The New Health Care Law and Veterans

Q. I’m a Marine Corps veteran with health coverage through TriCare and the VA. Would there be any change in my coverage? Am I or my family required to buy other health insurance?

A. The new law requires adults to buy health insurance starting in 2014 and provides subsidies for those who can’t afford it. Those who don’t have it will pay a penalty. Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of health and human services, says you, your spouse and your children do not have to buy new health insurance because you already have it. TriCare and coverage through the Department of Veterans Affairs “is now and into the future considered coverage,” she says.

Susan Jaffe of Washington, D.C., covers health and aging issues and writes the Bulletin’s weekly column, Health Care Reform Explained: Your Questions Answered.