ArmadaCare wants its own STC418 form, and its own rules on how specific it has to be. Here is what the form asks for and how we complete it without paper.
ArmadaCare is supplemental health insurance, usually offered through an employer, that reimburses out of pocket medical costs your primary plan does not cover. [1] When a claim needs a letter of medical necessity, ArmadaCare has its own form for it, the STC418, and its own rules about how specific that letter has to be. [2]
The slow part is not the letter. It is the route the form itself describes. ArmadaCare's instructions tell you to fill in your half electronically, then print the form, take it to a practitioner, have them complete their half, and wait for them to hand it back before you can file it. [2] That is a printer, an appointment and a return trip. We do the same form in chat, on their template, with no paper anywhere in it.
The form splits into two boxes, and knowing which half is yours saves the most time.
Five of those are the ones a letter gets rejected for missing. Diagnosis, treatment, start date, frequency and the practitioner's name. Our system refuses to produce the form at all if any of the five is blank, which is deliberate, because a form that looks complete and is not is worse than one that never got sent. You find that out weeks later, from a denial.
This is the part most letters fail on, and ArmadaCare is unusually direct about it on the form itself.
On the diagnosis. It "must be specific." Their own example is that "back pain" is not specific and "Spinal Stenosis" is specific. [2] A letter naming a symptom instead of a condition is the single most common reason one comes back.
On the treatment. It "must be named and described in detail by a licensed healthcare provider." Their example of what fails is "regular stretching recommended", because it does not say what the treatment actually is. Their example of what works ties all four elements together in one sentence: "I recommend a massage therapy session each week for the next 3 months to ease the patient's back pain due to Spinal Stenosis." [2] Treatment, frequency, duration, and the condition it treats.
Read those two examples again before you start, because they are the whole test. A reviewer is checking whether a named condition is connected to a named treatment at a stated frequency for a stated length of time. Everything else on the form is administrative.
An ArmadaCare letter of medical necessity stays valid for 3 years unless it says otherwise, and approvals for lifetime or indefinite treatment are not extended past three years without a new letter. [2] Worth knowing before you ask for something open ended. A defined course of treatment is what the form is built for.
If ArmadaCare or your employer's benefits team asked for a letter of medical necessity, the STC418 is their standard one. If they sent you a different form, send us that instead, because we fill the form the payer asked for. Your ArmadaCare member portal is where the plan's own claim forms live. [3]
No appointment, no video call, no printer. You message us, upload the STC418 if ArmadaCare gave you one, and answer the intake questions in writing. Uploading the form matters, because that is what tells us to complete their template instead of writing our own letter.
A licensed US provider reviews what you have described and decides whether the treatment is medically appropriate for your condition. This is the step that makes the letter worth anything, and it is the step that can come back asking for more detail. That is normal, and it is better than a signed letter that does not survive a reviewer.
Once the provider approves and signs, the STC418 comes back with the whole practitioner half completed, signed, and written to ArmadaCare's specificity standard, and lands in your account at member.wellrevolution.com to download. It is their form, completed, not our own letter with your name on it. That distinction matters, because a generic letter from a letter service is exactly what administrators send back.
Two fields come back blank on purpose, and they are both yours. Your employer name and the last four digits of your Social Security number. We do not fill those from memory or inference, because a guessed value on a payer form is worse than an empty one, and a wrong SSN fragment is what makes a plan reject a letter outright. Add them yourself before you file, and check the rest against your plan documents while you are there.
This part is yours, and the form says so too. "Submit this completed form with your claim." [2] ArmadaCare takes claims through your member portal or mobile app, or on a paper claim form from the same portal. [3] Keep the letter with your receipts, since the plan generally wants the documentation and the proof of what you paid together. Note the deadline. ArmadaCare accepts claims up to 90 days after your plan year ends. [3]
Send us what they said. A rejection usually names a missing field, a date range that does not cover the expense, or a diagnosis that was written as a symptom rather than a condition. Those are all fixable, and revisions are included while your membership is active. A rejected claim is not a verdict on your health. It is usually paperwork, and paperwork has paperwork fixes.
Do I need a video visit? No. The whole thing happens in writing, in chat.
Do I need to print anything? No. ArmadaCare's own instructions describe printing the form and carrying it to a practitioner. [2] That is the paper route. Ours is digital from intake to finished PDF.
Is there a separate fee for the letter? No. The letter is included in membership.
How much is membership? $30 a month. You can cancel anytime yourself in the member app, with no fees and no contract, so it simply does not renew. The membership itself is HSA, FSA and HRA eligible.
Why does a letter need a membership at all? Because a letter of medical necessity is a clinical document from a treating provider, not a form you buy. Joining establishes the ongoing medical relationship the letter depends on, and it is what lets us revise the letter later if your plan asks for changes.
Can I get more than one letter? Yes. Letters are included, so a second product or a second condition does not cost more.
Will ArmadaCare approve my claim? We will not pretend to know. That decision belongs to your plan administrator. Our job is to document the medical link accurately, to their stated standard, so the reviewer has what they need. Anyone who guarantees you an approval is selling something.
Care is chat based with a licensed US provider, same day, no appointment and no video call. Message us, tell us what your plan asked for, and upload the form if ArmadaCare gave you one. Your finished letter arrives in your member account. Message us and we confirm coverage in your state.
If you are new to the idea, our general guide to getting a letter of medical necessity online for FSA and HSA covers the background this article assumes.
Reviewed by PA Michael Rubio, US Medical Director
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