WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Kit Bond (R-MO) introduced legislation this week that would allow more military families to be eligible for reimbursement for the cost of traveling to medical care providers whose services are not available on base or in neighboring communities. 

 

Senator Bond said, “The last thing our troops need to worry about is costly travel when a family member needs critical care.  This bill is an important step in providing our military families the support owed by a grateful nation.”

           

Senator Boxer said, “Our military personnel put their lives on the line for our country.  They should not have worry about the high costs of bringing their loved ones to the doctor.”

Under current law, the spouses and children of service members who need to travel to obtain specialty care must clock more than 100 miles each way to be reimbursed by the Department of Defense. The Boxer-Bond bill would reduce the requirement to 50 miles—allowing more families to be eligible for reimbursement.  

 

The change would particularly benefit families stationed at rural bases across the country, such as Edwards Air Force base in California.  For most specialty care, including specialty pediatric care, families stationed at Edwards must travel to the UCLA Medical Center, which is 96.5 miles away. Because this distance is less than 100 miles, the families currently have to bear the entire burden of the travel cost. 

 

This problem is repeated in states like Missouri.  For instance, families stationed at Fort Leonard Wood travel 68 miles to Springfield in order to receive specialty care, making them ineligible for reimbursement.  Additionally, military families traveling from Whiteman Air Force Base must travel 79 miles to Kansas City, MO for specialty care, making them ineligible for reimbursement as well.

 

This legislation has the support of the Military Coalition, a group of 35 organizations representing more than 5.5 million members of the uniformed services including active, reserve, retired, survivors, veterans and their families.

 

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