“Although the health care legislation passed by the House explicitly exempted TRICARE from being affected, the Senate bill did not.
Military Protections Scrapped: The Senate-passed health care bill, which the House is expected to "deem" passed on March 21, 2010, omitted protections for military health plans that were included in the House bill. Specifically, the Senate language does not appear to give the Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA) health care system specific protection from interference by other government agencies administering the various authorities contained in the massive bill, as it pertains to "minimum essential coverage." The minimum essential coverage language in the Senate bill does cover "the veterans health care program under chapter 17 of title 38, United States Code," but it is unclear whether that covers veterans' survivors and dependents.
The final bill would leave it up to a bureaucrat at the Department of the Treasury to determine whether TRICARE meets the minimum standards under the Democrats' individual health insurance mandate. If that bureaucrat decides against TRICARE, service members and their families would have to buy some other health coverage or pay a penalty.
sad.. really sad that they can't even give our military and vets adequate health care.. and will now penalize them for not having health care