Senate Bill 1630

    Florida Senate - 1999        (NP)                      SM 1630

    By Senator Clary





    7-1624-99

  1                     Senate Memorial No.     

  2         A memorial to the Congress of the United

  3         States, urging Congress to enact legislation to

  4         provide continuing health care to military

  5         retirees.

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  7         WHEREAS, World War II and Korean War military retirees

  8  who served honorably for 20 or more years constitute a

  9  significant part of the aging population in this country and

10  state, and

11         WHEREAS, guaranteed lifetime health care for them and

12  their families was a major inducement for these retirees to

13  make the United States Armed Forces a career, and

14         WHEREAS, many of these retirees are unable to access

15  military treatment facilities for health care and

16  life-maintenance medications because they live in areas where

17  there are no military treatment facilities, or where such

18  facilities have downsized so significantly that there is no

19  available space for care, and

20         WHEREAS, prior to the age of 65, these retirees are

21  provided health services at military medical facilities or

22  through the United States Department of Defense's TRICARE

23  programs, but when they reach age 65 they lose a significant

24  portion of the guaranteed health care by being forced into

25  Medicare, and

26         WHEREAS, the loss of access to health care services

27  provided by the Department of Defense has resulted in the

28  government's breaking its guarantee of lifetime health care,

29  and

30         WHEREAS, without continued affordable health care,

31  including pharmaceuticals, these retirees have limited access

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 1999        (NP)                      SM 1630
    7-1624-99




  1  to quality health care and have significantly less care than

  2  other retired federal employees, and

  3         WHEREAS, it is necessary and equitable to restore

  4  health care benefits to these retirees which are comparable to

  5  those of other retired federal workers, NOW, THEREFORE,

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  7  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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  9         That the weekend of June 5 and 6, 1999, is recognized

10  as World War II and Korean War Remembrance Weekend and the

11  Congress of the United States is urged to enact appropriate

12  legislation to provide continuing health care for military

13  retirees over the age of 65.

14         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be

15  dispatched to the President of the United States, to the

16  President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the

17  United States House of Representatives, and to each member of

18  the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.

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