I was married almost five years ago to an absolutely wonderful, understanding woman. As a married man, I also became the step-father of a 14 year old daughter, which doubled the joy of my marriage. The last topic on my mind at that time, however, was the health care needs of my spouse and teenager.
Not long after our marriage, my wife and I visited the nearest TRICARE office, which is located just beyond the main gate of the military facility closest to our home. Both my wife and daughter qualified for medical care coverage under TRICARE’s “Prime” program, and we were able to obtain TRICARE identification cards for both of them on the spot that day.
Within the first couple of years of our TRICARE coverage, my wife needed a series of blood transfusions due to absorption problems. She was experiencing a significant lack of energy, and as we found out after one visit to her physician, some of her blood work numbers were dangerously low. Thankfully, the transfusions corrected the problem, and TRICARE covered all of them.
Shortly after the transfusions, my spouse began to experience an erratic heartbeat. We searched throughout our home and neighboring counties for the best heart specialist that we could find. Although my wife had a non-invasive procedure performed by this physician via heart catheterization, the problem could not be fixed and she has learned to live with it. Meanwhile, our daughter, who is also covered by TRICARE, continues to enjoy good health.
Unfortunately, when the Affordable Care Act became law in March of 2010, some dependents and survivors of veterans were left out of the provision which enables children to be covered until age 26. In 2011, the Congress fixed and the President signed a bill into law that changed coverage until age 26 for veterans and their dependents and survivors on TRICARE; however, it did not include the dependents and survivors of veterans on the CHAMPVA health insurance program.
There are many differences between TRICARE and CHAMPVA coverage. It’s important to keep in mind that TRICARE is only available to retired military members, that is, the veteran who is retired, and his or her spouse and dependent children. CHAMPVA is available only to the spouse and dependent children of veterans who are 100% service-connected disabled, or who died on active duty, or who died as a result of a service-connected disability.
There is a bill in the Congress, H.R. 288/S. 325, the CHAMPVA Children’s Protection Act of 2013, which would simply increase the age from 23 to 26 to allow the dependents and survivors of qualifying military veterans to receive health care benefits. In other words, if they qualify for CHAMPVA, they could use it three years longer. VetsFirst supports these bills and testified in favor of S. 325 before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee on May 9.
We must remember as a nation that our best and our brightest are still being killed or seriously wounded in the war in Afghanistan. The dependents and survivors of our military who died in battle or who are 100% service-connected due to their battle injuries deserve CHAMPVA coverage now.
Terry Moakley
Chair of the VetsFirst Committee