The Daily Times
March 24, 2004
Military health plan denied Guard, Reserve
By Mike Madden, Gannett News Service
The Pentagon still isn’t giving uninsured National Guard and Reserve troops access to the military’s health care plan, almost six months after a law mandating the coverage was signed.
Pentagon officials don’t have a set schedule for getting the program ready.
But time may be running out. The legal authority for the program, intended as a demonstration, expires at the end of this year, although some lawmakers want to make it permanent.
As part of the $87 billion bill to pay for fighting and reconstruction . In Iraq, the Pentagon was supposed to let uninsured part-time troops buy into the Tricare health insurance plan.
Some supporters of the Tricare expansion wonder if the Pentagon is deliberately moving slowly. Top defense officials opposed the plan last year, balking at its cost, and oppose extending it past this year.
“I’m terribly concerned that some in the Pentagon are just running out . The clock,” said Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle.
http://www.thedailytimes.com/sited/story/html/159447
Comment: Wouldn’t it be simpler if we all automatically received comprehensive health care coverage at birth?