Veterans’ True Choice Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 364 To amend title 10, United States Code, to provide eligibility for TRICARE Select to veterans with service-connected disabilities, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 19, 2021 Mr. STEUBE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic- tion of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title 10, United States Code, to provide eligibility for TRICARE Select to veterans with service-connected disabilities, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans’ True Choice 4 Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY FOR TRICARE FOR VETERANS WITH 6 SERVICE-CONNECTED DISABILITIES. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:08 Feb 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H364.IH H364 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 364 IH (1) ENROLLMENT IN TRICARE SELECT.—Sec- 1 tion 1075 of title 10, United States Code, is amend- 2 ed— 3 (A) in subsection (b)(1)(B), by inserting 4 before the period at the end the following: ‘‘, 5 and covered veteran beneficiaries under sub- 6 section (h), other than Medicare-eligible bene- 7 ficiaries described in such subsection (d)(2)’’; 8 (B) by redesignating subsection (h) as sub- 9 section (i); and 10 (C) by inserting after subsection (g) the 11 following new subsection: 12 ‘‘(h) COVERED VETERAN BENEFICIARIES.—(1) Sub- 13 ject to section 1086(d) of this title, a covered veteran ben- 14 eficiary may elect to enroll in TRICARE Select during the 15 annual open enrollment season of the TRICARE program. 16 ‘‘(2) The cost-sharing requirements under TRICARE 17 Select for covered veteran beneficiaries shall be calculated 18 pursuant to subsection (d)(1), regardless of the date of 19 the original enlistment or appointment of the beneficiary 20 in the uniformed services. 21 ‘‘(3) A dependent of a covered veteran beneficiary 22 may not enroll in the TRICARE program solely by reason 23 of the covered veteran beneficiary enrolling in the 24 TRICARE program.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:08 Feb 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H364.IH H364 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 364 IH (2) ENROLLMENT IN TRICARE FOR LIFE.—Sec- 1 tion 1086(d) of such title is amended— 2 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting before 3 the period at the end the following: ‘‘ or pursu- 4 ant to section 1075(h) of this title’’; and 5 (B) in paragraphs (2) and (4), by inserting 6 ‘‘, or section 1075(h) of this title,’’ after ‘‘a 7 person referred to in subsection (c)’’ both 8 places it appears. 9 (3) DEFINITION.—Section 1072 of such title is 10 amended by adding at the end the following new 11 paragraph: 12 ‘‘(16) The term ‘covered veteran beneficiary’ 13 means a veteran who— 14 ‘‘(A) is eligible to enroll in the system of 15 patient enrollment under paragraph (1), (2), or 16 (3) of section 1705 of title 38; and 17 ‘‘(B) is eligible to enroll in the TRICARE 18 program only pursuant to— 19 ‘‘(i) section 1075(h) of this title; or 20 ‘‘(ii) section 1086(d) of this title by 21 reason of being an individual who would be 22 covered by section 1075(h) but for being a 23 Medicare-eligible beneficiary covered by 24 such section 1086(d).’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:08 Feb 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H364.IH H364 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 364 IH (4) ENROLLMENT IN VA HEALTH CARE.—Sec- 1 tion 1705 of title 38, United States Code, is amend- 2 ed by adding at the end the following new sub- 3 section: 4 ‘‘(d)(1) A covered veteran beneficiary who enrolls in 5 the TRICARE program may not be concurrently enrolled 6 in the system of patient enrollment under subsection (a), 7 and the Secretary may not furnish medical care to the cov- 8 ered veteran beneficiary under this chapter or other provi- 9 sion of law administered by the Secretary while the cov- 10 ered veteran beneficiary is so enrolled in the TRICARE 11 program. 12 ‘‘(2) In this subsection, the terms ‘covered veteran 13 beneficiary’ and ‘TRICARE program’ have the meaning 14 given those terms in section 1072 of title 10.’’. 15 (b) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.—The Sec- 16 retary of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary of Defense 17 shall enter into a memorandum of understanding under 18 which the Secretary of Veterans Affairs reimburses the 19 Secretary of Defense for the costs of enrolling covered vet- 20 eran beneficiaries in the TRICARE program pursuant to 21 the amendments made by subsection (a), as jointly deter- 22 mined appropriate by the Secretaries. 23 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:08 Feb 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H364.IH H364 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 364 IH (1) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 1 by this section shall take effect one year after the 2 date of the enactment of this Act. 3 (2) REGULATIONS.—During the one-year period 4 following the date on which the amendments made 5 by this section take effect, the Secretary of Veterans 6 Affairs and the Secretary of Defense shall each pre- 7 scribe regulations to carry out such amendments. 8 (3) PHASE IN.—During the one-year period fol- 9 lowing the date on which the regulations are pre- 10 scribed under paragraph (2), the Secretaries shall 11 phase in the enrollment of covered veteran bene- 12 ficiaries in accordance with the annual open enroll- 13 ment season of the TRICARE program. 14 (4) VA CENTER FOR INNOVATION FOR CARE 15 AND PAYMENT.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 16 shall carry out this subsection through the Center 17 for Innovation for Care and Payment of the Depart- 18 ment of Veterans Affairs. 19 (d) REPORTS.— 20 (1) REPORTS ON IMPLEMENTATION.—On a 21 quarterly basis during the two-year period following 22 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 23 of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary of Defense 24 shall jointly submit to the Committees on Veterans’ 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:08 Feb 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H364.IH H364 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 364 IH Affairs and Armed Services of the Senate and the 1 House of Representatives a report on the implemen- 2 tation of this Act and the amendments made by this 3 Act. 4 (2) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Not later than one 5 year after the date on which the final report under 6 paragraph (1) is required to be submitted, and an- 7 nually thereafter, the Secretaries shall jointly submit 8 to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs and Armed 9 Services of the Senate and the House of Representa- 10 tives a report on covered veteran beneficiaries en- 11 rolled in the TRICARE program. 12 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘cov- 13 ered veteran beneficiary’’ and ‘‘TRICARE program’’ have 14 the meaning given those terms in section 1072 of title 10, 15 United States Code, as amended by subsection (a). 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:08 Feb 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H364.IH H364 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS