Sponsor
Tammy Baldwin
Senator · D-WI
Senator · D-WI
The bill removes individual TRS premiums for reservists and standardizes family premiums and medical documentation to simplify enrollment and improve readiness, at the trade-off of higher costs for some families, increased DoD program expenses and administrative implementation and privacy risks.
Selected Reserve members (reservists) no longer pay individual premiums for TRICARE Reserve Select, eliminating a recurring out-of-pocket cost for those members.
Standardized medical documentation/forms give reservists and commanders clearer, faster readiness assessments and assignment decisions, reducing confusion and speeding processing for deployments and benefits.
Dependents of reserve members get a single, uniform family premium (set at 28% of actuarial monthly cost), simplifying enrollment and making family costs more predictable.
Some reserve families could face higher monthly costs because the uniform family premium is fixed at 28% of actuarial cost, which may exceed current enrollment fees for certain households.
Shifting the individual TRS premium burden to the government reduces premium revenue and increases Defense Health Program costs, which could pressure other DoD health priorities or taxpayer funding.
Mandating active-duty family cost-sharing rules for reserve families could raise copayments or other out-of-pocket costs for some dependents, depending on how those schedules compare to current TRS cost-sharing.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Removes individual premiums and most cost‑sharing for Selected Reserve TRICARE Reserve Select, sets a single family premium at 28% of actuarial dependent cost, and standardizes medical readiness forms for civilian providers.
Official title: Amend title 10, United States Code, to eliminate certain health care charges for members of the Selected Reserve eligible for TRICARE Reserve Select, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 31, 2025 by Tammy Baldwin · Last progress July 31, 2025
Eliminates premiums and most cost-sharing for individual TRICARE Reserve Select coverage for members of the Selected Reserve, sets a single uniform family premium equal to 28% of the actuarial monthly dependent cost, and aligns family and out-of-network cost-sharing with active-duty family rules. It also requires the Defense Department to issue implementing rules, permit premium collection via pay withholding, and create standardized medical documentation forms for civilian providers to report reserve members' medical readiness and deployability within 180 days. The main benefit changes take effect for TRICARE care one year after enactment.