Washington, DC – Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Mark Pryor (D-AR) today announced that they have introduced legislation, the National Guard and Reserve Medical Readiness Act, to improve the readiness of the National Guard and Reserves by extending important medical and dental benefits to members preparing for deployment. Shortfalls in medical and dental care contribute to the serious readiness problems facing the Guard and Reserve. The bill builds on earlier legislation authored by Senator Clinton to improve access to healthcare coverage for Guard members and reservists.

“The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have led to prolonged overseas deployments that have stretched our National Guard and Reserves to the breaking point. These honorable citizen-soldiers have sacrificed so much for their country, and yet they often lack the medical and dental coverage that they need to remain fit for duty,” Senator Clinton said. “This legislation is an important step toward restoring the readiness of our Guard and Reserves and I will work hard with my colleagues to get it enacted.” 

“Improving health care services for our Guard and Reserve is a common-sense step we can take to boost the readiness and well-being of our troops,” Senator Pryor said.  “This is a quality of life issue and we need to do everything possible to ensure that our troops are healthy.  Otherwise, we will continue to see units deployed with less than 100 percent of their own personnel.”

Readiness is a significant problem for our reserve component. Earlier this year, the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves reported that the vast majority of Army National Guard units are rated “not ready,” after years of prolonged deployments and inadequate support. This has serious consequences for the ability of National Guard members to meet threats overseas and also respond to homeland security challenges and disasters here at home. 

A failure to maintain medical or dental readiness often causes reserve component members to be rated "non-deployable." As a result, units are frequently forced to either deploy with less than 100 percent of their personnel or to take personnel from other units to fill vacant positions. Part of the problem stems from the fact that some members of the NationalGuard and Reserve not presently serving on active duty may not have access to civilian medical and dental care and do not acquire active duty military healthcare benefits until they are actually activated under Title X.

The Senators’ new legislation would provide all members of the National Guard and Reserve with active duty military healthcare as soon as they, or their units, are alerted for deployment, instead of waiting until they receive formal activation orders.  The change would mean that Guardsmen and reservists would be entitled to active duty military healthcare benefits for a longer period of time prior to deployment.  This would increase the likelihood that their medical and dental needs will be addressed early and they will be fit to deploy with their unit. 

The National Guard and Reserve Medical Readiness Act builds on Senator Clinton’s long record of working on behalf of the Guard and Reserve. In 2003, Senator Clinton joined Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to introduce legislation to extend TRICARE family health insurance coverage to all drilling members of the Guard and Reserve. Senator Clinton successfully worked to expand those benefits in the years since. In 2004, Senator Clinton authored a measure, later signed into law, establishing a new tracking system to ensure active duty military personnel and reservists would receive regular health screenings and requiring a government study of the health of reserve personnel serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Just lastweek, Senator Clinton joined a bipartisan group of senators to introduce legislation expanding Guard and Reserve retirement benefits to include duty performed after September 11, 2001.

The National Guard and Reserve MedicalReadiness Act has been endorsed by the National Guard Association and the Reserve Officers Association.

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