National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROUNDS. Mr. President, as the Senate continues to consider the National Defense Authorization Act, the NDAA, I rise today to discuss an amendment in support of my constituents who are military retirees, as well as military retirees in many other States.

My amendment would change a provision being proposed in this bill that requires military retirees and their families who don't have easy access to a military treatment facility, such as on a base, to unfairly pay higher copays for their prescription medications. TRICARE provides health care services for our servicemembers, our military retirees, and their families.

Using TRICARE, military retirees can get free prescription drugs at a military treatment facility. In other words, our military retirees who live close to a base have no copays for their prescription drugs. However, if they draw these prescriptions from a retail pharmacy or through the TRICARE-approved mail order system, they are required to make a copayment.

My amendment deals with a provision in today's bill that directs the Department of Defense, or DOD, to increase these copayments that military retirees obtain from a retail pharmacy or through mail order rather from a military treatment facility. The provision will require those military retirees who live far away from a base, without easy access to a military treatment facility, to get their prescriptions and to pay more for their use of retail pharmacies and mail order.

Why would anybody seek to make it more expensive for our military retirees to receive a benefit they have been promised just because they live far away from a military treatment facility? The answer is simple. It is sequestration. We are making cuts to an existing budget. This provision was inserted as a cost-savings measure, one that tries to balance and measure out the costs based upon or demanded by sequestration.

But we are doing it on the backs of military retirees. It is being done to try to make some tough budget decisions. But this arbitrary cost-cutting measure is estimated to cost our military retiree families in rural areas-- and I emphasize ``in rural areas''--$2 billion over the next 10 years. I don't think it is fair for us to make those who live in rural areas-- rural years like South Dakota--to pay a higher copay because of where they live.

We have made promises to these men and whom who made incredible sacrifices to protect our country that they would be able to have adequate health insurance coverage, including access to prescription drugs and medicines. It is not fair to make them bear a $2 billion cost for prescription drugs simply because of where they live. My amendment would stipulate that if a military retiree lives more than 40 miles from a military treatment facility, they would not be saddled with this additional copay.

Further, my amendment would require an assessment by the Department of Defense of the added costs that would be borne by these military retirees and their families as a result of increased TRICARE prescription drug copays. This will enable Congress to make reasonable future decisions with regard to increased TRICARE prescription drug copayments that may have a disproportionate impact on those living distant from military treatment facilities.

I appreciate the opportunity to discuss my amendment, which would rectify a serious effect on military retirees and their families.

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