TRICARE Prime enrollment fee hikes, new enrollment fees for TRICARE for Life and TRICARE Standard, and pharmacy copayment increases all failed to make it into the House’s version of the 2014 defense-spending bill. The House Armed Services military personnel subcommittee also approved the Obama administration’s call for a 1.8-percent pay raise for service members, kept strength reduction at levels set in the 2013 defense bill, reduced the number of flag-rank and general officer billets by 24, and again affirmed the commitment to require a minimum 180 days’ notice before reserve components can be deployed or have a deployment canceled. The provisions are contained in the panel’s markup of the administration’s proposed 2014 defense bill, which was released May 22.
