NewsBytes March 10, 2023
In this issue:
Expanding National Cemetery Act Introduced
Express Scripts Investigated by House Committee
Mandated COVID-19 Vaccine for Sailors Ended
Expanding America’s National Cemetery Act Introduced
Congresswoman Lisa McClain (Mich.) introduced a bipartisan bill that would expand access for veterans to America’s National Cemetery. As Arlington National Cemetery — a sacred resting place — nears capacity, the “Expanding America’s National Cemetery Act” (H.R.1413) would ensure another national cemetery is created to provide full military burial honors for eligible veterans.
“Being laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors is a sacred tribute we give our nation’s heroes” said Rep. McClain. “I am proud to introduce the Expanding America’s National Cemetery Act to ensure our veterans and future servicemembers are honored with the full and proper final respects they deserve. Our men and women in uniform should know how much their sacrifices mean to our country and expanding America’s National Cemetery is one way we can show them.”
In recent years, the Department of Defense has implemented burial restrictions at Arlington National Cemetery in order to delay ANC from reaching full capacity. Some legislators have suggested creating a second national cemetery, perhaps on the West Coast, in lieu of additional burial restrictions that would afford full military honors. In January 2023, FRA members were surveyed, “Should a second National Military Cemetery be created?”
YES 73.2% NO 8.8% UNDECIDED 18%
Background: The FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act directed the Secretary of the Army to revise eligibility criteria to keep the cemetery functioning as an active burial ground “well into the future” — defined as 150 years. Acting Secretary of the Army Ryan D. McCarthy proposed changes to eligibility criteria in September 2019, for burial at ANC, which will include military retirees for above-ground inurnment only.
Many retirees believe that twenty or more years of arduous military service has earned them the option to be provided with an in-ground burial at ANC. Members are urged to contact their Representative to ask them to support the bill.
House Committee to Investigate Express Scripts
The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability has launched an investigation into pharmacy benefit managers’ (PBM) tactics that are harming patient care and increasing costs for consumers. Committee Chairman James Comer (Ky.) is calling on senior officials at the Defense Health Agency (DHA), Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), for documents and communications to determine the extent PBMs’ tactics impact healthcare programs administered by the federal government. Additionally, Chairman Comer is calling on the largest PBMs — CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and OptumRx — to provide documents, communications and information related to their practices that are distorting the pharmaceutical market and limiting high-quality care for patients.
In December 2022, the FRA signed a letter from the Military Coalition (TMC) dispatched to Lieutenant General Ronald Place, Director, Defense Health Agency expressing concern that the recent cuts to the TRICARE pharmacy program goes too far. Eliminating nearly 15,000 independent pharmacies cuts off many beneficiaries from essential medications and services that cannot be replaced by the remaining TRICARE network participants or the TRICARE Pharmacy Home Delivery Program. The letter states that service members, retirees, their families and survivors have earned a high-quality healthcare benefit. The FRA and other groups are concerned that reduced access may result in medication non-adherence leading to poor outcomes, increased health care utilization, and higher overall health care costs.
Navy & Marines Drop COVID Vaccine Mandate for Deployment
The Marine Corps and the Navy are no longer blocking Sailors and Marines who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 from overseas deployments. In December 2022, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro had cautioned that repealing the mandate would create two categories of troops: those who could deploy and those who could not. But now, COVID-19 vaccination status no longer determines whether troops in the Department of the Navy can deploy. The Marine commandant, Gen. David Berger acknowledged in December 2022, that the COVID-19 vaccine mandate was hampering recruitment, especially in the South. But Berger insisted that the mandate was critical for force readiness.
“That’s what you need to maintain a healthy unit that can deploy, on ship, ashore — it doesn’t matter,” he said at the time. Congress, in the annual defense authorization bill it passed in December 2022, forced the military services to eliminate the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
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