TRICARE pain, mental‑health push
- The Defense Health Agency’s troubled 2025 TRICARE contractor switch is still disrupting care in April 2026, with service members, retirees and providers reporting denied referrals, unpaid claims and collection notices. - The most vivid case came from Army Reserve Maj. Lorelei Evans, who told The War Horse her family racked up $86,000 in unpaid bills as TriWest problems dragged on. - At the same time, Health and Human Services said the Food and Drug Administration will speed reviews for serious mental illness treatments under a new executive order. (hhs.gov)
More than a year after TRICARE’s latest contract overhaul began, military families and providers are still reporting unpaid claims, stalled referrals and disrupted care. (thewarhorse.org) (nbcnews.com) The current breakdown traces to the Defense Health Agency’s 2025 transition to new regional contractors, including TriWest in the West Region and Humana Military in the East Region. Providers and patients have said the switch brought payment failures, credentialing errors and call-center delays. (thewarhorse.org) (asha.org) The War Horse reported on April 23 that Army Reserve Maj. Lorelei Evans said her family accumulated $86,000 in unpaid medical bills while doctor’s offices repeatedly called or texted seeking payment. NBC News reported in 2025 that about 16,000 East Coast providers alone had gone unpaid for months. (thewarhorse.org) (nbcnews.com) Behavioral health is one of the pressure points. Therapists and speech-language providers have said delayed reimbursements forced some practices to pause TRICARE patients, ask for cash upfront or consider closing. (spectrumlocalnews.com) (asha.org) Congress has already begun digging into the breakdown. The American Physical Therapy Association said in March that House Armed Services Committee language could trigger deeper federal oversight of the TRICARE disruptions. (apta.org) Now the Trump administration is pushing a separate health-policy track: faster federal action on treatments for serious mental illness. Health and Human Services said this week that the Food and Drug Administration will accelerate work following an executive order. (hhs.gov) In plain terms, the agency is talking about speeding the review pipeline for drugs aimed at conditions such as major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia. That does not mean a drug is approved; it means Food and Drug Administration staff move more quickly through the evidence and regulatory steps. (hhs.gov) The overlap is practical for military families: one federal system is struggling to pay for therapy and specialist visits already in use, while another is trying to move new psychiatric treatments through review faster. Both tracks run through the same daily bottleneck of getting care to patients without months of paperwork and delay. (thewarhorse.org) (hhs.gov) For now, the immediate problem is not a lack of policy announcements. It is that TRICARE beneficiaries and community clinics are still waiting for claims to clear, bills to be paid and appointments to hold. (thewarhorse.org)
