Vern Evans
Defense officials are advising about 16,000 Tricare beneficiaries who briefly lost their Tricare eligibility last week after being inadvertently dropped from the rolls of the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System to call the DEERS Support office to confirm that they are now good to go.
Officials advise those who were affected to call the DMDC/DEERS Support office at 800-538-9552 to confirm their eligibility.
The problem, which was fixed Sunday after about 48 hours, affected retirees and family members whose service was tied to the Coast Guard, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and the Public Health Service, according to Defense Health Agency, or DHA, officials.
On Friday, DHA posted a note on their Tricare website advising people who had lost Tricare eligibility to contact their regional Tricare contractor for assistance if they had trouble getting health care before the situation was resolved.
Officials attributed the hiccup to a data transfer, and the Defense Manpower Data Center notified DHA officials that some records were missing from a file sent by the Coast Guard, according to DHA.
There were no other impacts from the incident, officials said.
DHA and their regional contractors have been transferring beneficiary enrollment information in DEERS in preparation for new Tricare contracts that start Jan. 1.
DHA earlier announced a global enrollment freeze from Oct. 25 to Oct. 27, requiring beneficiaries within the United States to call their regional Tricare contractor to update their information or make health plan changes.
And through Dec. 31, those who live in the U.S. must call their regional contractors to make health plan changes, including during open season, which starts Nov. 11. Beneficiaries won’t be able to update health plans online in milConnect by way of the Beneficiary Web Enrollment system through the end of the year.
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book “A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families.” She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
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