Hi my name is Cass Miller. I'm graduate from Texas A&M University, an U.S Army Infantryman who faithfully served his country, and a loving husband.

I almost feel ashamed at starting a GoFund me, but this year has been particularly hard/difficult for my wife and I. In March I slipped and fell, fracturing my skull, which caused a major brain bleed. I had to have brain surgery by craniotomy with evacuation of Epidural Hematoma. Also, when I fell, I tore my labrum and rotator cuff in my shoulder, which I had surgery on May 19th.

My medical insurance covered a portion of it, but our deductible and out-of-pocket expenses are incredibly high. We had to cancel our wedding and get married at the courthouse to cut our expenses and cancel our honeymoon.

I need help, and I'd be eternally grateful for anyone who can help me.
Also, to make matters 100X worse. I went on Inactive Reserve (IR) in 2017 while in the Texas Army National Guard. I was not informed nor aware that I would lose my Tricare Health Insurance when I went on (IR). I was not given a briefing or an exit interview upon going on IR. I was still paying my monthly Tricare Health Insurance every single month from 2017 through 2021 in good faith, thinking I was still eligible to receive benefits. When I switched to IR in 2017, the Texas Army National Guard never updated my files in DEERS. When I switched from IR to active in the Army Reserves my paperwork in DEERS was updated and it was also changed that I was ineligible for Tricare Reserve Select from 1/4/2017 2/4/22.

Tricare is requesting all that coverage money back from all the doctors, providers, practices, medical bills, etc. from 2017 through 2022. This totals to $70,000. This is going to financially ruin my wife and I. Furthermore, I changed my address and phone since then, and a lot of those doctors/providers I saw during those years cannot get a hold of me to let me know how much I owe. They are now submitting that to Credit Collectors and my credit score is going down due to outstanding payments I knew nothing about until two weeks ago.

I apologize for not knowing that I lost coverage when I went on IR, but isn't this fault also on the Texas Army National Guard and the military for not informing me about losing my benefits, not briefing me or giving me an exit interview, and not filing my paperwork and updating DEERS? If I had known about this I would have gotten health insurance in 2017 through my civilian employer Blue Cross Blue Shield which I've been with for over 7 years.

I recently purchased a home in the beginning of this year so my savings are gone. Also, on 3/5/22 I slipped and fell and hit my head, fracturing my skull and tearing my labrum in my shoulder. I had to have an Epidural Hematoma TBI surgery on 3/7/22 and shoulder surgery on 5/19/22. Luckily I had health insurance through both my civilian employer and also Tricare now that I'm eligible again. That being said, I will still owe thousands of dollars for those surgeries even after coverage and all of my savings are already gone from buying my new home. On top of all that, now I'll owe over $19,000 because of this.

There's no way I can afford all of my doctor visits, prescriptions, surgeries, etc. from 2017 through 2021. In my defense, I did not know I lost coverage and still paid my monthly insurance payment. I do not believe it is fair to be financially ruined for not knowing something and still paying every month thinking I had health insurance. If my paperwork and files had been updated correctly, this would have been caught in 2017 and I would have gotten health insurance through my civilian employer.

WE ALSO JUST FOUND OUT MY WIFE IS PREGNANT!

I'm asking for any assistance and help in our case.

I've worked so hard in my life to be where I'm at and becoming financially ruined over someone not doing there job properly, simply not knowing/being informed of a policy and thinking I was in the right making my payments every month is not right. I have also served my country with pride and honor and I feel like the military has failed me by not filing my paperwork and updating DEERS allowing this to happen.

DEERS said there is nothing they could do and pointed me in your direction. I've gotten in touch with the VA and a Civilian Lawyer and we are hoping for the best.
Please contact me at anytime if there is anything you can do to assist me.

Respectfully,
1LT Frank Cass Miller
281-414-8728
cmiller@bellandmccoy.com

Go Fund Me Link: https://gofund.me/7317ffd6

God Bless.

This sounds like a very unfortunate situation. Given the timing of when the GoFundMe was created, it sounds like this is a repost of the GoFundMe (from 5 months ago?). You said below that you hadn't heard of some of these bills until a couple of weeks ago... and I assume statement was as of 5 months ago?

What has happened since then? Have you had any luck in contacting each of those providers to whom you owe the $70k, and made any progress when they rebill you as uninsured? And you shouldn't owe Tricare anything for all that time. They should have refunded all the premiums you paid, and you may even want to look into the statute of limitations on 5 year old claims they rejected back to providers, that providers are billing you for now - that sounds suspect. Or, since they screwed you over so terribly, did you look into a retroactive enrollment to Tricare Reserve Select? If they didn't do their job to properly inform you of losing eligibility to Tricare, you may have a good case for enrollment into retroactive coverage through another program, even if you have to appeal the initial denial.

What is your actual need now? I doubt a few more donations from here would make a meaningful impact anything like what you could get from renegotiating some of those larger bills, or pursuing other avenues and appeals.