| Army Medicine: Bringing Value. Inspiring Trust. Written by LTG Eric B. Schoomaker, U.S. Army Surgeon General Many of you may be wondering how the recent health care legislation will affect your military healthcare benefits. The Military Health System (MHS) is not affected by the health care reform legislation. As Secretary of Defense Robert Gates reiterated earlier this week, the health and well-being of America’s men and women in uniform is his highest priority. Secretary Gates also stated that, “Our troops and their Families can be re-assured that the health care reform legislation being passed by the Congress will not negatively impact the TRICARE medical insurance program, as it already meets the bill’s quality and minimum benefit standards. This was clarified by a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday and is expected to be re-affirmed by the Senate. The President and I are committed to seeing that our troops, retirees and their Families will continue to receive the best quality health care.” We’ve received several questions specifically about the “up to age 26 coverage” for your children. Based on current legislation, TRICARE is not affected by the health care reform provision to cover dependent children in health plans up to age 26. By law, TRICARE covers eligible dependent children up to the age of 21, or up to age 23 if enrolled full time at an accredited institution of higher education and reliant on the sponsor for more than 50 percent of their financial support. Coverage ends on the child’s 23rd birthday or at the end of that school year, whichever comes first. We are committed to providing you the best possible health care plan and to keeping you, our beneficiaries, informed about any changes to your benefit. We promise to let you know as soon as there is any more information to release. ————– MilitaryConnection.com thanks you for your patronage. This web site is a portal of all things military, and we are quickly becoming the “go to” web site for all things military. We are constantly adding resources, content and features to benefit our audience. Our web site and all of the resources are free to users, and there is something for everyone. Additionally, we feature nursing articles like this to keep you informed. If you belong to a group or organization, we will post your press releases, special events, newsletters, professional conferences and seminars, reunions, job fairs, and videos to help spread the word. One of the areas of our focus is connecting candidates from the military community with outstanding government and civilian employers. We know that candidates from the military community across the board have a work ethic second to none. They make highly valued employees. MilitaryConnection.com has a multitude of employment resources including a Directory of over 30,000 employers, Job Tips, Columns, our new and improved Job Board, Virtual Job Fair and much more. We understand the importance of education. Please check out our new Education section, featuring the most up to date information on the new GI Bill, Education Articles, Education Benefits, and the Scholarship Directory featuring thousands of scholarships. When the next tour is back home, it’s on MilitaryConnection.com. |