(Update: Humana Military has established this website to keep beneficiaries informed regarding the recent billing issues. The site states that the issue has been resolved "within our internal systems," but that Humana will continue working with those who have experienced overdrafts or other problems related to the billing.)
Humana Military has entered “full crisis mode” to repair damage caused by an errant billing that charged TRICARE beneficiaries in the East Region, in some cases, as much as 100 times their actual monthly TRICARE fee, establishing a process to hear from those who’ve been wrongfully billed and working to undo any collateral financial damage.
The billing affected the credit or debit cards of 75,000 beneficiaries, according to information provided by Humana Military to MOAA the evening of Dec. 5, hours after a glitch that lasted less than a half-hour. Humana has stopped all payment processing as it investigates the cause of the issue.
Humana contacted MOAA soon after the incident was discovered and has pledged to keep us up-to-date as they work through the process.
[RELATED: MOAA's TRICARE Resources]
Of the 75,000 transactions processed during the billing cycle, a little less than 50,000 were rejected by the beneficiaries’ financial institution. Humana is attempting to determine whether these rejections may have resulted in negative effects on beneficiary bank accounts, such as a hold on their funds caused by the large payment request.
The other 26,000 or so transactions went through, but Humana – which contracts for TRICARE in all states east of the Mississippi river, as well as Arizona, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and part of Texas and Missouri – was able to reverse the payments and reject the funds, per an email to MOAA. As with the bulk of the payments, it’s unclear what effects the transaction may have on the beneficiaries’ credit or bank accounts.
If you’ve been affected or have questions, contact Humana Military at 1-800-444-5445 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time. Humana customer service representatives have been briefed and are prepared to assist you with any issues; in a Facebook post addressing the billing, Humana Military says it is “working directly with banks to reverse charges before they occur” and “will do everything we can to ensure that beneficiaries are not adversely affected by this error, including covering overdraft and related fees.”
The billing glitch will not affect health coverage, according to the contractor.
MOAA members who’ve experienced this Humana billing problem are encouraged to contact Humana directly for resolution as a first step. If you are not satisfied with Humana’s response or if you would like to share how this issue impacted you, please contact Karen Ruedisueli, MOAA’s director of health affairs, at karenr@moaa.org. Using these requests, MOAA will engage directly with Humana Military to ensure proper restitution and to help Humana and the Defense Health Agency fully understand how this issue impacted beneficiaries.
