Pentagon offers new reservist health benefits

The Defense Department announced a plan Thursday to extend health insurance benefits for National Guard and Reserve personnel who were called to duty after the 9/11 attacks and who agree to continue serving in the reserves.

The new system, known as Tricare Reserve Select, is designed to cover personnel who are without a civilian health insurance plan as they enter or leave active duty. The Pentagon has mobilized more than 400,000 National Guard and Reserve personnel since 9/11. The new plan will offer similar benefits to the military's active duty Tricare health program, according to a Pentagon release.

"They mobilized and deployed side by side with active duty forces," said William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs. "While we have, in the past, offered full health care benefits for these service members and for their families, this change will shortly offer a more comprehensive benefit for transition back to private life and, importantly, the opportunity for those who have served in contingency operations, the option for obtaining Tricare coverage on a longer term at very attractive rates."

To qualify for the plan, a member of the reserve must have served after 9/11 for 90 consecutive days or more "in support of a contingency operation," according to the Defense Department. Participants must also commit to serve in the selected Reserve for at least one additional year before they leave active duty. Individual personnel offices will review cases and determine if reserve members meet the criteria. Reservists who have already left active duty also may qualify if they enter into another service agreement by Oct. 28, 2005.

The coverage will be applied retroactively, according to the Defense Department's Web site. As the war in Iraq enters its third year, reports have surfaced that the Pentagon is falling short on some of its recruiting goals. Defense officials said the new health insurance benefit is designed to help make the military-and the reserves in particular-a more attractive option for potential recruits.

"We are committed to providing the proper combination of compensation and benefits that will allow us to attract and retain the world's best fighting force," said Charles Abell, principal deputy undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness.

Pentagon officials said they will post more information on the TRS plan-including start date and premiums-later this month on the military's Tricare Web site.

"For every 90 days of active duty service, Guard and Reserve personnel are eligible for one year of Tricare coverage for a modest fee," said Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs Thomas Hall. "That means, for example, that personnel who have served two years of active duty are eligible for eight years of health care coverage."