Press Release by EFM

Military Families Cry Foul As Tricare Celebrates Autism Awareness Month, Despite Cutting Care For Autistic Children
Tricare’s Post Goes Viral After Families Flock to the Page to Share Their Displeasure

Washington, DC April. 10, 2022 – Exceptional Families of the Military (EFM) wants to amplify the voices of military families with disabilities, special healthcare needs, and/or additional educational needs. As many are aware, April is Autism Acceptance Month. To mark Autism Awareness Month, Tricare created a social media post that immediately, albeit unintentionally, highlighted the concerns and limitations with the changes in autism care that many military families encounter. Tricare's post naturally went viral, with families quickly giving the insurance provider a negative "ratio." Link: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=347483697407131&set=a.247037480785087 Austin Carrigg, CEO, and Founder of Exceptional Families of the Military, addressed the issue: "We feel it is imperative to bring attention to recent changes to TRICARE coverage for families with a loved one on the Autism Spectrum. Families have been crying out for help but have gone largely unheard. Many believe these are one-off complaints, but Friday, April 8th, Tricare posted about their care for Autistic beneficiaries, and the military community has responded in force in a post that has now gone viral." The responses to the mentioned post are eye-opening, underscoring a problem that needs to be addressed in the military community. Meanwhile, families continue to sign the Change.org petition that is being sent to military leaders.
Should any media outlet desire a timestamped PDF copy of the post, we would be happy to provide it.

Learn more about the changes to the Autism Care Demonstration

Founded in 2020, Exceptional Families of the Military (EFM) is a volunteer-led, non-profit organization specializing in helping Military families enrolled in EFMP. Across our social media platforms, we have nearly 14,000 followers. We are EFMP families ourselves and have 18 online Peer-to-Peer Support groups with about 7,000 EFMP family members DoD-wide. We provide 1:1 direct family support when peer-to-peer support is not sufficient; EFM also works on Government Policy and Legislative Priorities on behalf of our families. We are part of the EFMP coalition, the largest group representing EFMP families.

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