Defense Health Care: DOD Expects New IT System Capabilities to Improve Other Health Insurance Processing

DOD’s TRICARE health plan covers servicemembers, retirees, and their families. If beneficiaries have additional insurance, that insurance generally pays first, and TRICARE pays second.

We found that:

• Military health care facilities have trouble processing non-TRICARE insurance, and may be missing opportunities to bill insurers
• Information that DOD has tried to collect about beneficiaries’ additional insurance may be incomplete or inaccurate

DOD is moving toward collecting this information in its new electronic health records system. We recommended phasing out the old system for collecting this information.

What GAO Found

Under the TRICARE health plan—administered by the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Defense Health Agency (DHA)—eligible beneficiaries who are not on active...