In the news:
Mar 7, 2025
By Melissa Chan – NBC News
“Changes this year to Tricare, the military’s health care program, have brought cascading disruptions to millions of service members, their families and network providers nationwide.”
“About 16,000 health care providers on the East Coast alone have not been paid for months, forcing many to drop Tricare patients, reduce their hours or consider closing their clinics. On the West Coast, federal officials said, beneficiaries are struggling with a host of issues, including long wait times at call centers and stalled referrals and authorizations.”
“Several thousand health care providers have not been paid since December 2024 because of a data issue, officials said.”
“This situation has become untenable,” said Brenda Stephens, who submitted $180,000 in claims for services that her mental health clinic in San Diego provided to military members this year.
Welcome Home Troops
“Matricia said she and other staff members fear the fallout will further affect the mental health of service members, who will likely not be able to afford the full cost of up to $150 per session.”
“You’re talking about people who are suicidal,” she said. “If you stop their care, they can choose to end their life. It’s very hard to transfer therapists. It’s really hard to open up again.”
Made For TV
If you did your homework back in May of 2024, you remember:
“We are committed to keeping all of our military families informed about your health plan, your choices, and ensuring a seamless transition to new contractors,” said Lt. Gen. Telita Crosland, director of the DHA.
Source:
TRICARE Newsroom May 15, 2024
Q&A: What To Know as New TRICARE Contracts Begin in 2025
By TRICARE Communications
Original deadline:
The Defense Health Agency (DHA) and the two regional contractors in the East Region and West Region are currently transitioning to these new contracts to ensure health care delivery is ready for all beneficiaries on Jan. 1, 2025.
Still no report of TRICARE up and running smoothly in 2025.
Does the new TRICARE contract include penalties for not running smoothly on Jan 1st?
Do they all get paid the same whether customers are happy or not?
History of problems in 2025:
TRICARE “…a seamless transition…”
My TRICARE Concerns:
Make it easy to pay the annual fee.
Allow people to opt in for a mailed statement if requested.
Make a TRICARE account just as easy to use as my local PUD account.
I always want the option to see a written statement.
No money should change hands/go to TRICARE without a written or emailed invoice.
TRICARE does not send out a bill. TRICARE wants you to set up an automatic payroll allotment. No, thank you.
I have been paying bills for decades. I have never used a payroll allotment or a credit card subscription to pay recurring bills-still don’t want to. This ongoing clusterfuck with TRICARE is a very good example of why.
My local PUD mails out a statement each month. I could call them if I need to, but I never have a need. The PUD offers multiple payment options. Pick whatever one is best for you.
The PUD does not care about my user name and password. I need none of that to happily use their services for years on end.
TRICARE:
Want to see an updated statement of your payment history?
TRICARE has a customer portal page on the web. Tried to use this in the past. It is a tortuous process. Tricky to set up and update passwords over and again. They will treat you like a hacker, even if you have done nothing wrong. Super complicated.
TRICARE requires you to create a user name and password. Whatever password you like will only be temporary, because it must be changed on schedule and it is required to be complicated.
Did you forget your password? No problem, just provide answers to a few simple questions:
What was the house number across the street from where your best childhood friend grew up?
Way too complicated. Why should this be any more tricky to use than an Amazon account?
As a last resort, you call to speak to a human at the understaffed call center. Broken web protocols at TRICARE drive up the number of people who want to call and speak to a human. You may be passed around to several different call operators.
Back in early December, I was passed along to a total of four humans.
All layers of questions to verify every possible means to ID customer are repeated again prior to speaking to each human.
Add in some call wait times too.
Paid annual fee in Dec, 2024 on the phone, with a credit card. Never received any payment confirmation or invoice from TRICARE.
Filled out recurring credit card TRICARE payment authorization form in Dec, 2024. Placed form in the mail. Never received any payment confirmation or invoice from TRICARE. No verification of payment authorization from any source. It’s all a mystery.
Pick a decade anytime after the war in Vietnam. No matter what political party or personality is in the White House, Uncle Sam struggles to get veterans health care to work properly. Moms, Dads, Grandparents, and young people have access to this info.
Recruiting crisis for Uncle Sam? Elected officials and top Pentagon Generals earned it.
From a Jan 14th blog:
Elected officials:
Stop kissing veteran ass on Armistice Day and every other chance you get. Stop with the “Thanks for your service” nonsense.
People volunteered to go to far away places and maybe never come back again.
Go to work to smooth out the process they face when they need to call and manage whatever benefits they earned.
Older veterans have influence with kids, grandkids and younger members of the community. Do right by them if you ever hope to dig out of your US Armed Forces recruiting crisis.
This whole thing should be no more tricky to use than an Amazon account.
Maybe the new administration will get this all cleared up soon, but we’re not there yet.
Photo-
A symbol of Support The Troops nonsense rolled out for federal holidays.
A giant flag ritual at the next ball game will make it all good.
Post-Vietnam guilt
The guilt doesn’t seem to work towards staying out of undeclared/unwon wars.