TRICARE Assaults the English Language

As I reported in a news story today, TRICARE last Friday finally decided that 4.9 million folks whose personal and health information was contained on computer tapes stolen from the car of an SAIC employee in San Antonio, Texas, on Sept. 13 should indeed get free credit monitoring services.

TRICARE initially saw no such need for credit monitoring, downplayed the chances of identity theft and only took this step after both it and SAIC were hit with lawsuits seeking $4.9 billion in damages and free credit monitoring.

TRICARE said last Friday it had directed SAIC to provide the free credit monitoring, and issued a press release with the headline "Risk to Patients from Data Breach Met with Proactive Response."

Taking six weeks to do the right thing hardly fits my view of a "proactive response." This makes me wonder if TRICARE put the interests of SAIC -- which could be hit with a massive bill for credit monitoring -- ahead of its beneficiaries, active duty and retired military personnel and their families.