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View Full Version : Affordable Care Act: No impact on Tricare, but some coverage isn't equal



Arbo
09-30-2013, 02:24 PM
http://www.navytimes.com/article/20130926/BENEFITS06/309260025/Affordable-Care-Act-No-impact-on-Tricare-but-some-coverage-isn-t-equal



Tricare beneficiaries should see little impact from implementation of the Affordable Care Act because the military health care system was excluded from the law and Congress later passed legislation defining Tricare as meeting the act’s insurance coverage requirements.

But as seen immediately after the law’s passage, the omission of Tricare left military families out of at least one benefit — a provision that extended parents’ health care coverage to unmarried children up to age 26 — and there may be more, including the much-anticipated changes to mental health treatment and weight management.

While Tricare largely is viewed as a comprehensive health care program, there are disparities between the military plan and the ACA’s requirements of private insurers and state exchanges. Congress rectified the oversight of coverage for unmarried children by approving the Tricare Young Adult program shortly after the law passed, but additional changes may be needed, especially in the area of mental health, to bring the military program into line with the law.

So yet again, those that serve their country, get crapped on.