“We anticipate the total being approximately 30,000 beneficiaries” who will be disenrolled in the process that is currently under way, TriWest officials said in a statement to Military Times.

Those who want to reinstate their coverage must do so by June 30.

This applies to beneficiaries who pay for their Tricare coverage using a credit card, debit card or bank electronic funds transfer and haven’t set up those payments with TriWest.

That sensitive payment information couldn’t be transferred automatically from the previous West Region contractor, Health Net Federal Services, to TriWest Healthcare Alliance, which took over the West Region on Jan. 1.

Beneficiaries are receiving letters from Defense Manpower Data Center informing them of their disenrollment, according to Tricare officials. The program set up a way for beneficiaries to request reinstatement of their coverage, but it won’t be automatic, and beneficiaries must request reinstatement before June 30.

“This disenrollment is retroactive to your paid-through date,” Tricare officials stated in an announcement. Those who haven’t made any payments for coverage this year are finding their disenrollment dates back to Jan. 1. They are responsible for paying the full cost of any health care services received by anyone in their family back to Jan. 1.

Beneficiaries in the Tricare West Region who have been disenrolled can’t request reinstatement through the TriWest portal. Instead, they must call TriWest at 888-874-9378 and say they’ve been disenrolled and want to reinstate their enrollment, according to Tricare officials.

They’ll be required to provide the payment information to TriWest and pay all overdue enrollment fees or premiums back to Jan. 1, officials said.

Many beneficiaries were having trouble getting those payments set up because of glitches in the TriWest online portal and difficulties getting through to their call center.

TriWest officials have been working to fix the problems and have added staff to the call center. After several extensions of the deadline, disenrollment of beneficiaries from Tricare began May 1 for those who didn’t submit payment information to TriWest by April 30, according to Tricare officials.

This issue doesn’t apply to those who have Tricare for Life, the U.S. Family Health Plan or a Tricare health plan overseas. Those who had set up allotments through the Defense Financing and Accounting Service previously for their payments were told they didn’t have to take action for their allotments to be automatically transferred to TriWest.

It’s not clear how many of those 30,000 beneficiaries expected to be disenrolled have actively chosen not to continue their coverage. In early January, TriWest officials told Military Times that 59% of those who needed to provide payment information had done so.

Initially, West Region beneficiaries were required to provide their information to TriWest before the Jan. 1 start date of the TriWest West Region contract. But because many beneficiaries were having difficulty setting up those payments, Tricare extended the deadline several times.

In late April, Defense Health Agency officials extended their referral approval waiver through June 30 for the West Region, which allows military families enrolled in Tricare Prime in that region an extra two months to get specialty care without having to get approval from the contractor, TriWest.

They didn’t extend the deadline for setting up recurring payments.

New DOD rules requiring child development center personnel to notify parents within 24 hours after they learn of an allegation don‘t go far enough, the report states.

As a result, parents or guardians may not be aware of the specifics of allegations involving their children, limiting the potential actions they can take to address the allegations and help their child, according to DOD’s independent watchdog.

During the period of the Inspector General’s evaluation, which began in May 2024, defense officials updated their policy to require notification to these parents or legal guardians within 24 hours after Child and Youth Program officials learn of the allegations.

However, the updated December 2024 policy doesn’t specifically address how the child development center staff should communicate information about the allegation and follow up with parents, or what specific information should be shared.

The services also need to maintain files of all notification documentation, according to the report.

Military child development centers provide child care for children from birth to age 5, but may also offer school-age care.

This report is the first to be published from an Inspector General evaluation of DOD child development centers. An upcoming report will focus on the services’ implementation of policies to verify that child abuse allegations were appropriately addressed at certain child development centers.

In response to this report, defense personnel officials agreed that the policy will be revised by Sept. 30 to require the military services to follow a uniform procedure to identify, notify and report child abuse and neglect allegations to parents in all DOD-sanctioned activities, including child development centers.

Army, Navy and Marine Corps officials replied that they will update their policies once defense officials issue theirs. The Navy’s target completion date for their new policy is April 30, 2026, and the Marine Corps’ is April 1, 2026. Air Force officials hadn’t yet provided a response to the report’s recommendations.

Army officials told inspectors that parents are immediately notified within 24 hours of any alleged or suspected incident, and that their regulations are being revised to include parental notifications with written incident reports for child abuse or neglect allegations.

Navy officials said parents must be notified in person or verbally by telephone within 24 hours of an incident, and written parental notification is required within 48 hours. A specific form isn’t required.

Marine Corps officials require notification within 24 hours, but officials told inspectors they don’t tell installations how to provide the communication. Air Force officials are in the process of revising their regulations to require notification of parents within 24 hours.

It’s the second time Defense Health Agency officials have extended their referral approval waiver, which was first announced in late January. The waiver is a move to help ease the problems families have been experiencing since TriWest took over the contract for the West Region at the start of the year.

One issue was that Tricare Prime families haven’t been able to get referrals approved by TriWest, which is traditionally required before they can get specialty care.

“After assessing the current state of referrals, DHA has decided to extend the referral approval waiver for many beneficiaries,” Richard Hart, division chief of health plan design for Tricare, said in DHA’s announcement of the extension.

‘Families will still struggle’

Advocates question how much the extension of the referral approval waiver will help military families and medical providers. Some families aren’t able to get specialty care even with a referral from their Tricare Prime primary care manager because of the difficulty finding a specialist who will accept Tricare.

“I don’t think [the extension] is going to make a significant difference, because it doesn’t address the root problem,” said Dr. Kristi Cabiao, CEO and president of Mission Alpha Advocacy, an organization that works to improve the quality of life for military families within the Exceptional Family Member Program. “Families are still going to struggle finding providers who will take Tricare.”

“Providers haven’t received payment. They don’t trust the system. They’re either going to minimize the number of Tricare patients they take, or drop Tricare,” she said. “Families are facing significant barriers.”

Many providers still don’t have contracts to work with TriWest, Cabiao said. And the lack of payment has caused such financial difficulties that some medical providers have had no choice but to permanently shut down.

“What is the projected timeline for resolution? Have we identified the root of the problem?” Cabiao asked.

During a conference March 31, a Defense Health Agency official said he expected the problems would be resolved in a couple of months.

In the meantime, Cabiao suggested, one solution would be to have an additional open enrollment period now.

“It’s the Tricare Prime people who are really struggling. If [DHA] opened up enrollment so they could switch to Tricare Select, at least they’d get away from this mess. They’d have co-pays, but would have access to specialists,” she said.

Tricare snafus cause medical shortfalls for military families

Normal referral processing returns to some MTFs

Certain military hospitals and clinics have returned to normal referral processing through TriWest, as the company works to improve its referral processing system, DHA officials said.

Beneficiaries whose primary care managers are located at these facilities will have their referrals processed by TriWest:

California: Naval Medical Center San Diego, Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, Naval Hospital Twentynine Palms, Naval Health Clinic Lemoore and Army Health Clinic Presidio of Monterey

Colorado: Air Force Academy clinics, Peterson Air Force Base clinic, Buckley AFB clinic, Fort Carson’s Evans Army Community Hospital and Schriever Space Force Base clinic

Nebraska: Offutt AFB clinic

Nevada: Nellis AFB’s Mike O’Callaghan Military Medical Center

Texas: Brooke Army Medical Center

Washington: Madigan Army Medical Center, Naval Hospital Bremerton and Naval Health Clinic Oak Harbor

“We’re going to use everything that is happening to make [the Defense Commissary Agency] a better organization. This is a strategic opportunity for DeCA to transform itself,” said John Hall, director of the Defense Commissary Agency, at an American Logistics Association meeting in Richmond, Virginia, on April 22.

“We’re going to become more like a commercial grocery chain than ever before. We’ll be a commercial grocery chain that happens to work for the Department of Defense. … By that I mean we’ll offer all the products and services, all those good things you see in a good commercial grocery chain, and while doing that, we’re going to continue to deliver 25% savings,” Hall said.

Privatization of commissaries and exchanges has come to the forefront of discussions, in light of an April 7 memo from Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg on restructuring the DOD civilian workforce, which stated, “All functions that are not inherently governmental (e.g. retail sales and recreation) should be prioritized for privatization.”

But officials are contending with more than just the Feinberg memo, said Steve Rossetti, president of ALA. In addition to discussions in Congress about privatizing programs and services on military installations, the Trump administration has taken steps to reduce the federal workforce and implemented a hiring freeze. There’s also the tariff situation, and its looming effect on military stores, which sell many of the same products carried by civilian stores.

About 200 of DeCA’s 12,500 employees took the federal workforce early buyout offer, Hall said. While some of those were key people whom officials will need to figure out how to replace, he said, there hasn’t been much of an effect otherwise. The agency hasn’t been significantly impacted by the hiring freeze so far, Hall said, but officials are asking DOD for some exemptions to keep workers in the stores and in the central distribution centers.

“The longer it goes, the more likely it will start to have an effect,” he said.

Still, DOD and commissary officials are taking steps to improve commissaries for troops and families, and officials said they are seeing results. Officials are expected to soon award a contract for nationwide doorstep delivery and are continuing efforts to improve the supply chain to decrease costs for suppliers, customers and the commissary system.

Nationwide doorstep delivery getting closer for commissary customers

The agency has also taken steps to lower egg prices and stock more products on shelves, among other efforts, to improve customer experience.

As egg prices soared earlier this year, officials were able to use variable pricing to lower egg prices at commissaries. A relatively new pricing tool for the agency, variable pricing involves marking up the price of some products to pay for lowering the cost of others. Until 2017, all commissary products were priced at the cost from the supplier/manufacturer.

“We were spending up to $500,000 a week to lower the prices of eggs for our service members and their families. We were at about 24.2% savings overall in eggs compared to the market,” Hall said.

Overall, commissaries have made progress in improving the availability of products, called the “in-stock rate” in the retail industry. The in-stock rate for commissaries overall is 97%, up from 95% a year ago.

“That means that when a patron walks into the store, they’re going to get about 97% of the products that they’re looking for,” Hall said.

Officials are working to address stores with lower rates, and aim to increase the overall rate to 98%. He added that the in-stock rates for commercial grocery chains average about 93.5%.

Hall highlighted commissaries in Guam, which have had an in-stock rate in the mid-to-upper 80% range, he said. For the last two months, the in-stock rate has been at 95%, approaching 96%. Changes made at Guam commissaries — carrying more of what customers locally want to buy and simultaneously driving up the in-stock rates — resulted in a 20% increase in sales, he said, and officials want to apply those lessons across the system’s 235 stores.

Commissary sales have also increased over the last four years, reversing a decline over the previous 10 years, Hall said.

“That’s far beyond what commercial grocery chains have done in the last three and a half years or so,” he said.

In fiscal 2024, commissary sales were $4.7 billion, up more than 17% since 2020. In 2012, dollar sales were $6 billion.

Sales overall in commissaries are up by about 2.5% this fiscal year compared to the same period last year, he said.

About 77% of active duty members and families who live within 20 miles of a commissary shop at least once a month there, Hall said. Of the households with retirees and disabled veterans living within that radius, about 35% use the commissary.

“We need this. Our customers want and need this contract,” Hall said during a meeting of the American Logistics Association in Richmond, Virginia, on Tuesday. “I’m really excited about this.”

Hall did not provide a specific timeline for the broader rollout of the service, which is currently limited to select pilot locations.

“There are some hurdles left,” he said. “We’re going to work really hard to get over it.”

According to the contract solicitation documents, delivery service would be available to eligible customers living within a 20-mile radius of commissaries in the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. The solicitation requires the service to start initially at 70 locations, but gives the Defense Commissary Agency the ability to add any of the remaining 108 commissaries at any time.

Commissary officials aren’t considering doorstep delivery for overseas commissaries, due to overseas regulatory constraints.

There are about 3.4 million eligible households living within a 20-mile radius of those 178 commissaries, which sell discounted groceries as a benefit to active duty, Guard and Reserve members, military retirees, Medal of Honor recipients and their authorized family members. Veterans with any Department of Veterans Affairs-documented, service-connected disability rating also have commissary privileges.

Officials launched a pilot program in 2022 for deliveries at eight commissaries, including Scott Air Force Base, Illinois; Fort Bragg South, North Carolina; MacDill Air Force Base, Florida; Fort Belvoir and Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia; Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington; and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and Naval Base San Diego in California.

Delivery costs has been an issue in the service rollout. Officials are trying to keep delivery costs for customers as low as possible, Hall said.

“We want it comparable to what they would pay at a local grocery chain [for delivery],” he said.

When the pilot first launched in 2022, most delivery fees hovered around $4 per order. Customers pay the fee in addition to the cost of groceries, the 5% commissary surcharge, and, if desired, a tip for the driver. But those low delivery fees made it financially difficult for the two companies handling the deliveries to cover operating costs like gas prices and drivers’ salaries.

One of the companies, ChowCall, took over all the deliveries at the eight commissaries in March 2023, and was allowed to set prices to cover its costs. The cost depends on the miles driven, ranging from about $16 to about $30. ChowCall has delivered more than 28,000 commissary orders from the eight pilot locations, according to Todd Waldemar, founder and CEO of ChowCall.

Information is not yet available about whether the delivery fee will be subsidized in some way by the commissary system under the new contract.

Customers using the delivery service at the eight pilot stores buy nearly three times as much per order as customers shopping in person at commissaries, according to Hall. The average shopping basket is about $185 for customers using the delivery service, compared to the average basket of about $65 per trip for those shopping inside the stores. For those using the curbside pickup service available at all commissaries, the average order is about $120, according to Hall.

“Think about how much more benefit we can deliver to our customers, how much more we can combat food insecurity when we get this delivery contract in place,” Hall said.

Kinderspot allows parents to sublet their child care spaces at Air Force child development centers when they’re away for vacation or other reasons, connecting them to other eligible Department of Defense families who need the child care.

The app, which was the brainchild of Air Force Maj. Jacque Vasta, was launched Air Force-wide in July, following testing at a number of bases. To date, 12,361 military families are using the platform, and 12,558 child care spot rentals have been facilitated, according to Air Force officials. Nearly 22,500 weeks of child care availability have been offered.

Generally, parents are required to pay for the weeks their children are away from military child care, such as when the family is on leave or when the service member is away on temporary duty. The app allows them to save those funds. When parents successfully sublet a child’s vacant spot, they receive a credit to their account.

For example, a family planning to take a vacation this summer might be able to offer their spot on the app, and it could be picked up by another military family who needs short-term child care as they make a permanent change of station move to or from the installation.

“Kinderspot has been a major win when it comes to supporting our members and their families with child care in the Air Force,” said Lt. Col. Tyler Hough, branch chief of the Air Force Business and Enterprise Systems Product Innovation, or BESPIN, in the announcement.

The rental fees are paid directly to the center at the renter’s rate. That rate is based on the family income of the renters, not the total family income of the family who has the permanent child care space.

The child subletting the spot must be in the same age group as the child with the permanent spot. Families without a child currently enrolled at a child development center must complete paperwork to become a verified renter at their center before booking available weeks through the app.

Military families testing new app for ‘subletting’ child care slots

The Kinderspot app is available for download on Apple and Android devices. The Air Force child care centers validate all users of the app to make sure they are eligible to either offer a spot or rent a spot.

None of the other service branches are currently considering adopting the app, officials told Military Times.

The Navy allows families with children enrolled full-time in child care to take 10 vacation days each year per child without having to pay for those days, said Destiny Sibert, a spokeswoman for Commander, Navy Installations Command. Their child care center may use that open space to accommodate hourly care during the child’s absence. In addition, the Navy child and youth program will hold a space for a military member who is temporarily detailed to another location at no cost if child care isn’t needed during that time, she said.

The Defense Department and service branches have been taking various steps and implementing programs to alleviate the shortage of child care for military parents.

And advocates say there are other ongoing efforts at the state level and in Congress that could also undermine the ability of service members and families, as well as overseas citizens, to vote absentee.

The executive order shortens absentee ballot receipt deadlines and requires documentary proof of citizenship, which military families say would disproportionately affect their ability to vote. It’s already logistically difficult to vote for some troops and families, especially given the frequency of military moves and deployments to remote locations.

The biggest effect on military voter participation is likely the new ballot return deadline, said Sarah Streyder, a military wife living overseas who serves as the executive director of the Secure Families Initiative. The executive order, issued March 25, requires absentee ballots to be received by Election Day.

The Secure Families Initiative is a plaintiff — along with United Latin American Citizens and Arizona Students’ Association — in the lawsuit filed March 31 against a number of administration officials. Related cases have been filed by the League of Women Voters Education Fund, the Democratic National Committee and others.

Trump’s executive order instructs the Attorney General to take action against states that count “validly cast absentee or mail-in ballots lawfully cast by Election Day but received after Election Day,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court for the District of Columbia.

States and Congress determine election rules. A number of states allow their local election officials to count absentee ballots from military and overseas citizen voters for a certain amount of days after Election Day. But 33 states do require absentee and mail-in ballots to be returned on or before Election Day, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Absentee voters often have to deal with mail delays, and the requirement that ballots be received by Election Day “is going in the opposite direction of where we want it to go,” Streyder said. “We want a uniform, across-the board expansion of that timeline.”

The president’s order, she said, “erases a state’s ability to have ballots continue to arrive and be counted.”

“We consider it a gold standard across all 50 states for absentee ballots to continue to arrive up to seven days after Election Day and be counted, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day,” Streyder added.

She noted that the late arrival was the top reason military ballots were rejected by local election officials in the 2020 election.

Military absentee ballots could have substantial impact on election, report says

The Secure Families Initiative decided to join the lawsuit out of concern for military voters.

“We want to make very clear we’re not doing this because of partisan reasons,” Streyder said, noting that the effort is an extension of their ongoing work to advocate for military voters. “We are a highly mobile voter, affected by delays and changing requirements, all of which are out of our control.”

Trump’s order, titled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” notes that federal law establishes a uniform Election Day for federal elections.

“It is the policy of my Administration to enforce those statutes and require that votes be cast and received by the election date established in law,” the order states.

Among other things, the lawsuit challenging the order asks the court for a preliminary injunction and other action to prevent the Justice Department from taking any steps that would prohibit the counting of mail-in and absentee ballots that are “validly cast under state law.”

There is confusion about some of the provisions of the executive order as they apply to military voters and U.S. citizens overseas, Streyder said. While it appears to provide an exemption in one section related to military and overseas citizen voters, it’s not clear in other sections, the lawsuit alleges.

Military absentee voters, whether they’re voting from overseas or another location within the U.S. when they’re away from their voting residence, have certain protections under existing federal law.

The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, commonly referred to as UOCAVA, applies to military members and their family members who are away from their voting residence, as well as U.S. citizens living overseas. Among other things, UOCAVA requires states to transmit absentee ballots to UOCAVA voters who have requested them no later than 45 days before a federal election.

The executive order’s narrow protection for UOCAVA ballots — to the extent that it exists — wouldn’t apply to all military and overseas citizen voters because many don’t use the UOCAVA processes to cast absentee ballots and wouldn’t be protected by any carveout, the lawsuit alleges.

Some military voters use the Federal Post Card Application to request absentee ballots, which makes apparent their UOCAVA status. However, a number of troops and families don’t use the FPCA to request their ballots from their local elections offices and wouldn’t be protected.

Trump claims Dems will cheat using military, overseas ballot system

In addition, the new requirement for “documentary proof of United States citizenship” can create unnecessary barriers for military voters, Streyder said. The executive order imposes narrow documentation parameters. Those living overseas may not have the necessary documentation readily available, even though they are clearly eligible to vote.

“States already have secure eligibility and verification processes,” and the executive order simply adds barriers, she said.

One of the documents the executive order cites as proof of eligibility is “an official military identification card that indicates the applicant is a citizen of the United States.” But current military IDs don’t include that information.

It’s also unclear whether birth certificates would be sufficient documentation, whether the documentation would have to be presented in person, and whether proof of eligibility would need to be produced each time a voter asks for a Federal Post Card Application. The executive order mandates the Defense Department to update the FPCA to require proof of citizenship.

If the documentation requirement is put into effect, it would “seriously undermine the ease of use of the FPCA, which many of these voters use to register or request ballots, and already includes a citizenship attestation,” said Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, president and CEO of the U.S. Vote Foundation. For example, she said, voters living abroad would have to find a way to make a copy of their passport and attach it to the FPCA.

“Sending personal ID documents around in post or online also carries with it a serious risk of identity theft,” Dzieduszycka-Suinat said. “To our knowledge, to this date, there is not one single known case of actual UOCAVA voter fraud by a UOCAVA voter.”

The government responded to the preliminary injunction this week, saying “it is telling” that none of the plaintiffs in these cases are individually named voters who claim they would be affected if the court doesn’t intervene. They also argued the organizations involved in the lawsuit haven’t identified by name any voters they say they represent.

In addition, the government states, the plaintiffs couldn’t point to any actions to implement the executive order that have caused harm.

The plaintiffs, including the military family organization, filed a response Wednesday, noting they had learned the executive director of the Election Assistance Commission had written to the states to begin implementing the executive order.

Forty-four of the 56 families in the complaint are military families. The remaining plaintiffs, civilian families, have been permitted to live in the community when space was available. Many children are among the 192 current and former residents named in the lawsuit, which was filed in state court in Monroe County, Florida, on March 27.

Families reported issues such as collapsing ceilings because of water damage, mold, insect infestation, structural defects, HVAC and plumbing issues, electrical problems and the presence of lead paint and asbestos, according to the lawsuit. Balfour Beatty leases and manages more than 43,000 homes across 55 Army, Navy and Air Force installations, including 700 housing units at NAS Key West.

“Balfour concealed the horrific conditions from unsuspecting service men and women and their families,” the 175-page complaint alleges. “When these conditions were discovered and reported, Balfour systematically failed to properly repair and remediate significant problems in the homes,” the plaintiffs claim, and “Balfour misled the families into believing that repairs were made, knowing that families living in the homes would likely suffer serious health problems as a result of the conditions.”

The lawsuit alleges the families suffered from severe physical, emotional and financial harm because of the condition of the houses and Balfour’s actions.

“We are aware of the complaint and intend to defend ourselves vigorously,” Balfour Beatty Communities officials said in an email statement to Military Times.

The families allege they’ve experienced exposure-related medical problems as a result of the housing conditions, such as asthma and other respiratory issues, sinusitis, migraines, memory loss, brain fog, blurred vision, compromised immune systems and rashes. Some of the families stated that when they would leave the house for a time, their symptoms would disappear, but would start again when they returned to the house.

The families accuse Balfour Beatty of gross negligence, fraud, breach of contract, negligent infliction of emotional distress and breach of warranty of habitability. They ask for an unspecified amount of compensatory damages and punitive damages.

Plaintiff Virginia Guess said her children developed persistent respiratory issues and other health problems within months of moving into their home at NAS Key West in June 2022. They developed the “Sigsbee cough,” a label used by neighbors and teachers to describe a cough in children who lived in Key West’s military housing. The Sigsbee Park housing includes more than 500 townhouse units, many of which were built between 1962 and 1965, according to the complaint.

Guess, a construction manager who started working for Balfour Beatty in August 2023 as a service center coordinator, “quickly recognized alarming patterns of negligence in housing maintenance,” according to the lawsuit. It hit home when the Guess’s ceiling started to crack in February 2024. But Balfour Beatty delayed needed repairs, the complaint alleges, and by June of that year, there was water intrusion and mold growth. An independent moisture reading inspection found severe mold contamination.

“Yet Balfour management attempted to shift blame, attributing the mold to ‘dog hair’ and excessive ‘pasta boiling,’” the lawsuit states.

Other family members who worked for Balfour Beatty alleged they witnessed company employees engaging in “fraudulent and deceptive practices.” Plaintiff Lyric Seaton alleges employees were “instructed to lie to Navy housing inspectors, block visible damage, and select only ‘perfect’ files for audits.”

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., asked Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy James Honea about some of the allegations against Balfour Beatty during a congressional hearing on service members’ quality-of-life challenges on April 8.

“This lawsuit even claims that Balfour Beatty officials blocked Navy personnel from inspecting houses in some cases,” Wasserman Shultz said.

Honea said he didn’t have information about specific allegations.

“I do know that both the installation commander and their teams did go through all the housing down there at Key West,” Honea said, noting that Naval Installations Command officials inspected some of the homes. “We did a full inventory of all those homes and determined a certain portion of them to be uninhabitable. Balfour Beatty paid for those members to be moved and placed in other homes or temporary housing as necessary.”

Gaps in military housing improvements lead to frustration, confusion

Mold infestation was a common complaint among the families. Sections of the McCarthy family’s garage ceiling collapsed on two occasions in 2023 and 2024, revealing mold, water damage, decaying trusses and extensive termite tunnels. When the military family moved to temporary housing in May 2024, they woke up in the middle of their first night covered in bugs, according to the complaint. So they returned to their original house, where five months later, water began pouring from their kitchen’s light fixtures, saturating the ceiling, dripping down walls and seeping through cabinets.

When Balfour maintenance looked at the kitchen’s condition, they claimed everything looked normal, the suit alleges.

“The Balfour report notes that, ‘The mold looks good,’” the lawsuit states.

Many of the families in the lawsuit said they had no choice but to stay in dangerous conditions. The Moody family moved out in October 2024 after two years, paying for more than $5,000 in moving expenses. The active duty family said they experienced water leaks in the roof, ceiling, walls and electrical outlets and persistent mold infestation. They say their infant son suffered persistent health problems. His mother fears exposure to mold and other hazards during his early development might lead to lung problems or other complications later in life, according to the complaint.

“The guilt that she had no choice but to bring her newborn home to a dangerous and hazardous house is overwhelming,” the lawsuit states.

Balfour Beatty has previously come under scrutiny for subpar living conditions in military housing. The company pleaded guilty in 2021 to committing fraud against the U.S. and was ordered to pay $65 million in fines and restitution for misconduct relating to its military housing practices in federal contracts. The company also agreed to pay $35 million to resolve a False Claims Act civil suit brought by the government.

“As you can imagine, it’s quite uncomfortable,” said Seals, mother of three young children ages 5, 3 and 14 months, on March 12. While the movers who packed and loaded their household goods at Fort Cavazos, Texas, on Feb. 19-20 were great, she said, “now the issue is waiting for our HHG to show up — we have no idea when that is going to be.”

The required delivery date was Feb. 28, and their mover, HomeSafe Alliance, told them they hadn’t found a driver to deliver their belongings, she said. Ten days later, on March 22, their household goods were finally delivered.

And this is early in the season. The busiest season for military moves is generally mid-May to mid-September.

With the military moving season bearing down on service members and their families, the prognosis for pickup and delivery of household goods is unclear. Much of it depends on the volume of military shipments and the capacity of movers to handle the load.

“The volume of shipments in the coming peak season ultimately depends on how many people the services are moving,” said Scott Ross, spokesman for U.S. Transportation Command, the Defense Department command in charge of the physical movement of service members’ belongings during a permanent change of station.

Following recent reports of issues with military moves, TRANSCOM officials no longer plan to fully transition all domestic shipments into the new Global Household Goods Contract, or GHC, by the April/May timeframe, as previously planned. The GHC contractor, HomeSafe Alliance, is handling the Seals family’s move.

TRANSCOM officials said they are adjusting their plan, but declined to specify how much they are reducing the number of moves that will be handled by HomeSafe.

The command will operate both programs — the legacy system and the GHC during the 2025 peak season, “and hold industry accountable in both,” Ross said. “This dual approach allows TRANSCOM to leverage capacity from both programs while also allowing HomeSafe the opportunity to improve their services.”

Members of the moving industry reported that more than 1,000 shipments were picked up by movers in the legacy system after the shipments were turned down by HomeSafe when it was unable to schedule movers, according to information provided March 13 by Movers for America, a coalition of moving professionals and independent owner-operators who move military families. The coalition has asked members of Congress for a pause in the implementation of the GHC.

The new GHC system, which began rolling out in April 2024, aims to fix long-standing problems with missed pickup and delivery dates, broken and lost items and issues with claims. It consolidates management under a single contractor, HomeSafe Alliance, which is responsible for overseeing all aspects of military families’ moves. TRANSCOM retains oversight of the program and holds HomeSafe accountable.

Under the legacy system, TRANSCOM works directly with more than 900 individual moving companies, making it difficult for the government to track and resolve issues. Those problems culminated in the summer of 2018, when moving companies didn’t have the capacity to handle the number of moves.

HomeSafe officials have acknowledged there have been some delays in moving families, related to the capacity of their network of moving companies. Some companies have been reluctant to do business with HomeSafe because its rates are lower than those under the legacy system.

Some families are feeling the effects of the delays both at the beginning of their move and at the end, when they are awaiting delivery.

An Air Force lieutenant colonel and his wife at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, are among the military families who have felt the direct impact. More than a month after his move was awarded to HomeSafe, the company was still telling him “we are diligently working to find you a service provider,” said the officer, who asked to remain anonymous. He was in communication with his local transportation office at Ellsworth the entire time, which he describes as “awesome.”

At the beginning of March, about two weeks from his requested move date, his transportation office on base transferred the move back to the legacy system.

The Air Force and Army have issued notices to their transportation offices that any service members’ shipments that have no mover assigned with less than a 21-day lead time before the move must be pulled back into the legacy system.

The legacy system found a mover for the officer’s family. A moving company drove from Great Falls, Montana, to their home in Rapid City. “They’re loading today, so big win there — no thanks to HomeSafe or GHC,” the officer said on March 18.

Moving industry forecast

HomeSafe Alliance has made “significant progress” in strengthening its network of movers, and is pursuing “every available option for growing our capacity” for the next months of military moves, officials told Military Times.

It’s working with TRANSCOM to resolve issues and closely coordinating on a careful phase-in of the new program “to ensure a smooth peak moving season,” they said.

As for the broader universe of moving companies, some of which are doing business with both HomeSafe and the legacy system, there is uncertainty.

In general, moving companies are struggling a bit, because business across the board has been slow during the winter, said Dan Bradley, vice president of government and military relations for the International Association of Movers. But if the number of people moving in the DOD system is similar to what it’s been over the past two years, there shouldn’t be a capacity concern, certainly not in the legacy system, he said.

But there is uncertainty. TRANSCOM had previously touted its plan to move 100% of all domestic shipments under the GHC by the start of this year’s moving season, he said. Movers have been unsure how many people to hire for the summer or whether to buy more trucks, because they don’t know how business will be split between the legacy system and GHC, he said. There’s also uncertainty about whether TRANSCOM will reduce competitive rate ranges that affect what movers are paid under the legacy system. Those new rate ranges go into effect May 15.

“Movers are asking, ‘How far do I go right now to prepare for the summer, when I don’t have real good visibility of the landscape for the summer?’ ” Bradley said.

All this boils down to whether there will be enough movers to move military families this spring ans summer.

What military families can do

As soon as service members get orders to make a PCS move, they should visit Military OneSource, where they’ll find a variety of tips and instructions, and a link to start setting up their move. At that point, they will be put into either the HomeSafe Alliance system or the legacy system. They’ll either deal directly with HomeSafe, or with a moving company assigned by the legacy system.

A number of military families who described their experience said they’ve had trouble communicating with HomeSafe about the status of their shipment.

One soldier said he went through the system as soon as he received his orders in October 2024. HomeSafe completed his pre-move survey Feb. 7, but as of late March had yet to assign a moving company to pack and load his belongings ahead of his May 10 report date to Fort Irwin, California.

Communication with HomeSafe has been “horrible,” he said. “This will be my fifth PCS move, and I’ve never had to wait this long to find out who was moving my stuff.”

HomeSafe officials said they have addressed issues with communication to ensure service members get the timely updates they need. They’ve standardized communication between departments, improved their training program, and added more “proactive communication to customers throughout their moves.”

When service members are having any type of problem — regardless of who is moving them — they should contact their local transportation offices, Ross said.

HomeSafe advises service members to set up their HomeSafe Connect accounts as soon as possible after receiving an email with instructions for using the Okta user authentication system and HomeSafe Connect.

They also advise to:

* Update the destination address in HomeSafe Connect as soon as possible; when the shipment is ready for delivery, it will notify the service member.

* Have someone available at the residence — the service member or someone standing in — from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on all scheduled moving dates.

* Separate items such as medications, important documents, uniforms and other essential items, as well as jewelry and other valuables, to carry yourself. Place them in a separate, marked part of the house, or in a locked car, so they aren’t packed with the household goods shipment.

Those who experience delays should contact HomeSafe or their moving company to file an inconvenience claim. “When a claim is approved, we compensate the service member and each of their family members on the PCS order for every day that their move is delayed,” HomeSafe officials said.

While the services’ transportation offices are being watchful of these HomeSafe shipments, and pulling them back if HomeSafe can’t find a moving company within 21 days of a move, service members should be mindful and keep in touch with their transportation office if they haven’t been contacted by a company.

Cover your six

Regardless of who is moving you, take photos and videos of your household goods beforehand so that if something is lost or damaged, you have proof of their prior condition.

Before disposing of broken up or damaged belongings, check with your moving company or transportation office to see what evidence is needed for the claim to be substantiated.

One military wife who just began the moving process in March expressed the hopes of many for the busy moving season to come: “I am trying to stay positive with our PCS move this year as changes occur within the military system,” she wrote.

“As of now we are skeptical, but hopeful, things will turn out for the better with our move come this summer.”

The child development center at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, has closed. No other centers have closed at Air Force, Army, Navy or Marine Corps bases, officials said, in response to Military Times’ questions.

Child development centers “traditionally face high turnover, and several recent departures in conjunction with the hiring freeze reduced the number of supervisors and trainers” at Hill AFB, Air Force officials stated. Air Force child development centers are staffed with employees paid by appropriated funds, which are taxpayer dollars, as well as non-appropriated funds.

Although military child and youth programs were exempted from the hiring freeze in mid-March, there was uncertainty when the freeze was first implemented. As a result, some child care centers have struggled to recover from those initial pauses in hiring. The country has long faced a shortage of child care workers.

The Air Force now has an exemption for its child care centers from the Defense Department hiring freeze, but the hiring, on-boarding and training process takes time, officials said.

The Air Force’s appropriated-fund employees weren’t exempt from the Deferred Resignation Program, which allowed some Defense Department civilians to resign while receiving full pay and benefits through September.

The impact on child care centers, if any, varies from installation to installation, Air Force officials said. It also depends on how quickly the centers can hire new personnel.

At Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado, officials will close one of their infant rooms on Friday because of the staffing issues, said a Space Base Delta 1 spokesperson. The closure is necessary to maintain an appropriate ratio of caregivers for children, to ensure the children’s safety and well being, the spokesperson said.

“We are working through hiring freeze exemptions as quickly as possible,” he said, adding that the base would work with affected families to return to the main CDC as quickly as possible.

Peterson officials asked eight families to voluntarily transfer their infants to an off-base, licensed, accredited child care center at no additional cost, through their Community Contracted Child Care program. Peterson launched the program in 2023 to address the high demand for child care at the base, and through March of this year, had reduced the waitlist by 150 children.

This is what the pandemic taught us about military child care

That’s one example of initiatives the services have implemented over the past several years to increase the availability of child care for military families.

Their efforts to recruit and retain more child care workers have had a positive impact on staffing levels, Air Force officials said.

“This has enabled us to better navigate staffing challenges this year and maintain consistent care for the children of our airmen and guardians,” officials said.

Among other things, those initiatives include bonuses for employees based on their longevity and other factors, and a 100% child-care fee discount for the first enrolled child of direct-care staff. They also receive a 25% discount for additional enrolled children. Since these initiatives were implemented, the Air Force increased the staff of those providing direct care to children by more than 20%, officials said.

Navy child care hasn’t been significantly affected by the personnel moves, service officials said. Most employees of Navy child and youth programs are paid by non-appropriated funds and were exempted from participating in the Deferred Resignation Program.

There was “a bit of a hiccup” at the beginning of the hiring freeze, however, when it wasn’t clear whether it applied to non-appropriated fund workers, said Destiny Sibert, spokesperson for Commander, Navy Installations Command headquarters. Some programs had to adjust their hours, but operations should be back soon to full staffs, she said.

Navy officials have also been working to increase the amount of child care over the last several years, reducing the wait list for child development centers and school age care by half since fiscal 2023, from 5,000 to 2,500. By implementing salary increases, recruitment incentives and child care discounts for employees, they increased the staffing levels to 88%.

Funding shortages in the Military Health System and Defense Health Agency continue to affect the care available to beneficiaries and provider recruitment, said Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy James Honea during testimony before the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday.

“I ask for your continued support for the Military Health System and finding innovative ways to ensure that DHA funding doesn’t compete with our warfighting priorities,” Honea told lawmakers.

When care isn’t available in the military treatment facilities, beneficiaries rely on civilian networks. However, limited resources have affected care delivery, provider recruitment and Tricare’s ability to compete in the civilian insurance market, Honea said, adding that Tricare’s reimbursement rates are tied to Medicare rates and are often too low for providers.

Honea also noted complications with the new Tricare contracts have delayed claims processing and damaged civilian medical providers’ trust in their timely payment.

Rep. John Rutherford, R-Fla., said the continued payment problem could result in some providers leaving the Tricare network. He cited one provider who is owed about $100,000 from Tricare.

“Our family members in Jacksonville deserve to have these outside providers available,” he said.

Tricare snafus cause medical shortfalls for military families

Military families have reported extensive issues with health care access since the new Tricare contracts began in January, which have caused medical shortfalls for some families and some providers dropping Tricare patients because of the difficulties, Military Times previously reported.

West Region beneficiaries and health care providers have reported a number of problems with the contract transition from Health Net Federal Services to TriWest Healthcare Alliance. Meanwhile, Humana Military has remained the East Region contractor, but a number of providers have reported difficulty getting paid since Jan. 1.

“I’ve taken a number of complaints from those providers,” said Honea. “They’re not being reimbursed on time. Defense Health Agency has worked with me to have those bills paid as quickly as possible.”

Medical provider shortages in the military health care system isn’t unique, as it is affecting communities across the country. However, with little to limited control over their assignment locations and providers, service members and their families are dependent on the Military Health System and local care.

When that access to health care doesn’t happen, Honea said, “It’s going to have detrimental effects to our family readiness and possibly to our military readiness, especially if we end up having to spend military readiness dollars toward making that account whole.”

Health care access is a pressing issue across all of the service branches, leaders said Tuesday. For instance, some Marines are having to seek out mental health care from civilian providers because there aren’t enough mental health providers in military treatment facilities, Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Carlos Ruiz told lawmakers. Because there are few providers and appointments available in the civilian community, they may have to wait 45 to 60 days to get the help they need, Ruiz said.

“I can’t solve that problem, so I’m looking for you to help us bring attention to it,” he said.

Officials with military exchanges expect tariffs to affect their stores, including the availability and cost of certain items. In some cases, suppliers have been stockpiling inventory ahead of time as they wait to see the impact.

President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on products coming in from China, Mexico and Canada, although he has since eased up on some of the tariffs on Mexico and Canada — at least until April 2, when more tariffs are expected. He has imposed a 20% tariff on goods imported from China.

Defense Commissary Agency officials are working with their suppliers to determine what potential effects the tariffs might have on groceries. Officials “cannot yet confirm any specific impacts, if any, of tariffs on commissary pricing or product availability,” said commissary spokesperson Kevin Robinson.

Commissary agency officials always work with suppliers to negotiate the best cost, Robinson said. The commissary agency “consistently provides savings of 25% or better to patrons, and anticipates maintaining those savings in the future,” he said.

Tariffs may not affect commissaries initially because not much food is imported, explained Steve Rossetti, president of the American Logistics Association, a trade group representing suppliers of products sold in commissaries and exchanges, as well as in morale, welfare and recreation resale outlets. Commissaries are likely to see impacts if retaliatory tariffs are enacted, he added.

Rossetti expects the military exchanges will see more effects of the tariffs. Tariffs affect prices across the country, and while military stores and customers will be affected, it won’t be disproportionate to civilians, he said.

“It’s up to each retailer and their merchandising strategy as to whether they pass it on to the customer,” he said.

One advantage military shoppers have is that they don’t pay sales tax on items in commissaries or exchanges. However, they do pay a 5% surcharge in commissaries, which goes toward renovations and construction of stores.

What troops need to know about commissaries and exchanges in 2025

Savings at military exchanges compared to civilian stores varies depending on the item.

“We have worked aggressively with our suppliers to offset as much of the tariff impact as possible to minimize the burden on our customers,” said Bryan Driver, spokesperson for the Marine Corps Exchange.

Some Marine Corps Exchange suppliers have stockpiled inventory to weather any short-term tariffs, Driver said, so those products might not be as affected. But exchange officials expect to see 10% to 20% tariffs on many categories, including computers, home office accessories, bikes, general sporting goods, patio items, storage, paint, automotive and alcohol, he said.

Tariffs ranging from 5% to 15% may affect apparel and other categories, such as baby gear, baby essentials, athletic shoes, boots, flip flops, slippers, cold weather accessories, slippers and luggage, Driver said.

Navy Exchange Service Command officials are watching closely, too, and have asked their merchant teams to hold off accepting cost increases or raising retail prices until they’ve had a chance to fully evaluate the situation, said spokesperson Kristine Sturkie.

“This also gives us a chance to evaluate options with our current and alternative vendors to mitigate the impact of cost increases as much as possible,” Sturkie said.

“We could feel some pressure in several categories, depending on where they are sourced and where products are coming from,” she said. “We’re keeping a close watch on apparel, footwear, home goods, electronics, accessories, health and beauty items and travel gear. These seem to be the most sensitive at the moment based on shifts in trade policy.”

Army and Air Force Exchange Service officials say categories that likely will be affected include electronics, appliances, food, beverages, toys, footwear, outdoor furniture, clothing and seasonal products. Tariffs on raw materials will have an effect on domestically produced goods with imported content, said AAFES spokesperson Julie Mitchell.

“However, the effects cannot be determined at this time, as they are dependent on a myriad of unknown factors,” Mitchell said, such as how tariffs are added or changed in the future, what actions suppliers and manufacturers may take, how competitors respond and how customers react.

China and garlic

Meanwhile, those who depend on getting their garlic in the commissary needn’t worry about a provision included in the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act that bans commissaries from selling fresh or chilled garlic originating from, or processed in, China.

“We have no garlic products originating from China,” Robinson said. “Thus the ban presents no impact to commissaries.”

Beneficiaries now have until April 30 to use referral approval waivers and point-of-service waivers and provide payment information to TriWest, the agency announced Thursday. The previous deadline was March 31.

Officials have extended these deadlines as West Region beneficiaries and health care providers have reported a number of problems with the contract transition from Health Net Federal Services to TriWest. TriWest officials have said they’re taking steps to improve their online portals and staffed up their customer call centers to provide more service to beneficiaries and health care providers.

Referral approval waiver: This allows Tricare Prime beneficiaries to seek care with Tricare-approved specialists, with referrals from their primary care managers, without having to go through TriWest to get those referrals approved.

Beneficiaries may seek outpatient care from these specialists with a copy of their primary care manager’s referral dated between Jan. 1 and April 30 and a copy of the Tricare West Region referral/authorization waiver approval letter.

Some families have told Military Times that even with the referral waiver, some specialists won’t see Tricare patients because of various issues they’ve been having.

The referral waiver doesn’t apply to inpatient care, applied behavior analysis, Autism Care Demonstration services, laboratory-developed tests and Extended Care Health Option services.

Point-of-service waiver: This allows Tricare Prime beneficiaries in the West Region to continue seeing providers who may no longer be in the Tricare network after the contract transition. The provider must be Tricare authorized, which means they meet certain requirements. Those using the point-of-service waiver through April 30 will pay regular Tricare Prime co-pays, instead of the more costly point-of-service fees. Using the point-of-service option doesn’t require a referral.

Tricare snafus cause medical shortfalls for military families

Payment extension: The extension for setting up payments applies to certain beneficiaries in the West Region who pay fees for their Tricare Prime or Tricare Select plans and those who are enrolled in a premium-based plan, including Tricare Young Adult, Tricare Reserve Select and Tricare Retired Reserve.

Those who paid their fees to the previous contractor using electronic funds transfer, credit card or debit card must contact TriWest to set up the payment using one of those methods. Some beneficiaries have experienced difficulties setting up those payments through the TriWest portal and customer call center, Military Times previously reported. Tricare officials have said those who paid previously by allotment didn’t have to take action because their allotment would be automatically ported over. Some beneficiaries told Military Times this didn’t happen for them.

Defense Health Agency officials, who have extended this deadline several times, warn beneficiaries could be disenrolled from Tricare, retroactive to Jan. 1, if they fail to set up their payments by April 30.

In a memorandum released Wednesday outlining exemptions, Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Jules W. Hurst III listed several quality-of-life programs among them. That includes child and youth programs staff, as well as instructors or facility support staff at child care centers and Department of Defense Education Activity schools. While positions at the DOD school level are exempt, it’s not clear how far beyond that the exemptions will go.

The memorandum also lists “installation positions that support and are essential for fire, life and safety,” as being exempt. Information was not immediately available from DOD about how far those exemptions might extend beyond police and fire. It’s not clear, for example, whether commissaries are included as being exempt from the hiring freeze.

The military services for several years have been working to build up the staffs of their child care centers, as part of an effort to increase the availability of child care for military families. They’ve increased salaries and benefits to attract more employees.

Other exemptions include employees who are paid from non-appropriated funds, not taxpayer dollars. Those include exchanges and many morale, welfare and recreation programs on military installations.

The memo also provides more information on exemptions at military medical treatment facilities, specifying the staff exempt are those who provide patient care or are essential to hospital operations.

The memo includes 18 categories of exempt positions, such as positions at the Military Entrance Processing Command, as well as at depots, shipyards, arsenals and maintenance facilities. Roles essential to immigration enforcement, national security, public safety and recruiting are exempt, as are career ladder promotions and positions that are required to be filled by Dual Status Military Technicians.

Jobs that are filled by foreign national employees are also exempt in countries with labor cost-sharing arrangements, or when they’re necessary to comply with host nation agreements.

Certain in-progress permanent change-of-station moves for civilians are allowed to continue. They must be moving from a less critical position to a more critical position, and the DOD must have initiated orders or a shipment of household goods before Feb. 28.

Department of Defense Education Activity sporting events sometimes involve teams traveling long distances between far-flung schools in their regions. The agency operates 161 schools in 11 foreign countries, seven U.S. states, Guam and Puerto Rico.

“DODEA has received further guidance to continue athletics and some additional mission-related extra-curricular activities, and is working through the review process now to identify such areas,” DODEA spokesman Will Griffin said Thursday.

DOD civilian employees given $1 spending limit for travel cards

“As some events scheduled over the next few days were paused, DODEA staff at headquarters and the three regions are coordinating to work through logistics and scheduling as quickly as possible,” he said.

On Wednesday, DODEA officials in Europe notified school staff and families in a letter that athletic events would be postponed in the region, stating there would be an attempt to reschedule once funding and travel was available.

Trump’s Feb. 26 executive order called for a review of all government-funded travel and ordered agencies to reduce and consolidate spending on government-issued travel cards.

The Defense Department ordered civilian employees to cancel all nonexempt official travel, allowing travel only in direct support of military operations or a permanent change of station move. The DOD memo also capped government travel charge card spending limits at $1 for civilians whose duties don’t require exempted travel.

Griffin said DODEA has not received guidance on operations during a potential government shutdown, leaving the fate of this weekend’s sporting events uncertain if lawmakers fail to reach a deal by Friday night.

In past shutdown guidance, DODEA educational activities were exempt, but sports and extracurricular activities were not, unless fully funded by nonappropriated funds.

Enroll in a health care flexible spending account: In a special enrollment period through March 31, active duty service members have the option of enrolling in a health care flexible spending account, a new benefit that could help defray their out-of-pocket health care costs.

A health care flexible spending account, or FSA, is a savings account that can be used to pay for items not covered by health or dental insurance.

Service members can contribute any amount between $100 and $3,300 in pretax earnings this year toward eligible health care expenses, and then submit receipts for those expenses to be reimbursed from their account. Each year, the Internal Revenue Service determines eligible expenses and contribution limits.

By contributing to FSAs, the taxable income decreases by the contribution amount. Savings average 30% on eligible health care expenses, according to the Federal Flexible Spending Account Prog?am, or FSAFEDS, which administers the FSA program for the Defense Department and other federal agencies. Visit www.fsafeds.gov for more information and to enroll.

Download health records from the Tricare Online Patient Portal: The TOL Patient Portal will be shut down on April 1 and replaced by the Defense Department’s new electronic health record, MHS Genesis. To keep a copy of legacy health records, beneficiaries must download them by March 31. All military hospitals and clinics have made the transition to MHS Genesis, and the previous records won’t transfer to MHS Genesis. However, providers will continue to have access to the complete health records, according to the Defense Health Agency.

Beneficiaries can also request a physical copy from their military hospital or clinic’s records management office by completing a request form in person, then returning at a later date to pick up the records. Starting April 1, to get access to your legacy records, you’ll have to complete this process.

To download the records, visit www.TRICAREOnline.com, and log in using the required credentials. The web page provides instructions.

Beneficiaries in the Tricare West Region must set up their payment with TriWest: Beneficiaries who pay for their Tricare coverage using a bank electronic funds transfer, credit card or debit card, must provide that information to the new West Region contractor, TriWest Healthcare Alliance. Officials extended the deadline to March 31 following beneficiaries’ difficulty in accessing the TriWest web portal and other issues.

This affects certain beneficiaries enrolled in Tricare Prime, Tricare Select, Tricare Young Adult, Tricare Reserve Select and Tricare Retired Reserve. Officials have assured beneficiaries that if they pay by allotment, their allotments will be transferred automatically to TriWest from the previous contractor. That hasn’t happened for some people, Military Times previously reported, and beneficiaries should check their pay statements for allotment information. The payment requirement affects all West Region beneficiaries, including those in the six states that moved to the region: Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin.

Visit the TriWest secure portal at www.tricare.mil/west, select “Sign up as a new user or log in” and follow the instructions. For assistance, call TriWest’s customer service center at 888-874-9378.

The West Region referral waiver period ends soon, so use Tricare Prime referrals for specialty care before March 31: Amid issues with TriWest, officials temporarily suspended a rule requiring beneficiaries to get their referrals to specialists approved, essentially allowing Tricare West Prime beneficiaries to bypass TriWest in order to get specialty care. This is retroactive to Jan. 1. The waiver doesn’t apply to some inpatient care and some specialty care, such as applied behavior analysis or autism care demonstration services.

The process is different for those with referrals and authorizations issued before Jan. 1 by the previous contractor. Those will be accepted through their expiration date or June 30, whichever comes first.

Tell us how your household goods shipment went — or how it’s going.

U.S. Transportation Command is in the process of transitioning to a new system for managing the shipment of troops’ personal belongings. We want to hear from you, whether you were assigned to the new system managed by the contractor HomeSafe Alliance or moved under the legacy system, where TRANSCOM assigned your shipment to one of the hundreds of moving companies that vie for their business.

Share any lessons learned from your move. Tell us about your experience working with the mover, including any issues. We also want to hear about your positive experiences.

Include your rank, branch of service, where you’re moving from and to and your contact information.

Email reporter Karen Jowers at kjowers@militarytimes.com. Your response may be published online or in print. Let us know if it’s OK to use your name.

Following recent reports of issues with military moves, officials no longer expect to fully transition all domestic shipments into the new Global Household Goods Contract, or GHC, by the April/May timeframe, as previously planned. The spring marks the start of the peak moving season for military families.

“We’ve noted contract performance issues and are taking measures to mitigate further impacts to service members and their families,” said TRANSCOM spokesman Scott Ross.

Although TRANSCOM continues to award shipments to HomeSafe Alliance, it is adjusting the volume awarded to the company, according to Ross. Reducing the number of shipments is one option to manage the program’s rollout, and more details about other potential actions will be released soon, he said.

The new GHC system, which began rolling out in April 2024, aims to fix long-standing problems with missed pickup and delivery dates, broken and lost items and issues with claims. It consolidates management under a single contractor, HomeSafe Alliance, which is responsible for overseeing military families’ moves.

But the rollout has been plagued by moving delays for military families, according to lawmakers and advocates, prompting TRANSCOM and service branches to take steps to mitigate the impact.

On Feb. 28, the Army and Air Force issued notices to their personal property shipping offices that any service members’ shipments that have less than a 21-day lead time must be pulled back into the legacy system, which has been in place for more than a decade.

HomeSafe officials said they requested a lead time of at least 21 days “to provide us enough time to book high-quality movers on the necessary dates.”

“We’ve heard from a number of families who have been unable to schedule their moves through HomeSafe, and others who have had to wait weeks for delivery of their household goods,” said Eileen Huck, acting director of government relations for the National Military Family Association, a military advocacy nonprofit.

Huck said she was glad to see the Army’s and Air Force’s actions.

“I’m hopeful that will prevent problems and help moves go more smoothly,” she said.

This move was a 'living nightmare' — and it's just one example from a brutal PCS season

Meanwhile, concerns about the transition have also reached Capitol Hill.

“As the military community enters the permanent change of station peak season, it is essential that our service members and their families have the logistical support they need to meet the mission,” wrote Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., in a Feb. 26 letter to TRANSCOM commander Air Force Gen. Randall Reed.

Warner, citing reports from constituents and media indicating HomeSafe is struggling to execute moves predictably and on time, pressed for details on what TRANSCOM is doing to address the issues. It was unclear how many military families had contacted Warner’s office.

During the initial rollout period last year, service members reported “record-high customer satisfaction,” Reed told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday. However, Reed acknowledged as business volume increased, challenges were “uncovered” and satisfaction declined.

The scope of the problems remains uncertain, however, as relatively few moves have been completed under the system.

Since the rollout began in April 2024, HomeSafe has completed about 2,200 moves, the company said. Neither TRANSCOM nor HomeSafe would provide data on the prevalence of problems.

“While the vast majority of our moves have been successful and timely, any delay is unacceptable to HomeSafe,” HomeSafe officials said in a statement.

Each year, DOD moves about 300,000 household goods shipments, including overseas shipments. Those shipments won’t be included in the new system until their phase-in begins later this fall.

In February, about 39% of domestic household goods shipment orders were processed through the new system, while the rest remained in the legacy system. TRANSCOM has phased 133 installations — 76% of domestic sites — into the new system.

Service members and their families experiencing shipment issues should contact their moving company, or HomeSafe Alliance, depending on which system they’ve been assigned to, or the household goods/transportation office at their local installation.

Struggling with capacity

The issue, according to TRANSCOM and HomeSafe, is capacity — the amount of civilian moving companies available to pack, load, truck, unload and unpack troops’ belongings. And some moving companies have balked at signing up with HomeSafe, citing lower rates of payment.

While HomeSafe has made “significant progress in working through capacity challenges and strengthening our service provider network” over the last month, it has struggled with logistical issues related to capacity that have caused delays in pickups or deliveries, HomeSafe told Military Times.

“We sincerely apologize to every family affected by capacity-related delays, and we are dedicated to providing timely service going forward,” the company said.

HomeSafe has been building up its network, signing agreements with individual companies to ensure they have the capacity to do the work of packing, loading, trucking, unloading and unpacking household goods. An unknown number of moving companies that worked directly with DOD in the legacy system have signed up with HomeSafe.

The new system for moving troops' belongings is creating some angst

Meanwhile, HomeSafe has uncovered alleged “suspected evidence of anticompetitive activity” by some moving companies against smaller trucking companies to keep them from performing HomeSafe moves, company officials told Military Times.

“These smaller service providers have reported they are fearful of doing business with HomeSafe because of these intimidation efforts. HomeSafe has deployed various methods to stop this anticompetitive behavior,” officials said, to include informing congressional committees and appealing to the Department of Justice.

Despite the master service agreement some companies have signed with HomeSafe, some of those companies may not be taking the business because their rates are generally lower than the legacy system, an estimated 20% to 30% less, TRANSCOM officials have said previously.

TRANSCOM officials confirmed it’s possible for a mover signed up with HomeSafe to turn down a HomeSafe shipment, yet turn around and pick up that same shipment in the legacy system. Neither TRANSCOM nor HomeSafe are tracking how often this happens.

“Understandably, some suppliers might be hesitant to transition to the GHC program if they’re able to secure more favorable rates by remaining under the legacy system,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., during the Senate hearing Wednesday. “So this creates an odd situation where two programs are unintentionally positioned against one another. And TRANSCOM can incur significantly higher costs in the legacy program.

“How are you managing this [transition] so that there’s not this perverse incentive to remain in the legacy program because the rates are higher?” he asked Reed.

The difference between the payments under the GHC and in the legacy system may be narrowed in May when the new rates are set for the legacy system, and there may be less of an incentive to stay in that system, Reed said.

Under the legacy system, TRANSCOM worked directly with more than 900 individual moving companies, making it difficult for the government to hold companies accountable. Those problems culminated in the summer of 2018, when moving companies didn’t have the capacity to handle the number of moves.

“While it has not been an easy task, and there have been issues, there should be no doubt we will see this through,” Reed told lawmakers.

The reason for the contract, he said, “is to correct past performance that wasn’t as strong as it should be, and to get after years of frustration from those of us who move, and also years of frustration from [lawmakers] to help us to try to fix it.”

For currently serving military members, the monthly premiums for Service Members’ Group Life Insurance, or SGLI, coverage will decrease from 6 cents to 5 cents per $1,000.

In addition to a monthly premium, service members also pay $1 per month for SGLI Traumatic Injury Protection coverage.

For example, with the drop in premiums, a service member with the maximum SGLI coverage of $500,000 will now pay $26 per month — including the $1 for Traumatic SGLI — down from the current $31.

All service members pay the same rate, regardless of age, with coverage available in increments of $50,000.

The reductions are the result of the “sound financial standing” of the insurance programs, according to the Department of Veteran Affairs, which administers the programs.

The reductions will be automatic, meaning troops and veterans don’t need to take any action.

Family Service Members’ Group Life Insurance

For spouses covered by Family SGLI, premiums will decrease by an average of 13%, ranging between 11% and 22%, according to the VA. Rates vary by the spouse’s age. For example, premiums for a spouse under the age of 35 will drop from $4.50 to $4 per month for the maximum $100,000 of coverage.

Premiums for spouses between the ages of 40 and 44 will drop from $7 to $6.20 per month.

If the spouse is in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System, or DEERS, the premium is automatically deducted from the service member’s pay. If the spouse isn’t in DEERS, the service member is still responsible for paying the premiums.

Coverage for spouses is available in increments starting at $10,000.

what troops need to know about life insurance in 2024

Veterans Group Life Insurance

For veterans covered by Veterans Group Life Insurance, or VGLI, the decreases will average about 11%, with reductions ranging from 2% to 17%. VGLI premiums vary by age.

However, unlike service members’ rates, VGLI rates increase every five years as the veteran ages, starting at age 30. For veterans age 29 and younger, the monthly cost for $500,000 of coverage will be $30, a decrease of $5 from the current premium. For $100,000 of coverage, the cost will be $6 per month, down by $1.

For veterans age 40 to 44, the monthly premium for $500,000 of coverage will drop by $10 to $70. Meanwhile, for those 80 and older, the monthly premium for $500,000 will decrease from $2,250 to $2,200.

SGLI coverage doesn’t automatically carry over after leaving the military. Everyone leaving the military with SGLI coverage qualifies to sign up for VGLI, with certain time limits. However, VGLI is more expensive than SGLI, so experts advise shopping around for other life insurance options. An advantage of VGLI is that those who sign up within 240 days of leaving the military don’t need to prove they’re in good health.

And lawmakers are demanding immediate action to make the exemption clear to federal agencies.

“Despite the guidance to agencies, many military families have yet to receive clarity from their employing agency that they are able to continue working remotely or via telework,” 13 Democratic lawmakers wrote Monday in a letter to Charles Ezell, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The letter, signed by a dozen Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and one on the House Armed Services Committee military personal subcommittee, comes after the Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, issued guidance earlier this month stating that federally employed military spouses are “categorically exempt” from President Donald Trump’s return-to-office directive.

However, the lawmakers stated some military spouses have lost their telework or remote agreements that predate Trump’s Jan. 20 directive, and it’s unclear if or when new agreements will be offered.

The lawmakers demanded OPM take immediate action to ensure all federal agencies reinstate or approve remote work and telework agreements that were in place or in process before Jan. 20.

Federal military spouse workers exempt from 'return to office' rule

OPM’s guidance has led to agencies treating military spouses differently, creating a “have and have-not” situation, said Emmalee Gruesen, a Navy wife and Navy civilian employee who volunteers as an advocate for federally employed military spouses. Gruesen lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she works remotely for a Navy office in Norfolk and co-runs a Facebook page for federally employed spouses.

Moreover, some spouses are being treated differently within their own agencies, according to Gruesen. In one instance, a military spouse working for an Air Force command received a telework exemption. Meanwhile, another spouse, teleworking for a different team in the same command, was denied the exemption, Gruesen said.

Despite sharing the same human resources team and command, the spouses’ teams interpreted the policy differently, according to Gruesen. The exempt spouse raised concerns that the other spouse “wasn’t getting equal treatment” and was “chastised,” Gruesen said.

“That’s exactly the problem we’re seeing, a lack of standard implementation across government agencies,” Gruesen said.

Another challenge, Gruesen said, is the lack of information for spouses on how to elevate or appeal these decisions outside the chain of command that denied the exemptions.

Information on how spouses can appeal such decisions was not immediately available from OPM.

Meanwhile, an active-duty Air Force member, said his wife, a Defense Department employee in the Washington, D.C., area, must now work in the office full time after her hybrid telework agreement was canceled.

Military spouses with telework agreements are being required to return to the office unless their position is classified as remote, according to the service member, who requested to remain anonymous.

OPM defines telework as an arrangement in which employees work off-site on regularly scheduled days and on-site at their agencies on other ones.

On the other hand, a remote work employee works at an alternative location and is not expected to work at an agency worksite, even if they work within the local commuting area.

The latest OPM memo doesn’t fully clarify whether telework is included in the military spouse exemption, Gruesen said.

Additionally, OPM’s guidance may also impact federally employed military spouses working remotely overseas, lawmakers said.

In order to work remotely overseas, federal employees must get approval from their agency and the State Department under the Domestic Employees Teleworking Overseas, or DETO, program.

In April 2024, Defense Department and State Department officials signed an agreement aimed at removing many of the barriers to remote work overseas for military spouses.

Agreement helps military spouses keep federal jobs in overseas moves

But lawmakers said they’ve heard about military spouses whose agencies would no longer process new DETO agreements and others unable to get clarity on their agreements that were pending approval before the Jan. 20 directive.

“Ultimately, the uncertainty these families are facing is a threat to our military readiness and negatively impacts our national security, as service members are asked to make the impossible decision between serving our nation or separating early,” the lawmakers wrote.

Her elementary-age son has a heart condition, and asthma, and is prone to pneumonia. He is required to see the pulmonologist every six months and can’t get a refill for his critical medication until he sees that doctor.

“This is one of the extremely important doctors he needs,” she said, crying during a telephone interview Feb. 13, the day she learned her son wouldn’t be able to see the provider. “He can’t go without this medicine.”

The wife, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation against her active-duty husband, thought Defense Health Agency officials had provided a solution when they announced beneficiaries in Tricare West would be able to see the specialists if they obtained referrals from their primary care doctors and a waiver letter provided by Tricare officials. The temporary policy change, made in late January, said beneficiaries would not have to wait for TriWest to approve the referral.

But the medical group contacted her on Feb. 13 to say they couldn’t see her son for his Feb. 21 appointment without an authorization number from Tricare. They refused the waiver.

She called TriWest again Feb. 18, and after being on the phone from 8:00 a.m. until about 1:30 p.m. – including being on hold for several hours – she was able to get a referral authorized for her son because of his critical need. The Army wife said the representative took extraordinary measures to get the referral through. It would take at least four months to get another appointment, she said.

Her family has endured a series of problems since the new contract started with TriWest in January, and they are among an untold number of military families and health care providers who have experienced issues.

TriWest HealthCare Alliance took over the Tricare West Region contract on Jan. 1. In December 2022, defense officials announced the awarding of the two new Tricare contracts worth a potential combined $136 billion over eight one-year option periods. Humana Military’s contract is worth a potential $70.8 billion, while TriWest’s is worth a potential $65.1 billion.

After protest hurdles were cleared, the work on transitioning to the new contracts started in January 2024.

Last year, Defense Health Agency officials assured military families there would be no interruptions to their health care with the new contracts, and they promised the contracts would bring some improvements in their care.

“We are committed to keeping all of our military families informed about your health plan, your choices, and ensuring a seamless transition to new contractors,” DHA Director Army Lt. Gen. Telita Crosland said in a May 2024 press release.

But the transition to TriWest from Health Net Federal Services has been anything but seamless, according to multiple military families and health care providers who have contacted Military Times. Those problems have affected patients’ ability to get needed care — including a terminal cancer patient whose referrals were lost somewhere in the system.

Since Jan.1, beneficiaries and providers alike have had problems with TriWest’s online portal, and many have waited hours on hold with the TriWest call center for multiple days.

Families dropped from coverage

On Jan. 24, when the Army wife took her children to their appointment at their military clinic near Fort Cavazos, Texas, she found out they’d been kicked out of Tricare Prime as of Jan. 1. While she is happy with the care they’ve continued to receive at the military clinic, she and her sons need to see a variety of specialists.

“They advised us at the appointment that we are no longer Tricare Prime, and we were on direct care, which is almost like not having insurance at all,” she said.

Direct care is run on a space-available basis at military clinics. So far, the family has been able to get their primary care at the clinic. Prior to the doctor’s visit on Jan. 24, they hadn’t been notified of the loss of coverage.

“In November, we were told everyone would be automatically ported over from Tricare East to Tricare West,” she said. “For us, and many others, that wasn’t the case.”

Tricare lets patients bypass TriWest problems slowing specialty care

Texas is one of six states that were transferred from coverage under the Tricare East Region to the Tricare West Region under the new contracts. It took three days and multiple phones with TriWest and Tricare for the family to get back into Tricare Prime, the Army wife said.

Getting kicked out of Tricare was only the beginning of the Army family’s problems, which have reached a crisis level. Though she received authorization for her son to see his specialist, she also needs surgery for a new condition but is unable to find a doctor who will accept her insurance because of the TriWest problems, the wife said.

The Defense Health Agency announced several steps to help military families deal with the problems, including the waiver that is intended to allow families to see specialists without waiting for TriWest to approve a referral. But as the Army wife and others have found, an unknown number of specialists won’t accept the waiver – even for existing patients – because of the difficulties the providers are having with TriWest.

In addition to widespread problems with TriWest’s web portal and call-center wait times, other problems reported to Military Times include: receiving incorrect information from TriWest; TriWest taking months to approve contracts for Tricare providers; and providers not being reimbursed for the care they’ve provided to Tricare beneficiaries.

Because the providers are having these difficulties, some of them are not taking new Tricare patients – and dropping the ones they did have.

“We’ve been really concerned about all the issues that both providers and beneficiaries are encountering in the East and West regions,” said Eileen Huck, acting director of government relations for the National Military Family Association. “We’re concerned about the the impact the issues are having on families’ access to care, and we’re concerned about the impact on the network if providers are not receiving timely reimbursement.”

Many providers in the network are small businesses, Huck noted, including some run by veterans and military spouses.

“It’s not realistic to expect they can go weeks without receiving reimbursement,” Huck said. “We’ve heard from multiple providers who are either contemplating leaving the Tricare network or having to close their doors.”

Problems in the East and West

In statements provided to Military Times, Defense Health Agency officials and TriWest officials said they are aware of the issues. DHA “is very concerned about the issues that have been reported in both the East and West regions regarding provider reimbursements, patient wait times with the call centers and web portal challenges, among others … We understand these challenges and are working hand in hand with both TriWest in the West and Humana in the East to resolve these issues,” officials stated.

In the East region, the problems appear to center around providers’ lack of payment since Jan. 1. Some providers have told Military Times they are in danger of having to stop seeing Tricare patients, or even shutter their businesses. Humana Military remains the Tricare East contractor, but the company has a new claims processor.

DHA is “aware of the issues Humana has had with their claims processor. They have assured us this is being fixed and we are holding them to the terms of their contract with us,” officials said in their statement to Military Times.

Humana officials told Military Times a “small percentage” of providers’ records in the claims administration system contained outdated or incorrect data, despite loading all providers’ current data into the system in preparation for the new contract.

Military's transition to TriWest a 'fiasco,' some say

Claims have started flowing through the processing systems, and payments have begun, officials said. Humana also made the decision to send advance payments “to the most vulnerable providers who have submitted claims,” they added.

“Humana Military has identified the root cause of this issue and is working to resolve it and prevent it from recurring,” they said Feb. 7. “At this time, we anticipate those remaining issues will be fixed in the next couple of weeks.”

Humana officials said providers can submit claims through a clearinghouse, mail, email or fax – if they can’t submit them through the provider portal at Humana.Military.com.

As for the plethora of problems in the West region, DHA officials told Military Times they are monitoring TriWest’s performance daily, and are “taking appropriate steps and contract actions to facilitate resolution of all performance issues in the West Region.”

In a Feb. 5 response to concerns and questions raised by Rep. Marilyn Strickland, D-Wash., DHA officials said they have have issued a Corrective Action Request for the West region’s referral and authorization issues and are considering additional requests.

“We will continue to leverage all available avenues of redress, including negative incentives, under the contract to bring TriWest into compliance with its contractual obligations,” officials wrote in their response to Strickland.

TriWest acknowledged the problems in a statement to Military Times.

The company “recognizes there have been a number of challenges associated with this transition, and our sole focus is solving these issues expeditiously and achieving the excellent service our nation’s heroes deserve,” TriWest officials said. “While some issues will take time to resolve, we are confident in our ability to deliver a successful outcome for America’s service members, and we deeply appreciate the Tricare beneficiaries and providers who are working through these issues with us.”

For the patient with terminal cancer whose referrals were lost, her referral waiver came in time for her to get the test she needed. But by that time, the patient – a military retiree’s wife – had spent 28 hours on the phone with TriWest, much of it spent on hold or in a loop that resulted in no answers, she told Military Times. On Jan. 23 alone, she was on the phone from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Medical providers left in limbo

Many medical providers are struggling to get their contracts approved by TriWest to participate in Tricare, despite having completed the necessary paperwork months ago, said Kristi Cabiao, CEO of Mission Alpha Advocacy, an organization that works to improve the quality of life for families in the Exceptional Family Member Program.

And difficulties with getting paid have taken a toll on health care providers in the East region since Jan. 1, Cabiao said. Some providers have had to take out loans to continue operating, while others have been forced to close their doors.

Gabrielle Griffith said her clinic is hanging on by a thread. She owns 850Therapy clinic in Crestview, Florida, which serves the special needs children of service members stationed at Eglin Air Force Base, Hurlburt Field, Camp Bull Simons and other installations in the area.

Unless the payments start coming in on a regular basis, Griffith will be forced to close, she said. Previously, she accepted only Tricare patients, prioritizing serving military families. But recently, she’s applied to join the networks of other insurance companies.

“I’m not prioritizing Tricare any more … We’re going to have to prioritize the insurance companies that pay consistently and take care of the providers as well,” Griffith said.

Lawmaker: Tricare West problems 'actively harming military readiness'

She fought all through January to get paid for claims, but “when we submit claims they’re sitting there in the queue forever,” Griffith said.

Under the previous contract, reimbursements for claims typically were deposited in 850Therapy’s bank account within a few days after. Now, Griffith said, she’s being told the claims are going to take 30 to 90 days to process.

Humana posted on its provider web page that the company is actively working to fix the delay, and it anticipates returning to its standard turnaround time within the next several weeks.

“We don’t have several weeks,” Griffith said.

Griffith has dropped about 40% of 850Therapy’s patients, who numbered more than 400 at the end of last year. She opened the practice in December 2023 and had built her staff to a team of 17 therapists. She now owes the therapists back pay for all of January. She was frank with them about the situation and their options, and some have had to leave for other jobs.

While some money has trickled in for claims for services in 2025 – and Humana sent 850Therapy an advance payment of $15,000 toward unpaid claims – it’s not enough, Griffith said. Her overhead costs, including rent and payroll, total between $40,000 to $50,000 each month.

“We do have some movement, but we still don’t have answers,” she said.

Griffith woke up on Feb. 13 to find another $7,900 deposited into the clinic’s bank account after she complained on social media.

In order to keep her doors open, Humana must “completely resume normal payments,” Griffith said. “Sending us a little bit is not going to stop me from continuing to fight to get this fixed.” With some payments starting to come in on Feb. 18, she said, “I’m hoping this is a move in a positive direction.”

Some things are working

Experiences have varied among both beneficiaries and providers. One provider was able to get credentialed by TriWest and negotiate a higher rate of payment than they received under Health Net, the provider told Military Times.

And Army retiree Karl Lamberth said he and his wife found an advocate in the managed-care team at their military clinic at Fort Johnson, Louisiana, who helped them work through the process to get the treatments they needed.

In January, Lamberth’s neurologist considered dropping his Tricare patients. Lamberth needed to get treatment for his back, and when he told the head of managed care at the military clinic about the situation, “she lobbied him not to drop his Tricare patients,” Lamberth said.

“There isn’t a lot of specialized care here, and they don’t want to lose the specialists they rely on,” he said.

When Lamberth told his neurologist about the waiver letter offered by Tricare officials, the doctor didn’t want to accept it.

“He said, ‘Oh, no, no, no,’” Lamberth said. “I think part of their hesitation is that they don’t know if they’re going to get paid.”

The leader of the managed-care team somehow got a referral through, and Lamberth was able to receive his back treatment.

“I don’t know how she did it, because we had been dead in the water for over two weeks and couldn’t get any response from anybody or anything,” Lamberth said. “This whole thing with TriWest, it just seems off, the way it’s broken. How in in the world did something like this happen?”

Defense officials and the managed-care contract providers had at least one year to prepare for the transition.

“Once this all get sorted, there has to be some kind of review into what happened and where things fell apart,” said Huck, with the National Military Family Association. “At some point, there will be another contract transition, and DHA needs to figure out what went wrong so that it doesn’t happen again.”

Federal agencies “shall” allow military spouses to continue working remotely, and agencies may continue appointing spouses to remote work positions, according to a memo issued Wednesday by Charles Ezell, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, or OPM.

The new guidance clarifies a Jan. 27 memo from OPM and the Office of Management and Budget that included a footnote stating agencies “should also exclude military spouses working remotely based on the Military Spouse Employment Act” from the return-to-office requirement.

The Jan. 27 memo directed agencies to prepare plans to return all eligible employees to in-person work, with exceptions for those excused for compelling reasons certified by the agency head and employee supervisor. It further noted military spouses working remotely had a compelling reason not to return to in-person work and agencies “should” exempt them from the requirement.

In the wake of the Jan. 27 memo, some military spouses with federal jobs experienced uncertainty and angst about the new policy requiring in-person work. Advocates were concerned the guidance didn’t explicitly require federal agencies to exempt military spouses from the return-to-office requirement, potentially leading to inconsistent policies across agencies.

Being able to work remotely, whether in the continental U.S. or overseas, allows military spouses to continue their careers despite frequent moves to new duty stations with their service members. Working remotely opens up more opportunities for military spouses who can be appointed to remote work positions.

Military spouses have long battled problems with unemployment, largely associated with these frequent moves. The military spouse unemployment rate has remained stubbornly above 20%, according to Defense Department surveys.

The new guidance applies to spouses of active-duty members, spouses of deceased service members who died while on active duty and haven’t remarried and spouses of disabled service members who retired or otherwise left the service with a 100% disability rating. It also applies to spouses of U.S. Foreign Service members on overseas assignments.

The guidance also clarifies that agencies must allow military spouses to continue working remotely regardless of whether they were appointed under the Military Spouse Employment Act and covers those appointed under other appropriate hiring authorities. That applies to future appointments of military spouses to remote work positions.

While many beneficiaries will see a small decrease in their premiums, the biggest changes affect active-duty families and certain Reserve members and their families in pay grades E-4 and below. Active duty families in those ranks with more than one family member insured will see a drop of 29%, from $31.46 to $22.48, a difference of $8.98. Previous rates didn’t vary by rank.

The new monthly rates take effect March 1, but families will see the change in their February bill because it’s a pay-ahead program. The February bill covers March coverage. Reductions, which depend on service members’ status, rank and enrollment type, range from $0.57 to $8.98 a month, compared to the previous rates that were implemented in November, which also reflected reductions.

The program is a voluntary dental plan available to active-duty family members, National Guard and Reserve members and their family members. Those eligible can enroll at any time.

In addition to monthly premiums, beneficiaries also pay co-payments for certain services, which have remained the same under the new contract, such as 20% for basic restorative services. There is no co-pay for diagnostic and preventive services, and there is no annual deductible.

The program also now offers more dentists, including specialists, closer to beneficiaries, according to Tricare officials. It also allows those covered to have online appointments with dentists for checkups, planning care and other basic services.

United Concordia will continue to administer the Tricare Dental Program. These rates are effective through Feb. 28, 2026.

United Concordia has dentists in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Beneficiaries overseas can also search for a provider in their country in United Concordia’s online list of Tricare OCONUS Preferred Dentists.

Tricare dental coverage, which is separate from Tricare medical coverage, requires separate enrollment.

Active-duty members receive most of their dental care at military clinics under the Active Duty Dental Program.

New monthly rates for the Tricare Dental Program

Active-duty families, E-4 and below

• Sponsor only: Doesn’t apply
• One family member: $8.65; down from $12.10
• More than one family member: $22.48; down from $31.46

Active-duty families, E-5 and above

• Sponsor only: Doesn’t apply
• One family member: $11.53; down from $12.10.
• More than one family member: $29.98; down from $31.46

Selected Reserve and Individual Ready Reserve (mobilization), E-4 and below

• Sponsor only: $8.65; down from $12.10
• One family member: $28.82; down from $30.25
• Family: $74.94; down from $78.64
• Sponsor and family: $83.59; down from $90.74

Selected Reserve and Individual Ready Reserve (mobilization), E-5 and above

• Sponsor only: $11.53; down from $12.10
• One family member: $28.82; down from $30.25
• Family: $74.94; down from $78.64
• Sponsor and family: $86.47; down from $90.74

Individual Ready Reserve (nonmobilization)

• Sponsor only: $28.82; down from $30.25
• One family member: $28.82; down from $30.25
• Family: $74.94; down from $78.64
• Sponsor and family: $103.76; down from $108.89

The Kroger Health and Kroger Family of Pharmacies bring more than 2,200 additional pharmacies across 35 states into the network, according to Defense Health Agency officials. The Kroger Pharmacy brand names also include Baker’s Pharmacy, City Market, Dillons, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, Harris Teeter, King Soopers, Mariano’s, Pick’n Save, QFC, Ralphs and Smith’s Food and Drug.

To find an in-network retail pharmacy nearby, beneficiaries can use Tricare’s online Find a Pharmacy tool.

Defense Health Agency spokesman Peter Graves said that as of December, there were 42,000 network pharmacies. But that number is fluid.

“The Tricare Pharmacy Network is a living program. We have hundreds of pharmacies joining and leaving our network on a monthly basis for a variety of reasons,” Graves said. “Our commitment is to ensure beneficiaries have access to a Tricare network pharmacy within our program drive time standards.”

Under the terms of the pharmacy contract, Express Scripts, which manages the Tricare prescription plan, must have at least one pharmacy within 15 minutes’ drive time of 90% of beneficiaries.

The copayments for up to a 30-day supply of a prescription at a Tricare retail network pharmacy are:

• $16 for generic formulary drugs
• $43 for brand name formulary drugs
• $76 for non-formulary drugs

Other options for filling prescriptions include military pharmacies – where prescriptions are free for beneficiaries if the drug is available – as well as Tricare Pharmacy Home Delivery and non-network pharmacies, where beneficiaries pay full price for prescription drugs and file a claim for reimbursement. Reimbursement is subject to deductible or out-of-network cost-shares and copayments.

All of the Kroger pharmacies left the Tricare network — and Express Scripts — on Jan. 1, 2023, when Kroger officials described the Express Scripts drug pricing model as “unsustainable” for Kroger and its customers. Collectively, Express Scripts plans cover more than 100 million people.

On Wednesday, Kroger Health announced an agreement with Express Scripts, affirming that the Kroger Family of Pharmacies would immediately resume serving customers who are part of Tricare plans and Express Scripts’ Medicare Part D plans. Express Scripts’ commercial and Medicaid clients can also add the Kroger pharmacies to their networks.

In October 2022, nearly 15,000 independent pharmacies left the Tricare pharmacy network, mostly because of what they, too, had seen as low reimbursement rates. The following January, 4,356 independent pharmacies rejoined the network, bringing the number to about 42,000 pharmacies in 2023.

“Unfortunately, Kroger’s return doesn’t signal a reversal of Tricare pharmacy network cuts, but rather an agreement to serve all of Express Scripts’ customers,” said Karen Ruedisueli, director of government relations for health affairs at Military Officers Association of America. “That said, we hope getting Kroger back will mean improved access for at least some of the rural military families who lost their local pharmacies when the Tricare network was slashed in 2022.”

The average scores of students in Department of Defense Education Activity schools ranged from 14 to 25 points higher than the national averages in math and reading in the two grades of students who took the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests. DODEA students were ranked at the top of the states in each of the tests.

The NAEP tests were administered across the country between January and March 2024. The NAEP is the only nationally representative assessment of what American students know and can do in various subject areas, and they’re conducted periodically.

Not all students take the NAEP. In most cases, it’s a representative sample of students, but in DODEA schools, all the students in the designated grades take the test that particular year.

With scores increasing or decreasing by one point – or remaining the same – in each of the tests, students in DOD schools held their own in comparison to their scores in 2022, the last time the tests were administered. That year, DOD schools also led the nation in reading and math scores for 4th and 8th graders.

“I am delighted that DODEA has once again performed exceptionally well on the National Assessment of Educational Progress,” said DODEA Director Beth Schiavino-Narvaez, in an announcement of the results. “Credit for this success belongs to our incredible teachers, administrators, and staff of DODEA, and most importantly to our students and their families, for all their hard work and dedication.”

While the gap is widening between DODEA and the nation’s public schools, it’s largely due to the lack of progress in the public schools. The results for the nation as a whole show that “the nation’s 4th and 8th graders are not making the level of progress needed to regain ground lost during the pandemic,” officials with the National Center for Education Statistics said in a press release.

More military children will soon have access to DOD-operated schools

The military’s school system continued to focus on in-person learning while navigating the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.

DODEA operates 161 accredited schools in 11 foreign countries, seven states, Guam and Puerto Rico, including the DODEA Virtual School. There are nearly 900,000 military school-age children, and of those, about 65,000 attend DODEA schools.

Because there are relatively few DODEA schools and military families move frequently, children transition in and out of DODEA schools. It remains to be seen whether there will be lasting effects on military children because of remote learning in public schools they attended during COVID-19, before enrolling into a DODEA school.

“That’s a good question to ask. Any analysis of DODEA school scores needs to take into account that the majority of students are not in DODEA for a long time,” said Eileen Huck, acting director of government relations for the National Military Family Association. “Kids are generally only in DODEA schools for a short period of time. They have one or two school years before they transition into the next school district after a military move.”

The NAEP math and reading scale scores range from 0 to 500. The DODEA scores in reading and math have generally remained steady since 2017. The NAEP also separates the scores into categories of those students performing at or above the basic level, at or above proficient or at an advanced level.

Among the findings in reading:

• The average score in reading for DODEA 4th graders was 234, which is 20 points higher than their counterparts in the nation’s public schools. In 2024, 48% of DODEA 4th graders performed at or above the NAEP proficient level in reading, compared to 30% in the nation’s public schools.
• The average score in reading for DODEA 8th graders was 282, which is 25 points higher than their counterparts in the nation’s public schools. In 2024, 53% of DODEA 8th graders scored at or above NAEP proficient levels in reading, compared to 29% in the nation’s public schools.

In math:

• The average score for DODEA 4th graders in math was 251, which is 14 points higher than their counterparts in the nation’s public schools. In 2024, 54% of DODEA 4th graders scored at or above NAEP proficient levels in math, compared to 39% in the nation’s public schools.
• The average score for DODEA 8th graders in math was 291, which was 19 points higher than their counterparts in the nation’s public schools. In 2024, 41% of DODEA 8th graders scored at or above the NAEP proficient levels in math, compared to 27% of their counterparts in the nation’s public schools.