Update: Proof We are Treated as Second Class TRICARE Beneficiaries

We will not repeat what we previously discussed in the original post, Proof We are Treated as Second Class TRICARE Beneficiaries Using DHA’s Own Data from 29 December 2013. If you have not read it, click on the title and you will be able to read it at your leisure.

We are only updating the information showing how much the Defense Health Agency (DHA) pays for care in the Philippines compared to the rest of the world and it is significantly worse than before when it showed they were spending 13% of what was expected based on 2010 TRICARE data.

We tried to give DHA every benefit of the doubt when we made the calculations. The indisputable facts and assumptions are below.

TRICARE Demonstration Project for the Philippines Update

It appears that the Defense Health Agency (DHA) has declared the Demonstration was a success.

Some of you may recall the ‘secret’ survey that most of us were not allowed to participate in and where the results were declared secret, maybe due to national security issues.

As a result of this success it appears they will be extending the Demonstration for an additional three years and considering expanding to other areas and adding Pharmacy. It appears they may have discovered that all TRICARE beneficiaries do not live in the NCR, Angeles and Subic areas as they previously claimed.

We’ve asked for some feedback on what other areas are under consideration to be added and offered to provide some suggestions. Only time will tell if I get a response and if the response provides an viable information.

See the Federal Register notice, TRICARE Demonstration Project for the Philippines

If you want to find out the real story behind DHA’s focused attack on TRICARE beneficiaries in the Philippines instead of their spin and propaganda, read TRICARE: Betrayal in the Philippines, Is This the Future of TRICARE Overseas? It is available at the link and most online book sales outlets such as iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Amazon and others.

Never forget the Defense Health Agency and International SOS always have your back when it comes to high quality and easy access to care; just ask them!

TRICARE Overseas Philippines 2015 in blogging Annual Report

2015 in blogging Annual Report

TRICARE Fleeced Again But There Are Differences

For ten years (1998 – 2004) a company that went under the name of Health Visions Corporation (VHC) fleeced TRICARE. The claimed amount lost was $100 million. We know from DODIG reports that TRICARE knew they were being fleeced but continued to ignore it even after the DODIG bashed them for their failures.

Follow-up on Possible ISOS Data Breach and Loss of Patient Information

See our previous post, ISOS Data Breach and Loss of Patient Information Waiting to Happen.

Knowing that International SOS (ISOS) does not respond to many inquiries posed to them we passed on the security issues with the ISOS webpage to the Defense Health Agency (DHA). The hope was they would take the lack of security seriously and direct their contractor fix the issues.

After our initial discovery of the security issues we ran some tests against the website using Qualys SSL Labs. If you want to learn more about these kinds of security issues or run the test yourself go to the link. The site runs a large number of tests and simulated activity against the website and provides a report. The report carries an overall grade from A+ to F along with detailed information on the findings and basis for the grade.

ISOS Data Breach and Loss of Patient Information Waiting to Happen

International SOS (ISOS) is failing to provide even adequate internet security on its webpages. All of our medical claims and associated medical information, User IDs and Passwords are at serious risk with this inadequate ISOS internet security. They have chosen to use an obsolete cryptography to secure the portal that grants access to all of our medical claims from overseas and only God knows what else. The weak security configuration they are using is TLS 1.0 which was replaced by TLS 1.1 in 2006 and again by TLS 1.2 in 2008.

International SOS re-awarded the TRICARE Overseas Program Contract

Six more years of HELL for TRICARE beneficiaries in the Philippines and probably all around the world. This should send a loud and clear message that the Defense Health Agency totally and absolutely approves of fraud and their contractors ignoring beneficiary inquiries including contractor directed price increases by local providers.

Don’t forget this is the company, International SOS, that publicly claimed that Philippine TRICARE beneficiaries, by the millions, were trying to defraud them and TRICARE and openly stated “The Philippines is always going to be the bane of our existence,”. This clearly demonstrates how this company views TRICARE beneficiaries in the Philippines and the Philippine people in general.

Tricare Philippines Newsletter 15003, Some Observations from Reviewing and Investigating Errors and Other Anomalies on the Approved and Certified Lists

In our latest Newsletter we show you that the Not Used In > 2 Years list of Certified Providers can no longer be considered viable and many of the certified providers on the list in at least some areas are also questionable as they may well be providers that should been moved to the Not Used in > 2 Years list. If beneficiaries use them they may find their claims delayed or worse denied.

We also show just how bad the management of the Demo is when it comes to access to care, how DHA doesn’t have a clue where we live and how DHA and ISOS break their own rules when it is convenient for them. But if you do it, expect to be punished by non-payment of claims.

See Some Observations from Reviewing and Investigating Errors and Other Anomalies on the Approved and Certified Lists

DHA and ISOS Continue to Put Out False Information About the TRICARE Overseas Standard Benefit in the Philippines

Today we received an email from TRICARE Subject: TRICARE Overseas Program Standard Health Matters Newsletter: 2015—Issue 1. In the email there was a link to the subject newsletter.

We read through the newsletter and were amazed to see the following statements on page 7 under what they call the FAQ corner. These are two of the questions and answers and are so blatantly wrong that we felt we have an obligation to make sure no beneficiaries are taken in.