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Gold Star Spouses Health Care Enhancement Act
To amend title 10, United States Code, to expand the health care benefits available for Gold Star surviving spouses.
Summary
This bill expands military health care benefits for surviving spouses of service members who died in service, commonly known as Gold Star spouses. It removes the current three-year time limit on TRICARE Prime (military health insurance) coverage and dental benefits, allowing surviving spouses to maintain these benefits indefinitely. The changes apply to both medical and dental coverage under the military health system. The bill is retroactive, meaning surviving spouses of service members who died before this law was enacted would also be eligible for the expanded benefits.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Kaptur, Marcy [D-OH-9] (D-OH)
2 cosponsors
Actions (2)
- May 23, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services. · house
- May 23, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
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Text versions (1)
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Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 23, 2025
Ms. Kaptur (for herself and Mr. Bacon) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services
A BILL
To amend title 10, United States Code, to expand the health care benefits available for Gold Star surviving spouses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Gold Star Spouses Health Care Enhancement Act”.
SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF HEALTH CARE BENEFITS FOR GOLD STAR SURVIVING SPOUSES.
(a) Medical Benefits.—Section 1079(g) of title 10, United States Code, is amended—
(1) in paragraph (2), by inserting “except as provided by paragraph (5),” after “benefits under paragraph (1),”; and
(2) by striking paragraph (5) and inserting the following:
“(5)(A) A dependent described in subparagraph (B) shall not be subject to the three-year time limit specified in paragraph (2) with respect to eligibility for benefits under TRICARE Prime.
“(B) A dependent described in this subparagraph is a dependent for purposes of section 1072 of this title by reason of being a surviving spouse of a member of the Armed Forces whose death is covered by section 1126.”.
(b) Dental Benefits.—Section 1076a(k) of such title is amended—
(1) in paragraph (3), by striking “Such term” and inserting “Except as provided by paragraph (4), such term”; and
(2) by adding after paragraph (3) the following:
“(4)(A) A dependent described in subparagraph (B) shall not be subject to the three-year time limit specified in paragraph (3).
“(B) A dependent described in this subparagraph is a dependent for purposes of section 1072 of this title by reason of being a surviving spouse of a member of the Armed Forces whose death is covered by section 1126.”.
(c) Application.—The amendments made by this section shall apply with respect to a surviving spouse of a member of the Armed Forces whose death is covered by section 1126 of title 10, United States Code, regardless of whether such death occurred before the date of the enactment of this Act. <all>
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