Pentagon Scolds UnitedHealth For Delays In Military Families’ Treatment

Bloomberg: Pentagon Blames UnitedHealth For Failures Under Contract
The Pentagon rebuked UnitedHealth Group Inc., the nation's largest insurer, after military families began experiencing long delays getting medical-care referrals from the company. The backlogs occurred almost as soon as Minnetonka, Minnesota-based UnitedHealth took over a contract, valued as much as $20.5 billion, from TriWest Healthcare Alliance Corp. It assumed responsibility on April 1 for the western region of the military's health-care system, known as Tricare. UnitedHealth's "failure to meet contractor requirements" has prevented a large number of beneficiaries in one Tricare health plan from obtaining timely access to specialty care, Jonathan Woodson, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said in a memo yesterday to other military leaders (Miller, 5/2).