Sponsors (2)
This bill lets pregnant service members access preferred civilian maternity care while imposing a limited five-year pilot and reporting regime to monitor effects — trading improved individual access for potential higher costs, provider capacity strains, and extra DoD administrative burden.
Pregnant service members and their dependents can switch to TRICARE Select for pregnancy-related care, letting them access preferred civilian providers and potentially improving continuity and quality of maternal care.
Congress, the Department of Defense, and taxpayers gain structured oversight through monthly and annual enrollment reporting plus a five-year pilot to test impacts on coverage and costs before any permanent change.
Taxpayers and the Defense Department may face higher administrative and program costs if more beneficiaries enroll in TRICARE Select, putting upward pressure on defense budgets.
Hospitals, civilian provider networks, and military beneficiaries could experience capacity or network coordination issues if a large number of beneficiaries move to civilian care, complicating timely or coordinated treatment.
The Defense Department and federal employees will incur additional administrative work to fulfill new reporting requirements, diverting staff time and resources from other tasks.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Mandates a five-year DoD pilot treating pregnancy as a qualifying event for TRICARE Select enrollment and requires briefings and annual, month-by-month enrollment reports.
Official title: To direct the Secretary of Defense to establish a pilot program regarding treating pregnancy as a qualifying event for enrollment in TRICARE Select.
Introduced July 14, 2025 by Terri Sewell · Last progress July 14, 2025
Requires the Secretary of Defense to start a five-year pilot (beginning within 180 days of enactment) that treats pregnancy as a qualifying life event for enrollment in TRICARE Select for eligible beneficiaries. The bill also requires an initial briefing to specified congressional committees within one year and annual reports each year of the pilot with month-by-month counts of covered enrollment changes disaggregated by listed categories beginning January 2027.