COL Robert Schlegel, USA (Ret), Legislative Affairs Chair
MOAA Action Alerts
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What the FY 2024 NDAA Means for Your TRICARE
Benefit
By: Karen Ruedisueli, MOAA’s Director of Government
Relations for Health Affairs.
Abridged Article, March 27, 2024.
The FY 2025 DoD budget proposal
includes no mention of TRICARE cost-sharing requirements or other fee increases
– good news for beneficiaries, as past TRICARE fee increase proposals have
originated with the annual budget request.
The White House budget released
March 11, includes a Unified Medical Budget (UMB) request of $61.4 billion, up
4.6% from the FY 2024 budget request. The UMB is made up of several accounts
within the annual defense appropriations bill including Operations and
Maintenance (O&M), MILPERS (funding for military personnel operating the
MHS), and MILCON, which funds Military Health System (MHS) construction
projects.
The request for the Defense
Health Program (DHP) sits at $40.3 billion, up from $38.4 billion in the FY
2024 request. DHP, a sub-account of O&M, funds MHS functions such as health
care delivery in military treatment facilities (MTFs); TRICARE; certain medical
readiness activities and expeditionary medical capabilities; and education and
training programs.
DHP spending growth is driven
predominantly by MTF investment designed to sustain direct care capabilities
and modernize electronic health records/digital health. Within the FY 2025 DHP
request, $20.6 billion, or 51%, is for purchased care via TRICARE.
The budget
narrative underscores the updated MHS strategy to restore MTF capacity,
reattract beneficiaries to the direct care system of military hospitals and clinics
and increase opportunities to sustain uniformed medical provider clinical
readiness.
“We recognize a strategic
imperative to rebuild our military and civilian medical workforce and resource
the MHS,” The budget overview states. DoD leadership determined the most
effective way to take care of our people, support the National Defense
Strategy, increase clinical readiness, mitigate risks to requirements, and
reduce long-term cost growth in private sector care is to reattract beneficiaries
to Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs) and maximize medical education and
training pipelines.”
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