Much-needed improvements to the military health system lead a list of MOAA priorities for the FY 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), must-pass legislation that will take shape in the closing weeks of the 119th Congress.

A letter from MOAA to the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees sent Sept. 23 outlines these key provisions and recommends modifications to ensure the best possible outcomes for servicemembers, retirees, their families and survivors.

[READ THE LETTER]

The list includes proposals that will:

• Establish a digital system so TRICARE beneficiaries can report access to care concerns in a way that will ensure their issues are resolved and systemic problems can be addressed. The NDAA provision builds on the MOAA-backed Military Care, Access, Reporting, and Evaluation (Military CARE) Act and is a top priority for several military and veterans service organizations.
  
  

[TAKE ACTION: Ask Your Lawmakers to Address Military Care Access Problems]

• Expand on continued congressional oversight of services offered by military treatment facilities (MTFs), to include reversing planned cuts to 41 hospitals and clinics.
  
  
• Require a study on the future of the military health care system – a necessary step to ensure the program remains viable for all beneficiaries.
  
  
• Address the administration’s plans to split Defense Health Program funding into two appropriations: One for combat and operational medicine, another for private sector care. MOAA raised concerns in the letter that the move “could lead to challenges with adequately funding purchased care and diminished access for beneficiaries.”
  
  
• Create a no-premium dental plan for junior enlisted members of the Selected Reserve, a program designed to increase readiness of the overall force.

Other Key Proposals

Along with health care issues, MOAA also endorsed proposals found in either the House or Senate NDAA versions that would:

• Expand in-home child care options for military families, to include improved access to au pairs.
  
  
• Prevent Pentagon officials from funding any changes under the Supply Chain Transformation Initiative – moves which could affect the commissary benefit – until six months after a report required in the FY 2026 NDAA is filed to Congress.
  
  
• Prohibit landlords in privatized military housing from asking tenants to sign nondisclosure agreements, which may limit the options for military families facing housing problems.
  
  
• Improve landlord accountability for mold and other housing hazards by establishing testing requirements and remediation timelines – measures included in the MOAA-backed MOLD Act.
  
  
• Protect the retirement pay of commissioned-officer retirees from the U.S. Public Health Service and NOAA during funding lapses by processing those payments via the Military Retirement Fund, a protection offered to Coast Guard retirees via the FY 2021 NDAA.

[TAKE ACTION: Urge Lawmakers to Support the Pensions for Retired Uniformed Servicemembers Act]

Other Priorities

MOAA’s letter to committee leadership expressed disappointment at the exclusion of the Major Richard Star Act from the NDAA but noted “alternative avenues” of progress for the legislation, which would end an unjust pay offset faced by tens of thousands combat-injured retirees who lose a dollar of military retirement pay for every dollar of VA disability compensation they collect.

The letter also endorsed NDAA plans to raise military pay at the same or higher rate as the Employment Cost Index, but noted concerns with an administration proposal to uncouple the pay of USPHS and NOAA officers from others in uniform. There is “no justification” for such a move, according to the letter, which notes these officers “serve alongside their armed forces counterparts, deploy in support of national emergencies, and undertake hazardous assignments” that merit comparable compensation.

Lawmakers from both chambers will craft the final NDAA from the House and Senate versions when both chambers return to Washington after the midterm elections. MOAA will remain active in the halls of Congress as this process moves forward, and your voice can help make a difference in the end result – to keep up with the latest developments, including calls to action on behalf of these key priorities, register at MOAA’s Legislative Action Center.