Editor, The Smithfield Times:

As a retired military family who has had personal experience with U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans’ constituent services, I read with interest the letter of Mr. Charles W. Robinson (“Kiggans fails constituents,” March 12).

We had a serious coverage issue arise involving Tricare (Humana Military) regarding our dependent adult child. We initially went through Tricare in a futile attempt to resolve the issue:  an issue where we had recorded evidence they were in the wrong. We were told by their representatives, basically, that they don’t correct these types of errors, sorry, you’re on the hook.  This error was going to leave our adult dependent on the hook for over $100,000 in charges. This dependent has a chronic disease and medical expenses add up every year. It looked hopeless.

I then decided to contact Rep. Kiggans’ constituent office to see if there was anything they could do to help us with this federal agency. Her constituent services put in a congressional inquiry to Tricare. It was that congressional inquiry that got the ball rolling. It was a matter of a couple of days that our child had a representative from Tricare assigned to her case to work through the issue. We never received a response to our submitted paperwork via the Tricare system to dispute the charges. It was only due to the work of Rep. Kiggans’ office that anything was done on our behalf.

To say Rep. Kiggans and her staff fail her constituents is disingenuous. Her office saved our family over $100,000 in potential medical bills. Her office came through when, if we’d just stuck with what Tricare was telling us, we’d be looking at paying back a lot of medical debt that was their error. 

Regarding the other issues Mr. Robinson brought up in his letter, Rep. Kiggans addresses these issues via her social media. Maybe Mr. Robinson doesn’t follow Rep. Kiggans on the various social media platforms or isn’t signed up for her newsletter. 

We are one retired military family that is grateful for Rep. Kiggans and the work her office has done and continues to do on our behalf.

 

Jessie Genevish

Carrollton