There is something wrong with military healthcare and the Justice Department needs to investigate.

TriWest has been the health care provider to the US military for awhile now and recently they lost their bid to United Healthcare even though the bid was less.


But, that isn't the entire problem.


There is a Class Action Lawsuit filed against United Health Care regarding the lack of mental health coverage.


We need more than adequate mental health coverage for our troops. We have witnessed the sad reality of PTSD for too long and the devastation of that on families and the soldiers themselves. 


Look, the troops and their families know what type of health care they are getting and it should be them that has input to this decision. I consider mental health care an important issue and if United Healthcare is unwilling to provide it when people are not in a war zone, what will they do with the people that defend our country?


Class Action: United Healthcare Denies Mental Health Coverage (click here)

Los Angeles, CA

Monday, May 21, 2012

A class-action lawsuit was filed against United Healthcare Insurance Company, US Behavioral Plan, and California United Behavioral Health, which contracts with employers such as the University of California to provide mental health services to policyholders. The class-action suit alleges that these companies, which are part of United Healthcare Insurance Company, have violated the California Mental Health Parity Act, which requires insurers to provide treatment for mental-health diagnoses according to "the same terms and conditions" applied to medical conditions.  Specifically, the defendants are accused of denying and improperly limiting coverage by conducting concurrent and prospective reviews of routine outpatient mental health treatments when no such reviews are conducted for routine outpatient treatments for other medical conditions.  Defendants are also accused of violating the Unruh Act, by discriminating against a class of persons with mental disabilities and psychiatric conditions; violating California's law prohibiting unfair competition, breaching the terms of its own insurance contract with policyholders, and the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing....




TriWest Healthcare challenges loss of $20 billion Pentagon contract (click here)

05/12/2012 01:00:00 AM MDT
By Allison Sherry 
The Denver Post

WASHINGTON — TriWest Healthcare Alliance, the health insurer carrying more than 200,000 veterans and service members in Colorado, lost its contract with the Department of Defense for next year and is challenging the decision.

UnitedHealthcare recently beat out TriWest in a bid for another five-year, $20 billion contract to serve clients of Tricare, the U.S. military's health program, in 20 Western states. Phoenix-based TriWest has had the Tricare contract in the Western region, which has 2 million beneficiaries, for 16 years.

"No one has a right to this business, but when you hear you're lowest on price in the bid and yet you didn't win, you wonder what happened," said TriWest chief executive David McIntyre. "Frankly, I'm a bit disturbed. It doesn't make sense to us."

The contracts to serve veterans and active-duty service members are hotly contested because they are so lucrative....