S.Amdt. 2210

SA 2210. Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Mr. Schatz, and Mr. Casey) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 1197, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2014 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

On page 226, between lines 14 and 15, insert the following:

Subtitle A--TRICARE Program SEC. 701. MODIFICATIONS OR REALIGNMENTS OF THE TRICARE PROGRAM.

(a) Sense of Congress on Changes or Realignments of TRICARE Prime Service Areas.--It is the sense of Congress that any changes or realignments of the service areas of the TRICARE Prime option of the TRICARE program that are implemented by the Department of Defense should minimize their impact on cost and beneficiary satisfaction for current beneficiaries under the TRICARE program to the greatest extent practicable.

(b) Report on Implementation of Reductions in TRICARE Prime Service Areas.--

(1) Report required.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report setting forth the policy of the Department of Defense on the implementation of reductions in the service areas of TRICARE Prime.

(2) Elements.--The report required by paragraph (1) shall include the following:

(A) A description of the implementation of the transition for eligible beneficiaries under the TRICARE program (other than eligible beneficiaries on active duty in the Armed Forces) who no longer have access to TRICARE Prime under current TRICARE managed care contracts, including the following:

(i) The number of eligible beneficiaries who have transitioned from TRICARE Prime to the TRICARE Standard option of the TRICARE program since October 1, 2013.

(ii) The number of affected eligible beneficiaries who transferred their TRICARE Prime enrollment to a more distant available Prime Service Area to remain in TRICARE Prime, by State.

(iii) The number of beneficiaries who were eligible to transfer to a more distant available Prime Service Area, but chose to use TRICARE Standard.

(B) An estimate of the increased annual costs per beneficiary incurred for healthcare under the TRICARE program for eligible beneficiaries described in subparagraph (A).

(C) A description of the plans of the Department to assess the impact on access to healthcare and beneficiary satisfaction for eligible beneficiaries described in subparagraph (A).