New bills want to provide Gold Star survivors with better benefits, make it easier for former feds to return

New House legislation wants to help ensure that the spouses of fallen service members can keep their health care benefits for longer without having to absorb higher costs. 

The Gold Star Spouse Healthcare Enhancement Act (HR 9974) — cosponsored by Reps. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, and Don Bacon, R-Neb., on Oct. 11 — specifically aims to extend the length of time the surviving spouse of a fallen service member can retain their active-duty family member status in TRICARE Prime, the Defense Department’s managed health care option insurance plan, to help provide them with fewer out-of-pocket expenses. 

Currently, the spouses of fallen service members can retain their TRICARE Prime active duty health coverage for three years before shifting to retired family member status, which carries enrollment fees of up to $363 or $438.96 per individual and $726 or $879 per family in 2024, depending on whether the service member’s enrollment was before or after Jan.1, 2018, alongside additional out-of-pockets costs for various covered services. 

Beneficiaries can also enroll in other TRICARE plans, such as TRICARE Select, but that plan carries deductibles and potentially higher enrollment costs. 

Kaptur and Bacon’s bill would amend the current statute to extend the TRICARE Prime active duty coverage by removing the three-year cap for the surviving spouses. 

“We as a nation have a responsibility to these families our heroes leave behind, and this is a small step forward in honoring their sacrifice and caring for their families,” said Bacon, chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies and Innovation, in a statement. “Thousands of Gold Star spouses are paying the retiree rate for healthcare because of current law. The Gold Star Spouse TRICARE Act of 2024 will allow Gold Star spouses to be treated as ‘active-duty members’ instead of a family member of a retiree so they will no longer have to incur additional costs to either continue TRICARE Prime or transition to TRICARE Select.”

The legislation has been referred to the House Armed Services Committee. 

Meanwhile, Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., is looking to establish the federal government’s first returnship program for former federal employees to return to public service. 

Wexton’s Return USA Act (HR 9953) would seek to create a pilot program to allow former feds with at least three years of prior work experience, and who have taken a career break of at least one year, to re-enter the workforce in civil service positions commensurate with their work experience.

The program, based on successful experiences in the private sector and a state government program in Utah, is designed to encourage the return of skilled federal talent to agencies with workforce needs. 

That includes women, who often face the “motherhood penalty” if they leave their jobs after the birth of a child, contending with barriers to workforce re-entry, career trajectory impacts and lower pay. 

“Too many American workers are forced to make sacrifices to their career to care for their family or loved ones, resulting in major setbacks to their professional life as well as a loss of critical talent and expertise for their employer,” said Wexton, in a statement. “Women disproportionately face these barriers to re-entering the workforce and often suffer lower pay and fewer advancement opportunities as a result.”

Under the bill, qualified federal employees seeking to re-enter the civilian workforce would receive onboarding, training, mentorship and professional and leadership development opportunities for at least one year. 

The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.