Military CARE Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Military CARE Act directs the Secretary of Defense to establish, within 18 months, a digital access-assistance system for military medical treatment facilities. Covered TRICARE beneficiaries must be able to file complaints electronically about access to care and view the status of interim or final actions at any time. Each complaint must be promptly transmitted to an appropriate Department of Defense patient advocate, and facility complaints may be aggregated quarterly for the Director of the Defense Health Agency. Beginning each March 1 after the system is established, DoD must report to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees on complaint totals and facility-level patterns, including specialty versus primary care access, pediatric versus non-pediatric care, administrative hurdles versus other issues, and steps taken to reduce complaints.
Who Benefits and How
TRICARE beneficiaries, service members, military families, and other eligible patients benefit by gaining a formal digital channel to document access-to-care problems and track responses. DoD patient advocates benefit from structured complaint information. The Defense Health Agency and congressional Armed Services Committees benefit from facility-level data that can reveal recurring access problems across military medical treatment facilities.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Department of Defense and Defense Health Agency must build, maintain, and monitor the digital system. Military medical treatment facilities must respond to complaint trends and summarize steps to reduce access problems. Patient advocates must receive and act on complaint records. DoD reporting staff must prepare annual reports with detailed comparisons by facility and category.
Key Provisions
- Requires a digital system for covered TRICARE beneficiaries to file access-to-care complaints at military medical treatment facilities.
- Requires beneficiaries to view the status of interim or final action on their complaints at any time.
- Directs complaints to Department of Defense patient advocates and allows quarterly aggregation for the Defense Health Agency Director.
- Mandates annual reports to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees on complaint volume, complaint categories, and facility actions.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Requires the Secretary of Defense to create a digital complaint and tracking system for TRICARE beneficiaries receiving care at military medical treatment facilities, route complaints to DoD patient advocates, aggregate facility complaints for the Defense Health Agency, and report annually to the Armed Services Committees.
Key Policy Areas
Defense, Healthcare, Military Families
Primary Purpose
Requires the Secretary of Defense to create a digital complaint and tracking system for TRICARE beneficiaries receiving care at military medical treatment facilities, route complaints to DoD patient advocates, aggregate facility complaints for the Defense Health Agency, and report annually to the Armed Services Committees.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- TRICARE beneficiaries
- Service members
- Military families
- DoD patient advocates
- Defense Health Agency leaders
- Congressional armed services committees
Identified Costs
- Department of Defense staff
- Defense Health Agency staff
- Military medical treatment facilities
- Patient advocates
- Federal taxpayers
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Horsford (for himself, Mrs. Kiggans of Virginia, Mr. Bacon, …
Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Military medical treatment facilities, TRICARE beneficiaries
Positive-direction: TRICARE beneficiaries
Negative-direction: Military medical treatment facilities
Defense Health Agency staff, Department of Defense staff
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Defense
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology