Veterans’ True Choice Act of 2023

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1644 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 17, 2023 Mr. KENNEDY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services 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 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY UNDER TRICARE PROGRAM FOR VET- 6 ERANS WITH SERVICE-CONNECTED DISABIL- 7 ITIES. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 May 31, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1644.IS S1644 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1644 IS (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 (i), other than Medicare-eligible bene- 7 ficiaries described in such subsection (d)(2)’’; 8 (B) by redesignating subsection (i) as sub- 9 section (j); and 10 (C) by inserting after subsection (h) the 11 following new subsection (i): 12 ‘‘(i) 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 00:49 May 31, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1644.IS S1644 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1644 IS (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(i) of this title’’; 5 (B) in paragraph (2), in the matter pre- 6 ceding clause (i), by inserting ‘‘, or section 7 1075(i) of this title,’’ after ‘‘a person referred 8 to in subsection (c)’’; and 9 (C) in paragraph (4), in the matter pre- 10 ceding clause (i), by inserting ‘‘, or section 11 1075(i) of this title,’’ after ‘‘a person referred 12 to in subsection (c)’’. 13 (3) DEFINITION.—Section 1072 of such title is 14 amended by adding at the end the following new 15 paragraph: 16 ‘‘(16) The term ‘covered veteran beneficiary’ 17 means a veteran who— 18 ‘‘(A) is eligible to enroll in the system of 19 annual patient enrollment of the Department of 20 Veterans Affairs under paragraph (1), (2), or 21 (3) of section 1705 of title 38; and 22 ‘‘(B) is eligible to enroll in the TRICARE 23 program only pursuant to— 24 ‘‘(i) section 1075(i) of this title; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 May 31, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1644.IS S1644 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1644 IS ‘‘(ii) section 1086(d) of this title by 1 reason of being an individual who would be 2 covered by such section 1075(i) but for 3 being a Medicare-eligible beneficiary cov- 4 ered by such section 1086(d).’’. 5 (4) ENROLLMENT IN VA HEALTH CARE.—Sec- 6 tion 1705 of title 38, United States Code, is amend- 7 ed by adding at the end the following new sub- 8 section: 9 ‘‘(d)(1) A covered veteran beneficiary who enrolls in 10 the TRICARE program may not be concurrently enrolled 11 in the system of annual patient enrollment under sub- 12 section (a) and the Secretary may not furnish hospital 13 care or medical services to the covered veteran beneficiary 14 under this chapter or any other provision of law adminis- 15 tered by the Secretary while the covered veteran bene- 16 ficiary is enrolled in the TRICARE program. 17 ‘‘(2) In this subsection, the terms ‘covered veteran 18 beneficiary’ and ‘TRICARE program’ have the meanings 19 given those terms in section 1072 of title 10.’’. 20 (b) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.—The Sec- 21 retary of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary of Defense 22 shall enter into a memorandum of understanding under 23 which the Secretary of Veterans Affairs reimburses the 24 Secretary of Defense for the costs of enrolling covered vet- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 May 31, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1644.IS S1644 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1644 IS eran beneficiaries in the TRICARE program pursuant to 1 the amendments made by subsection (a), as jointly deter- 2 mined appropriate by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 3 and the Secretary of Defense. 4 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.— 5 (1) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 6 by this section shall take effect one year after the 7 date of the enactment of this Act. 8 (2) REGULATIONS.—During the one-year period 9 following the date on which the amendments made 10 by this section take effect, the Secretary of Veterans 11 Affairs and the Secretary of Defense shall each pre- 12 scribe regulations to carry out such amendments. 13 (3) PHASE IN.—During the one-year period fol- 14 lowing the date on which the regulations are pre- 15 scribed under paragraph (2), the Secretary of Vet- 16 erans Affairs and the Secretary of Defense shall 17 phase in the enrollment of covered veteran bene- 18 ficiaries in accordance with the annual open enroll- 19 ment season of the TRICARE program. 20 (4) VA CENTER FOR INNOVATION FOR CARE 21 AND PAYMENT.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 22 shall carry out this subsection through the Center 23 for Innovation for Care and Payment of the Depart- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 May 31, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1644.IS S1644 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1644 IS ment of Veterans Affairs under section 1703E of 1 title 38, United States Code. 2 (d) REPORTS.— 3 (1) REPORTS ON IMPLEMENTATION.—Not less 4 frequently than quarterly during the two-year period 5 following the date of the enactment of this Act, the 6 Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary of 7 Defense shall jointly submit to the appropriate com- 8 mittees of Congress a report on the implementation 9 of this section and the amendments made by this 10 section. 11 (2) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Not later than one 12 year after the date on which the final report under 13 paragraph (1) is required to be submitted, and an- 14 nually thereafter, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 15 and the Secretary of Defense shall jointly submit to 16 the appropriate committees of Congress a report on 17 covered veteran beneficiaries enrolled in the 18 TRICARE program. 19 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 20 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON- 21 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con- 22 gress’’ means— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 May 31, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1644.IS S1644 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1644 IS (A) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 1 and the Committee on Armed Services of the 2 Senate; and 3 (B) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 4 and the Committee on Armed Services of the 5 House of Representatives. 6 (2) COVERED VETERAN BENEFICIARY; TRICARE 7 PROGRAM.—The terms ‘‘covered veteran beneficiary’’ 8 and ‘‘TRICARE program’’ have the meaning given 9 those terms in section 1072 of title 10, United 10 States Code, as amended by subsection (a). 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 May 31, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1644.IS S1644 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS