Keep Our Promise to America's Military Retirees Act

No statutory health care program existed for members of the uniformed services who entered service prior to December 7, 1956, and retired after serving a minimum of 20 years.

Recruiters, re-enlistment counselors, and officers at all levels of the uniformed services, and other government officials, as agents of the United States Government, used recruiting tactics that allowed members who entered the uniformed services prior to December 7, 1956, to believe they would be entitled to fully paid lifetime health care upon retirement.

In the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decision of November 18, 2002, in Schism v. United States (No. 99–1402), the Court said: Accordingly, we must affirm the district court’s judgment and can do no more than hope Congress will make good on the promises recruiters made in good faith to plaintiffs and others of the World War II and Korean War era—from 1941 to 1956, when Congress enacted its first health care insurance act for military members, excluding older retirees. . . . We cannot readily imagine more sympathetic plaintiffs than the retired officers of the World War II and Korean War era involved in this case. They served their country for at least 20 years with the understanding that when they retired they and their dependents would receive full free health care for life. The promise of such health care was made in good faith and relied upon. Again, however, because no authority existed to make such promises in the first place, and because Congress has never ratified or acquiesced to this promise, we have no alternative but to uphold the judgment against the retirees’ breach-of-contract claim. . . . Perhaps Congress will consider using its legal power to address the moral claims raised by Schism and Reinlie on their own behalf, and indirectly for other affected retirees..

Only the United States Congress can make good on the promises recruiters made in good faith to plaintiffs and others of the World War II and Korean War era.

Statutes enacted in 1956 allowed those who entered service on or after December 7, 1956, and retired after serving a minimum of 20 years or by reason of a service-connected disability to medical and dental care in any facility of the uniformed services, subject to the availability of space and facilities and the capabilities of the medical and dental staff.

Recruiters, re-enlistment counselors, and officers at all levels of the uniformed services, and other government officials, as agents of the United States Government, continued to allow members who entered the uniformed services to believe they would be entitled to fully paid lifetime health care upon retirement, despite enactment of statutes in 1956, subsequent statutes, and the issuance of regulations that defined and limited the availability of medical care to retired members of the uniformed services.

After 4 rounds of base closures between 1988 and 1995 and further drawdowns of remaining military medical treatment facilities, access to space available health care in a military medical treatment facility is difficult or virtually nonexistent for many military retirees.

The failure to provide adequate health care upon retirement is preventing the retired members of the uniformed services from recommending, without reservation, that young men and women make a career of any military service.

Although provisions in the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 (as enacted into law by Public Law 106–398) extended coverage under the TRICARE program to medicare eligible military retirees age 65 and older, those provisions did not address the health care needs of military retirees under the age of 65.

The United States should make good on the promises recruiters made in good faith in the World War II and Korean War era and reestablish high quality health care for all retired members of the uniformed services.