SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE UNDER TRICARE PROGRAM FOR COVERED BENEFICIARIES WHO ARE MEDICARE ELIGIBLE.

SEC. 718. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE UNDER TRICARE PROGRAM FOR COVERED BENEFICIARIES WHO ARE MEDICARE ELIGIBLE. (a) Findings.— Congress finds the following: (1) Medical care provided in facilities of the uniformed services is generally less expensive to the Federal Government than the same care provided at Government expense in the private sector. (2) Covered beneficiaries under the military health care provisions of chapter 55, United States Code, who are eligible for medicare under title XVIII of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.) deserve health care options that empower them to choose the health plan that best fits their needs. (b) Sense of Congress.— In light of the findings specified in subsection (a), it is the sense of Congress that— (1) the Secretary of Defense should develop a program to ensure that such covered beneficiaries who reside in a region in which the TRICARE program has been implemented con-110 STAT. 377tinue to have adequate access to health care services after the implementation of the TRICARE program; and (2) as a means of ensuring such access, the budget for fiscal year 1997 submitted by the President under section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, should provide for reimbursement by the Health Care Financing Administration to the Department of Defense for health care services provided to such covered beneficiaries in medical treatment facilities of the Department of Defense.