Editor’s Note: This article is part of MOAA’s 2024-25 TRICARE Guide, brought to you by MOAA Insurance Plans, administered by Association Member Benefits Advisors (AMBA). A version of the guide appeared in the November 2024 issue of Military Officer magazine. 

From a TRICARE advocacy standpoint, the 118th Congress has been a study in adapting to new circumstances and information.

The first session kicked off with the launch of the House Armed Services Committee Quality of Life Panel. MOAA is grateful for all the panel’s work and recommendations for reforms and new programs designed to improve the lives of servicemembers and families.

When it became clear the panel was unlikely to tackle TRICARE issues — such as the TRICARE Young Adult parity gap — MOAA redirected its efforts to address growing reports of access to care challenges in both military treatment facilities (MTFs) and the TRICARE network.

Those efforts were moved into overdrive late last year when, in a stunning reversal on proposed military medical cuts, DoD announced a new strategy to stabilize the military health system (MHS) by increasing MTF staffing and patient capacity.

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For several years, halting DoD proposals for medical billet cuts and MTF downsizing was a top MOAA priority. Thanks in large part to the thousands of MOAA members who contacted their lawmakers on the issue, we achieved four consecutive legislative provisions to halt proposed medical manpower reductions, including a five-year congressionally directed halt in the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The updated MHS stabilization strategy acknowledges numerous challenges across the MHS, including an insufficient MTF caseload to maintain and improve medical readiness and ongoing beneficiary access-to-care issues.

In the second session, MOAA focused on improved access to care through greater flexibility with TRICARE plan enrollment. We’ve advocated for expanded TRICARE qualifying life events (QLEs) to include pregnancy, so beneficiaries can switch TRICARE plans to access care where it is available — in either the MTF, the TRICARE network, or a US Family Health Plan option. As of this writing, we continue efforts to ensure our pregnancy QLE provision, currently in the House version of the FY 2025 NDAA, is included in the final bill.

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We also raised concerns about TRICARE network erosion and requested a review of network requirements for T-5, the next generation of TRICARE contracts. We were pleased the Senate Armed Services Committee included a Government Accountability Office (GAO) evaluation of T-5 in the report accompanying their markup of the FY 2025 NDAA. We look forward to leveraging GAO report findings in our efforts to address TRICARE network issues moving forward.