The worldwide coronavirus pandemic has led one U.S. senator to push back against Pentagon plans that call for military retirees and family members to receive medical care at civilian health care facilities.
During a meeting of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) noted the Department of Defense has been working to downsize health personnel.
"The closure of military medical treatment facilities, the shifting of retiree, military family members; care to Tricare," she said. "In many of these areas, treatment facilities may not be capable of handling the increased patient load."
She noted the cuts are happening while the coronavirus continues to spread and "and will obviously put a lot of pressure on our system."
Last month, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Tom McCaffrey said that 200,000 family members and retirees would likely be moved from military treatment facilities to Tricare providers. The move is part of the transition of military treatment facilities from service branch control to Defense Health Agency management.
In testimony before the subcommittee, McCaffrey noted work on the proposal was done before the coronavirus outbreak.
"But, what we've said it is conditions-based," he said. "Part of that will be if, in the future, our assumptions that went into the proposal have changed then we will need to change what we proposed."
Gillibrand also asked McCaffrey to provide weekly updates to the committee so legislators can ensure the military has adequate testing labs, and manpower to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.
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