Mom fought TRICARE to Save Daughter

Mom fought TRICARE to Save Daughter
http://www.military.com/news/article/mom-fought-tricare-to-save-daughter.html
June 23, 2008
The Free-Lance Star

STAFFORD, Va. - Four years after she retired from the Marine Corps, Bessie Miller had to fight the same military she was a part of for three decades.

TRICARE Prime, her military insurance, had refused to pay for a procedure for her daughter, Sloan Hunter. Hunter is 18 and suffers from a rare and aggressive form of cancer.

Miller, 57, felt as if she and her daughter were getting "slapped in the face every time we turn around." After she gave the Marines 30 years of her life, she said, she expected its insurance to provide the care her daughter needed.

When it didn't, Miller went to battle.

She fought to get Hunter admitted to VCU Medical Center in Richmond, even though the hospital is not in TRICARE's network.

Then she fought TRICARE when it refused to pay for a bone-marrow transplant for her daughter.

By the time her claim reached the third and final level, Miller had contacted The Free Lance-Star and 1st District Rep. Rob Wittman, whose office lobbied for her.

In addition, Miller called the hospital and insurance company regularly to confirm that each had the needed paperwork.

TRICARE announced on Thursday that it would pay for Hunter's $110,000 operation. Officials said she qualified for care under a rare-disease regulation.
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