Hoping to Promote Change

Now that the drama with the hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) bill we received is settled, I think it is time for me to initiate some support to get this treatment covered for other wounded warriors across the board.

HBOT has helped my husband with traumatic brain injury and others even years after their injury occurred.

While HBOT helped my husband, the effects do not last forever. He has lost some of the gains he received from his initial therapy. Still, the benefits of this therapy are huge. Now that we know that Tricare won’t pay for everyone to use this therapy, I feel we need to make our congressmen aware of its benefits and push to have it covered by Tricare.

On February 4, 2011, "The TBI Treatment Act," HR 396, was introduced in the 112th Congress by Congressmen Pete Sessions and Bill Pascrell and Todd Platts, co-chairs of the brain injury caucus. This is the re-introduction of HR 4568 from Congress’ last session. The bill is expected to have a Senate companion soon.

The bill requires the VA or Tricare to pay for any treatment for traumatic brain injury (TBI) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that works. The bill requires the VA or Tricare to pay for any treatment* for traumatic brain injury (TBI) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that works. The bill language will cover the use and payment of HBOT treatments. Over and over, doctors have shown that the therapy helps veterans.

The bill language will cover the use and payment of HBOT treatments. Over and over, doctors have shown that the therapy helps veterans.

 Reports of recovery after HBOT treatment have been remarkable and consistent from physicians around the nation.

Nearly every war veteran treated while they were in the service had their career saved, had their medical board cancelled independent of their HBOT treating physician and returned to duty.

On average, using only half of the HBOT 1.5 protocol, blast-injured war veterans experienced 15 point IQ increases from post-injury to post-HBOT 1.5 treatment, a 40% reduction in post-concussion symptoms, a 30% reduction in PTSD symptoms and a 51% decrease in depression. About 80% of everyone treated who was unable to work has returned to duty, work or school. About 55% no longer needed medication and the remaining veterans often needed less medication.

Though TRICARE has been paying intermittently and the VA has paid occasionally, HBOT treatment for TBI and PTSD is not routine, even though Tricare, VA and Medicare pay for 13 other approved HBOT indications. Note that HBOT is already FDA-approved, and paid by these payers, for three kinds of neurological indications and three kinds of non-healing wounds. The same cannot be said for any of the FDA-Black labeled drugs routinely given to our veterans suffering from TBI or PTSD.

The science is clear. HBOT is the only non-hormonal biological repair and regeneration treatment approved by the FDA. There has been a lack of understanding of the science about how oxygen heals. The belief that there is no treatment for brain injury has been the major hold-up for this breakthrough. There is in fact more evidence right now for HBOT 1.5 for treating brain injury or PTSD than there was for tPA for stroke treatment or angioplasty when they were both approved by Medicare and paid throughout the government system.

Please email your congressman and tell them how important it is for our veterans to receive HBOT treatment. Hundreds of thousands of veterans need effective treatment now and this legislation will make it possible.

Please help me in this effort to help wounded warriors get HBOT as part of their long term treatment plan. Visit this website to email your congressmen: http://www.hyperbaricmedicalassociation.org/387/default.nc?NoScript=1

*Specifically, the coverage will include treatments delivered using an already FDA approved drug or device; that follow an IRB-approved protocol; or for which there is improvement on standardized independent pre-treatment and post-treatment neuropsychological testing or accepted survey instruments or neurological imaging or clinical examination.