SPECIAL TO TGI – U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink has urged Congress to extend eligibility to use the military’s healthcare system and commissaries to former spouses of military members who aren’t remarried. House Resolution 288, which would apply in certain circumstances,
SPECIAL TO TGI –
U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink has urged Congress to extend eligibility to use the military’s healthcare system and commissaries to former spouses of military members who aren’t remarried.
House Resolution 288, which would apply in certain circumstances, was introduced by Mink (D-Hawai’i). The measure is identical to one she introduced in 1999.
Existing law – the so-called 20-20-20 rule – provides health and commissary benefits to un-remarried former spouses who were:
– Married to military personnel for at least 20 years.
– Whose ex-spouse served in the military for at least 20 years.
– And whose marriage and spouse’s military service overlapped for 20 years.
Mink said many military members who retire after 20 years of service were married a year or two after entering active duty. Thus, regardless of the subsequent length of marriage, the spouse can’t meet the criteria requiring the 20-year overlap, Mink explained.
She said her new proposal would eliminate “this current inequity” by extending the benefits to an un-remarried former spouse, provided the military member had at least 20 years applied to retirement pay, and the marriage lasted for at least 17 years of a minimum 20 years of military service.
Ex-spouses in other states support Mink’s proposal, she said.
“A woman from Arizona was married to her husband for 36 years, but because she married him one year after his initial enlistment, she missed the 20-20-20 rule by 11 months,” Mink said. She added that such stories “are tragic, and we must correct this unfairness.”
HR 288 has been referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.
