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FALLS CHURCH, Va. – Protect yourself and your family from COVID-19 this fall and winter. Updated COVID-19 vaccines are now available for people ages 6 months and older. “Getting the updated vaccine can enhance your protection against the COVID-19 variants currently responsible for most infections and increasing hospitalizations in the United States,” said Capt. John Iskander, MD, MPH, chief, Immunization Healthcare Division, Defense Health Agency. “Hospitalization rates are highest in infants and older adults.” Here’s what you need to know about the updated vaccine and protecting yourself from COVID-19. Q: How does TRICARE cover the updated vaccine? A: There are...

A former Air Force officer has been sentenced to two years behind bars for her role in a nationwide scheme to defraud the military's health program, Tricare, of billions of dollars. Maj. Romeatrius Moss, 40, pleaded guilty Oct. 15, 2019, to accepting kickbacks for referring patients at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma, to civilian pharmacies that specialized in compounded medications; she faced up to five years in prison. Moss admitted to giving service members and other patients at the base medical clinic pre-printed prescription pads and encouraging them to ask their doctors for specialty medications -- compounded personalized prescriptions for...

Assistant U. S. Attorneys Valerie Chu and Paul Starita (619) 546-6750/7701NEWS RELEASE SUMMARY – July 23, 2020SAN DIEGO - San Diego-based clinical laboratory Progenity, Inc. admitted today that it submitted fraudulent bills to TRICARE, the Department of Defense health care benefit program that covers military service members and their dependents, and to the Federal Health Care Employee Benefits Program (FEHBP), for clinical tests that it knew were not covered or properly payable by either program.In addition, Progenity, formerly known as Ascendant MDx, Inc., and previously headquartered in Carlsbad, California, admitted that it offered improper incentives to patients and doctors...

Assistant U. S. Attorney Valerie H. Chu,  (619) 546-6750SAN DIEGO – Dr. Marco Antonio Chavez was sentenced to 21 months in custody and ordered to pay restitution of $783,764.37 for defrauding TRICARE, the health care benefits program for military service members and their dependents. According to court documents, Chavez was a physician licensed by the State of California Medical Board. Chavez provided psychiatry services, including therapy and prescription medications for children and adults diagnosed with ADHD and depression, for San Diego patients whose health care was covered by TRICARE.  Chavez defrauded TRICARE by using the personal information of these patients...

Novartis Admits to Certain Conduct Alleged in the Lawsuit and Agrees to Strict Limitations on Its Ability to Conduct Future Speaker Programs Audrey Strauss, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, William F. Sweeney Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), Gregory E. Demske, Chief Counsel to the Inspector General of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (“HHS-OIG”), Scott J. Lampert, Special Agent in Charge of HHS-OIG’s New York Regional Office, Leigh-Alistair Barzey, Special Agent in Charge of...

Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, October 29, 2019 Guam Ambulance Company Executives Plead Guilty to Medicare and TRICARE Fraud and Money Laundering Scheme One of the Largest Single Medicare Ambulance Fraud Cases Prosecuted Nationwide Two former owners and an employee of an ambulance services provider headquartered in Guam pleaded guilty yesterday for their roles in a health care fraud and money laundering scheme that resulted in a loss to the United States of approximately $10.8 million.  This is one of the largest single Medicare ambulance fraud cases prosecuted nationwide.Assistant Attorney General Brian A....

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division announced today an expansive health care fraud enforcement operation across the Gulf Coast, involving charges against a total of 11 individuals across four federal districts for their alleged involvement in various schemes to defraud Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE and to obtain oxycodone and other controlled substances by fraud. The conduct allegedly resulted in more than $515 million in fraudulent billings. Those charged included physicians, licensed social workers, as well as other medical and business professionals. In addition, in the state of Louisiana, 22 defendants, including 19 certified mental...

"The VFW opposes this attempt to balance the budget on the backs of service members, veterans and their families," Fuentes said. "We opposed the TRICARE fee increases in last year’s NDAA and hope that the NDAA conference committee will once again defeat this proposal which would endanger the financial wellbeing of the brave men and women have worn our nation’s uniform."

Former Florida football player convicted of $20 million healthcare fraud conspiracy By Jay Weaver jweaver@miamiherald.com February 05, 2018 03:26 PM Updated 50 minutes ago Monty Grow, a former University of Florida and NFL player who made a small fortune selling pharmaceutical drugs, took the unusual step of testifying in his trial on charges of swindling millions from a federal program that provides medical insurance for the U.S. military. The 46-year-old Grow was hit again and again with questions by a federal prosecutor about receiving and paying kickbacks to score lucrative patient referrals for a major South Florida pharmacy. “You were...

As a retired military veteran, it has caused great concern to me and countless others what this government had done to veterans in the area of health care. Those that are disabled and need to go to the VA are routinely ignored, or given appointments up to six months in advance, or totally ignored all together. Under President Trump it has gotten better, but still is not of the class it should be. There are now earning limits on who can use VA, with the limit at around 23,000 dollars, hardly enough to live on in todays world. Those that...

Feds Allege California Marines Involved in $67M Health Fraud Aug. 19, 2017 SAN DIEGO (AP) — Federal authorities say Southern California Marines were recruited for a scheme that bilked the government's military health insurance provider out of $67 million. The San Diego Union-Tribune (http://bit.ly/2v1kixi) says a complaint was filed Thursday in San Diego as part of a civil asset forfeiture case. Authorities are trying to seize the property of a Tennessee couple. Investigators say Marines were recruited at up to $300 a month for a so-called medical study that involved phone consultations with a doctor's office in Cleveland, Tennessee, owned...

TRICARE should admit wrongdoing and pay past due amounts to the UVP states It is no secret that America’s veterans are getting the shaft. We have seen these troubling headlines: A fatal wait: Veterans languish and die on a VA hospital’s secret list Veteran dies after setting himself on fire outside New Jersey VA clinic The stories behind these and similar headlines reveal that America has not lived up to its promise to “care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and orphan.” In fact, military families, specifically the children of military families, face similar...

Many Tricare users would face annual enrollment fees in a newly named plan under a draft proposal released Monday by the House Armed Services Committee. Under the plan, current users of Tricare Standard and Tricare Extra would fall into the newly minted Tricare Preferred plan. Users would continue to be permitted to self-refer to providers, but doing so would come with an annual enrollment fee of $100 for individuals and $200 for families starting in 2020. New Tricare users would pay even greater fees. Active-duty family members would pay $300 for an individual or $600 for families to enroll each...

As they review the Defense Department’s latest plan to raise TRICARE fees and co-pays, particularly for working-age retirees and their families, key congressional panels are asking what beneficiaries can expect in return. Faster appointments, more evening clinic hours, more physicians spending more time seeing patients and more base hospitals operating at full capacity were some answers given this week by military healthcare leaders. Perhaps the most important commitment came from Dr. Jonathan Woodson, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, who said he, along with the new director of the Defense Health Agency, Vice Admiral Raquel C. Bono, and the...

The Pentagon announced Monday that it intends to pay for hormone treatment for transgender troops. The change was one of several proposed in a package of reforms. Written public comments about this proposed new rule can be made in the Federal Register until April 1. Tricare coverage for gender dysphoria treatments would be available to troops, their family members and retirees, including psychotherapy and hormone replacement therapy. "This rulemaking proposes to remove the categorical exclusion on treatment of gender dysphoria. This proposed change will permit coverage of all non-surgical medically necessary and appropriate care in the treatment of gender dysphoria,...

A friend told me a co-worker and her family lost TriCare Coverage without notice in early January. When she investigated, she was told a “glitch” in the interface between DEERS and TriCare caused the problem and a quarter-million families were affected. There was no projected date for the problem to be resolved. I have heard squat about this in the media.Looking to my FreeRepublic family to report if you know of anyone caught up in this latest guberment snafu. It is being pursued through Congressional and American Legion contacts.

Hello, FReepers! Hubs is getting ready to retire from the military and we're having some trouble getting straight answers on the TriCare Prime for retirees situation. Specifically, the family coverage. (I need it) Cost is the big one. I'm seeing everything from $555 a year to more than $960 a month. It's very frustrating because we're trying to figure out our post-retirement budget.

Dodgy companies peddling pricey compound pharmaceuticals have fleeced the TRICARE program so severely this year, before tougher screening procedures took effect May 1, that they are largely to blame for a $2 billion defense health budget hole Congress is scrambling to fill. In fiscal 2010, military outpatient pharmacy costs totaled $6.6 billion, with only $23 million spent on compound drugs. By fiscal 2014, outpatient pharmacy costs had risen to $7.7 billion but compound drugs costs soared to $515 million. In the first nine months of fiscal 2015, compound drug costs tripled again for TRICARE, to $1.7 billion, or more than...

A Colorado Springs mom is the latest target of a scam going after military families in Southern Colorado. The scammers pretend to be with TRICARE to try to get victims' personal information. 11 News first learned about the scam earlier this year, but we keep hearing from more people in the community who are getting these calls. Penni Schacherer lives in Colorado Springs, and says she was in the middle of homeschooling her son when her phone rang. The caller claimed to be with TRICARE and offered her a special cream that relieves pain. Schacherer tells 11 News she was...

WASHINGTON — The military’s Tricare health insurance is a broken system that is now in a “death spiral” and must be replaced, a congressional review commission told the House on Wednesday. The insurance has been veering toward less choice and access since it was created and now falls far behind other networks in its number of providers and ability to incorporate new types of medical care, members of the Military Retirement and Compensation Modernization Commission testified before an Armed Services subcommittee. The testimony is the beginning of hearings on Capitol Hill so lawmakers can consider legislation to overhaul the health...