Senators support Tricare coverage to age 26 - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Senators support Tricare coverage to age 26

The chances that Congress will allow military and retiree dependents to keep Tricare coverage until age 26 improved Wednesday when 22 senators introduced their version of the Tricare Dependent Coverage Extension Act.

Modeled after a bill already pending before the House Armed Services Committee, the Senate bill, S 3201, would give service members and retirees the opportunity — at an undetermined cost — to keep unmarried children covered under a family’s health plan for a few more years.

Eligibility now ends at age 23 for unmarried children who are full-time students and at age 21 for those not attending school full time.

The Senate bill was referred to the Senate Armed Services Committee, where sponsors plan to offer it as an amendment to the 2011 defense authorization act later this year. The House version of the Tricare extension bill, HR 4923, is sponsored by Rep. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and is being considered for inclusion in the House’s version of the annual defense policy bill.

Adding the Tricare extensions for older children into both the House and Senate versions of the defense bill virtually guarantees enactment, although it is never certain when the bill will become law. The 2011 defense authorization covers the fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1, 2010, but Congress rarely gets the bill done on time.

And even if Congress authorizes the new benefit, it would not take effect right away. The Defense Department would have to work on details — including setting a monthly insurance premium for the coverage — that could force families to wait for final implementation.

Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., the chief sponsor of the Senate bill and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said allowing older dependent children to be covered by Tricare would extend to military families a benefit that was part of the new national health care reform law.

“Young adults across our country are struggling to enter the job market as we get our economy back on track, and this legislation will ensure that the families of our military service members are not left behind when this benefit goes into effect later this year for millions of civilian families and their children,” Udall said.

One of the Senate bill’s cosponsors, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said adding military families is only fair.

“This is the right thing to do for the men and women who have stood sentry protecting our freedoms,” Senator Mikulski said. “If health care reform means that the kids of hedge fund managers can stay on their parents’ health care until they’re 26, kids in military families should be covered to age 26 too.”