GAO Will Report on Tricare’s Ability to Provide Special Needs Care for Families and Retirees
The General Accounting Office next month will present a report to Congress detailing the findings of a five-month study of how well Tricare, the federal insurance plan for active-duty military members and their families, handles patients with disabilities or special needs, the Florida Times-Union reports. The issue "will become more important in the near future as Tricare takes over" care management for 1.5 million military retirees this fall. Although military retirees now must rely on Medicare once they reach age 65, under the Tricare-for-Life program, Tricare benefits will be extended to those retirees. The focus of the GAO study will be on the "needs of older clientele," as well as on how Tricare manages care issues, possible system restructuring and how many military families have to rely on other care providers for "special needs," the Times-Union reports.
Families Are 'Driving Force'
To illustrate some existing problems with the system, the Times-Union profiles a military family in Florida whose four-year-old son, Kristopher, was born with "multiple maladies, including brain damage and signs of cerebral palsy," and uses tubes to breathe and eat. Kristopher's "well-being depends" on Tricare, which recently cut the amount of skilled nursing care Kristopher can receive from 20 hours per day to two. Stephen Backhus, director of the GAO's veterans and military health issues, said that families' "dissatisfaction" with the system "is a driving force" behind the report. He added that there is "concern" in Congress that there might be a "significant number of people who need this kind of help" and they "want the program to be right" before Tricare-for-Life takes effect (Tozer, Florida Times-Union, 4/12).
