JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Two local Congressmen are raising the alarm about an issue that could make it harder for military members, veterans, and their families to access health care.
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Hundreds of medical groups in the Eastern United States have complained that they are not being reimbursed by TRICARE, which is the primary insurance provider for the military.
Starting January 1st of this year, a new contractor took over reimbursement responsibilities for TRICARE East, which covers all US states East of Mississippi.
But according to Congressman Aaron Bean (R-FL District 4) the rollout has been a disaster.
“Ironically, at least what our research says, that the vendor was changed because there was a problem before,” said Bean.
Bean told Action News Jax hundreds of health care providers, some whose patient populations are as high as 50 percent TRICARE beneficiaries, are not getting reimbursed for the services they’ve provided.
Bean said over 10,000 visits totaling millions of dollars have gone unpaid.
“So, this current vendor is trying to play catch up, but it’s not working,” said Bean.
Bean and Congressman John Rutherford signed onto this letter sent to the Acting Director of the Defense Health Agency demanding answers regarding what steps are being taken to correct the problem, why it happened in the first place, and what will be done to prevent it from happening again.
“Maybe it’s not the vendor. Maybe it’s something else with the payment systems or codes or computer software or something. Whatever it is we gotta fix it,” said Bean.
For now, Bean said military members here in Northeast Florida, are already starting to see their care impacted, with some providers already starting to drop TRICARE recipients.
He fears if this problem goes unresolved, smaller health care providers could even be put out of business.
“Men and women shouldn’t have to wait for care, Northeast clinics that treat our men and women in uniform shouldn’t have to worry about the federal government paying the bill. That’s what we do,” said Bean.
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