Central Missouri News

Recently, Congressman Mark Alford (MO-04) led nine of his House Republican colleagues in a letter urging the U.S. Department of Defense to overturn a policy that prohibits military parents from accessing their teenagers' health information, including involvement in critical health-related decisions for their children.

"Political appointees running the [Defense Health Agency] have forced a policy onto parents that use Tricare (servicemembers and their spouses) that requires dependent military children ages 13 through 17 to authorize the disclosure of their medical records to their parents," wrote the Members. "This policy was obviously enacted to prevent parents from finding out if their child is 'identifying' as another gender."

"The lack of access to their child's complete digital health records on the Genesis platform is problematic and creates undue burdens on these parents. This policy also demonstrates a lack of trust by political appointees in our nation's servicemembers," the Members continued.

"Adolescent children or teenagers under the age of 18 are prohibited from voting, drinking alcohol, using tobacco, and many other actions that vary across federal and state law because they are not mature enough to make appropriate decisions regarding their own welfare. Healthcare decisions should be no different," the Members concluded.

In addition to Congressman Alford, the letter was signed by U.S. Representatives Elise Stefanik (NY-21), Michael Waltz (FL-06), Doug Lamborn (CO-05), Cory Mills (FL-07), Rich McCormick (GA-06), Ben Cline (VA-06), Harriet Hageman (WY), Pat Fallon (TX-04), and James Moylan (GU).

Text of the letter can be found HERE or below:

Doctor Lester Martinez-Lopez

Assistant Secretary of Defense

Health Affairs

7700 Arlington Blvd., Suite 5101

Falls Church, Virginia 22042-5101

Dear Dr. Martinez-Lopez:

I write to bring your attention to a critical parental rights issue involving Tricare and the Defense Health Agency (DHA). DHA has chosen to enact a radical policy that prevents parents from accessing digital health records for their minor children. Political appointees running the DHA have forced a policy onto parents that use Tricare (servicemembers and their spouses) that requires dependent military children ages 13 through 17 to authorize the disclosure of their medical records to their parents. This prevents parents from access to their child's full digital health profile, including much of their digital records on Tricare's digital patient platform, Genesis.

This policy was obviously enacted to prevent parents from finding out if their child is "identifying" as another gender. The lack of access to their child's complete digital health records on the Genesis platform is problematic and creates undue burdens on these parents. This policy also demonstrates a lack of trust by political appointees in our nation's servicemembers.

Tricare recently published an article detailing changes for military parents in digital health record access for their children. These changes are nested in Health and Human Services (HHS) updates to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rules. These updates at HHS were enacted by political appointees in the Biden Administration. While servicemember parents may still receive paper copies of the child's health records, they must be requested through the records department. This time-intensive step is simply needless bureaucracy.

Even more egregious are the policies for servicemember parents stationed overseas. Two excerpts from DHA's policy on reproductive care for minors are quoted below:

"When reproductive health care services are requested by a minor, and the healthcare provider is satisfied the minor meets the definition of a 'mature minor,' the consent of the minor is sufficient to provide treatment."

"Some complicating circumstances may necessitate notification of a minor's parent, legal guardian, surrogate decision maker, or sponsor. These include life-threatening conditions, conditions that may require removal of reproductive organs, and a change in behavior that brings into question the maturity with which the minor is approaching their healthcare that may result in potential harm to themselves or others."

The policy alludes to a possible scenario where a minor is deemed "mature" by a provider who then receives a diagnosis where conditions are met that "may require removal of reproductive organs." Such scenarios may lead servicemember parents stationed overseas having no opportunity to engage with their child about life-changing decisions until it reaches this critical point.

Adolescent children or teenagers under 18 are prohibited from voting, drinking alcohol, using tobacco, and many other actions varying across federal and state law because they are not mature enough for such decisions regarding welfare; healthcare should be no different. Prohibiting military parents from accessing teenager’s health information via Genesis patient portal or making these critical health-related decisions for them is wrong.

Sincerely,