New Strategy Can Improve Process for Recovering Certain Medical Care Costs

The Department of Defense (DOD) follows a complex and time-consuming process in recovering medical costs of military personnel injured because of another individual's negligence.

Defense could simplify the recovery process, improve its timeliness, and possibly increase the amounts it recovers by first seeking reimbursement from an injured person's insurance company when possible. There types of insurance offer the opportunity to make the process easier: no-fault automobile insurance, medical expense coverage under automobile insurance policies, and health insurance. Where possible, recovery from these insurance companies should be sought as the first course of action, rather than as a last resort, since this is not as cumbersome or as time-consuming as recovery under the Federal Medical Care Recovery Act.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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