United States to maintain 1-49 its commitment to America's military retirees by providing lifetime 1-50 health care for military retirees over the age of 65; to enact 1-51 comprehensive legislation that affords military retirees the 1-52 ability to access health care either through military treatment 1-53 facilities or through the military's network of health care 1-54 providers, as well as legislation to require opening the Federal 1-55 Employees Health Benefits Program to those uniformed services 1-56 beneficiaries who are eligible for Medicare, on the same basis and 1-57 conditions that apply to retired federal civilian employees; and to 1-58 enact any other appropriate legislation that would address the 1-59 above concerns; and, be it further 1-60 RESOLVED, That the Texas Secretary of State forward official 1-61 copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, 1-62 the president of the senate and speaker of the house of 1-63 representatives of the United States Congress, and all members of 1-64 the Texas delegation to the Congress with the request that this 2-1 resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to 2-2 the Congress of the United States. 2-3 * * * * *