Strengthening Preventive Health Care for Service Members Act

Strengthening Preventive Health Care for Service Members Act

This bill expands preventive health care services under the Department of Defense's (DOD) TRICARE program to include services comparable to coverage provided by a group health plan and a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage under the Public Health Service Act, including certain: (1) evidence-based items or services; (2) immunizations; (3) evidence-informed preventive care and screenings for infants, children, and adolescents; and (4) additional preventive care and screenings for women.

Persons entitled to such medical care shall also be entitled to other evidence-based preventive health care services and screenings, as DOD may prescribe.

DOD shall prescribe regulations to: (1) waive certain copayments for preventive services for beneficiaries, and (2) ensure that a beneficiary pays nothing for such preventive services without regard to whether the beneficiary has reached his or her annual deductible.

The bill makes immunizations and health promotion and disease prevention visits available to all dependents. (Currently, different health care provisions apply to dependents based upon whether they are under, or at least, six years old.)