Shaheen Leads Bipartisan Group Urging Department of Defense to Fully Implement Provisions in Law to Expand TRICARE Coverage for Eating Disorders
**Shaheen included a provision in the fiscal year (FY) 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that’s based on her standalone legislation that expands eating disorder coverage for TRICARE beneficiaries.**
(Washington, DC) - U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, led a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators this week in a letter to Dr. Lester Martinez-Lopez, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs at the Department of Defense (DOD), and Lieutenant General Telita Crosland, Director, Defense Health Agency, urging them to implement provisions Shaheen included in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 defense bill that expands care for eating disorders for military service members and their families. Shaheen’s language is based on her standalone legislation with Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) -- the SERVE Act. The letter specifically asks the Department to provide its clinical justification or further information on why it has elected to cover services provided at residential treatment centers.
The Senators wrote, in part, “Service members and their families are disproportionately affected by eating disorders, with the Defense Health Board revealing significant impacts on active-duty servicewomen’s readiness and health. Military spouses and children also suffer eating disorder symptoms at rates three times their civilian counterparts. According to the DOD, 19,468 dependents were diagnosed with an eating disorder from FY 2014 through FY 2018. Meanwhile, eating disorders carry the second highest mortality rate of any psychiatric condition, with suicide occurring 23 times more often than in the general population.”
The Senators continued, “Despite these disturbing rates – which have only worsened during the pandemic, we understand that the DOD has still not implemented Sec. 701 to provide residential eating disorders care for adult active-duty dependents between the ages of 21 and 64 years old. It is our understanding that residential treatment for eating disorders is a generally accepted medical standard of evidence-based care effective in weight restoration and reduction of disordered behaviors for adult patients. Thus, congressional intent with the SERVE Act was to address this gap in coverage and to provide comprehensive care equivalent to what is provided for civilians. We would appreciate the DOD providing its clinical justification or further information on why the DOD has made the decision to not cover services provided at residential treatment centers. We respectfully request you provide us a response that includes such justification no later than April 21, 2023.”
The full letter can be read here.
As a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Shaheen has repeatedly worked to expand TRICARE coverage and access to mental health care for service members and their families. She successfully included in the Senate-approved NDAA for FY 2021 language based on the SERVE Act, encouraging the expansion of eating disorder treatments for service members under TRICARE. In 2020, the Defense Health Agency announced that it would expand TRICARE coverage for telehealth services following Shaheen’s bipartisan efforts.
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