Officials Reassure Troops On TRICARE

When the DOD has to release statements to reassure the troops the health insurance reform will not harm the care they get, it's obvious there are a lot of rumors out there. For anyone lying about something as important as the healthcare coverage the troops and veterans receive, it should be regarded as an attack against them. Have people sunk so far they have to cause military families to fear this when they have so many real things to worry about?

There was a time when common sense was involved in legitimate disagreements by people in office. They would not sink to lying while they were spinning.

Officials Reassure Troops On TRICARE
March 23, 2010
Stars and Stripes
by Leo Shane III

WASHINGTON — Military and Veterans Affairs officials spent the weekend refuting allegations that the health care reform legislation approved by Congress will harm TRICARE programs or Veterans Affairs health benefits, instead promising that servicemembers and veterans will see no change in their coverage.

Before Sunday’s vote approving the massive health care overhaul, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki released a statement saying that none of the proposals would force veterans to purchase new health care or change the way current benefits are delivered.

“Fears that veterans’ health care and TRICARE will be undermined by the health reform legislation are unfounded,” he said. “We pledge to continue to provide the men and women in uniform and our veterans the high quality health care they have earned.”
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Officials Reassure Troops On TRICARE

TRICARE Meets New Health Bill Standards
March 22, 2010
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON – The TRICARE military health plan meets the standards set by the health care reform bill the House of Representatives passed last night, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said in a statement issued yesterday.
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TRICARE Meets New Health Bill Standards

Starting today, some Tricare services free

Starting today, some Tricare services free

By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Sep 1, 2009 12:35:24 EDT

As of Sept. 1, certain Tricare beneficiaries no longer will have to pay out of pocket for immunizations, mammograms and some other preventive services.

However, the new benefit does not apply to all preventive services or to Medicare-eligible beneficiaries.

Also as of Sept. 1, beneficiaries can request reimbursement for any of these covered preventive services that they have paid for since Oct. 14, 2008. The benefit is retroactive to that date, when it was signed into law.

Covered preventive services include screenings for colorectal cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer and prostate cancer; immunizations; and certain physical exams, including well-child visits for children younger than 6. This means the patient has no co-payments or cost shares, even if his or her annual Tricare deductible has not been met.
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Starting today some Tricare services free

Tricare programs offer online counseling

Tricare programs offer online counseling
By Mark Abramson, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Thursday, August 27, 2009
Servicemembers and family members in the States can now see marriage counselors and psychologists online from home, thanks to two new Tricare programs.

The Tricare Assistance Program, or TRIAP, was launched on a trial basis on Aug. 1 and allows servicemembers and family members ages 18 and older to use Skype and a webcam to go online at home or anywhere that has Internet access to see and talk with a counselor.

TRIAP users have access to marriage counselors and other similar professionals to help them deal with stress, family and relationship problems, anxiety and other issues.

“The [TRIAP] system now is low-level counseling without a diagnosis,” said Tricare Management Activity’s Kathleen Larkin.

Tricare Assistance and the similar new Telemedicine program, which has psychologists to help people deal with depression and other mental health conditions, prescribe medication and make diagnoses, are not modeled after other programs that use online counseling; they are just ways to add to the services Tricare provides, Larkin said.
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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=64410

Health care issues raised at Fort Campbell

Health care issues raised at Fort Campbell

By Kristin M. Hall - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Aug 6, 2009 15:10:21 EDT

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — Medical officials at Fort Campbell say they are working to improve access to health care for soldiers and their families and to address complaints about driving long distances to get treatment.

The Army’s medical leaders are trying to balance the needs of a rising number of injured soldiers returning from war with the capacity of doctors and staff at their military hospitals. At Fort Campbell, many units have completed third and fourth tours and the installation has hundreds of soldiers assigned to its wounded warrior unit.

During meetings at Fort Campbell this week, hospital staff and representatives from the Army and Tricare, the military health insurance program, took questions from family members and soldiers.

“We have problems with access,” said Col. Kenneth Canestrini, who works for the Army surgeon general’s office overseeing the Tricare program. “The U.S. Army recognizes that. It’s a fluid environment and we are working on it.”

One complaint from military members and their families was that sometimes they had to drive long distances away from the installation on the Kentucky-Tennessee state line to get certain treatment, officials said.
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Health care issues raised at Fort Campbell

Military TriCare denies son's chance to live?

Insurance denies boy second chance at life
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Hannah and Aiden Lopez are living on borrowed time. The two were born with Sanfilippo syndrome, sufferers of which typically don't live past their teens. Doctors say it may be too late to save Hannah, but a stem cell transplant may save Aiden. But the family's military insurance has refused aid

The news itself was like a miracle to the boy's family. That is until the bad news came: the family's military insurance provider has refused to pay for the $700,000 procedure.

"TriWest has determined that the requested service is a clinical trial and presently considered unproven. Therefore, the service is not a covered benefit under TRICARE," said Dr. Leonard Tamsky of TriWest HeathCare Alliance.
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Tricare should have tried better accounting

Pentagon Health Care Faces Fraud Threat

Defense Dept.'s Health Program Vulnerable To Scams Overseas, Report Warns

MADISON, Wis., Dec. 15, 2008


(AP) The system for providing health care to Department of Defense employees remains vulnerable to fraud overseas, years after a Philippines company swindled taxpayers out of $100 million, a recent report warned.

Pentagon officials say they are taking several steps to implement tighter controls over the program in the coming months and years. But a spokesman acknowledged this week that identifying and correcting problems in the Tricare program "is time consuming and complex" given its mission to provide benefits all over the globe.

The Sept. 30 report by the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General found lax controls in paying claims to overseas doctors and hospitals who treat active and non-active duty military personnel.

Overlapping responsibilities for claims meant Department of Defense employees, military contractors and military bases accidentally made duplicate payments for the same services, auditors found.

Auditors said they could not determine how many duplicate payments were made because records were poorly kept. However, they said their limited review identified 90 instances between 2004 and 2006 in which multiple organizations paid for the same health care benefits, totaling $50,000 in overpayments.
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