Twenty-five thousand Tricare beneficiaries were disenrolled due to a technical snafu related to the Integrated Personnel and Pay System-Army (IPPS-A). Servicemembers should check their health benefits to ensure they, and their families, were not mistakenly removed from the system.
The issue, caused by an alteration in a different system to make it compatible with IPPS-A, has mostly been resolved, but soldiers may still need to re-enroll their family members, according to Lt. Col. Joseph Payton, a spokesperson.
Beneficiaries who need immediate re-enrollment can contact Tricare, and any out-of-pocket costs for care or prescriptions can be submitted for manual reimbursement.
The glitch was related to the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS), which is the database that tracks health insurance for troops. At this point we do not know how many Tricare beneficiaries are still without coverage.
IPPS-A went online earlier this year. The project has spanned over multiple years and costed around $600 million. There were several delays along the way due to technical difficulties. Its purpose is to manage personnel-related admin tasks that were previously much more cumbersome to accomplish.
Lt. Col. Joseph Payton apologizes for the inconvenience and disruption the issue caused, and said they are committed to resolving the issue soon.
h/t Military.com