Pentagon Health Plan Won't Cover Brain-Damage Therapy for Troops

Maybe this would have been ok in the 60's when they knew very little about brain damage. I wasn't even five when I was pushed off a slide and my scull was cracked plus damaged, but no one knew it at the time. Soon after this, I had to see a speech therapist, had trouble remembering and had a lot of headaches. Now we know a lot better because technology allows humans to see into the brain, see the damage done and then treat it to heal it. They need help to get back to their "normal" lives or as close as possible. They can get better!

Pentagon Health Plan Won't Cover Brain-Damage Therapy for Troops
T. CHRISTIAN MILLER and DANIEL ZWERDLING

December 20, 2010
During the past few decades, scientists have become increasingly persuaded that people who suffer brain injuries benefit from what is called cognitive rehabilitation therapy — a lengthy, painstaking process in which patients relearn basic life tasks such as counting, cooking or remembering directions to get home.

Many neurologists, several major insurance companies and even some medical facilities run by the Pentagon agree that the therapy can help people whose functioning has been diminished by blows to the head.

But despite pressure from Congress and the recommendations of military and civilian experts, the Pentagon’s health plan for troops and many veterans refuses to cover the treatment — a decision that could affect the tens of thousands of service members who have suffered brain damage while fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tricare, an insurance-style program covering nearly 4 million active-duty military and retirees, says the scientific evidence does not justify providing comprehensive cognitive rehabilitation. Tricare officials say an assessment of the available research that they commissioned last year shows that the therapy is not well proven.

But an investigation by NPR and ProPublica found that internal and external reviewers of the Tricare-funded assessment criticized it as fundamentally misguided. Confidential documents obtained by NPR and ProPublica show that reviewers called the Tricare study "deeply flawed," "unacceptable" and"dismaying." One top scientist called the assessment a "misuse" of science designed to deny treatment for service members.

The Battle For Care Of The Wars' Signature Injuries

Tricare’s stance is also at odds with some medical groups, years of research and even other branches of the Pentagon. Last year, a panel of 50 civilian and military brain specialists convened by the Pentagon unanimously concluded that cognitive therapy was an effective treatment that would help many brain-damaged troops. More than a decade ago, a similar panel convened by the National Institutes of Health reached a similar consensus. Several peer-reviewed studies in the past few years have also endorsed cognitive therapy as a treatment for brain injury.

Tricare officials said their decisions are based on regulations requiring scientific proof of the efficacy and quality of treatment. But our investigation found that Tricare officials have worried in private meetings about the high cost of cognitive rehabilitation, which can cost $15,000 to $50,000 per soldier.
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Pentagon Health Plan Won't Cover Brain-Damage Therapy for Troops