Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle To Introduce Bill To Extend Health Coverage for Reservists
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) on Monday announced plans to introduce legislation with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that would extend health coverage for National Guard members and reservists, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports (Kranz, Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 2/17). Under current law, National Guard members and reservists lose health coverage 30 days after they return from deployment (California Healthline, 9/11/03). Daschle also said that Bush's fiscal year 2005 budget proposal includes "meager" funding increases for veterans' health programs but includes more than $1 billion in user fees for veterans' health care programs, a new $250 enrollment fee for VA health programs for middle-income veterans, increased copayments for primary care for middle-income veterans and a more-than-double increase in prescription drug copays for some veterans (Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 2/17).
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